My last post showed how I roasted beets, now this post deals with the other half; the beet greens. These greens are probably the most beautiful greens because of the red veins running through each leaf. Aren’t they pretty?
If you have any reservations about eating beet greens, let me just say that bacon is involved! Does that make it better? Oh, and garlic takes it over the top.
Notice that I cut my bacon across the slices, right out of the package. It’s a quick and easy way to cut bacon into even pieces. Each cut comes out to about one slice of bacon.
Start by sauteing the bacon until some fat is rendered and the bacon is crispy. Then add in the chopped garlic. After I took this picture, I added garlic chile sauce, cider vinegar, water and sugar.
Add in the cleaned and chopped beet greens. Saute with a spatula until the greens are wilted and tender. Add salt to taste.
Sorry this shot is a little blurry. I was so overcome with excitement over the smell that I couldn’t hold the camera still!
The beet greens tasted more amazing than I expected. The slight bitterness paired with the smokey bacon and robust garlic is a perfect mouthful! This would make a great side dish to any beef or chicken entree.
Sauted Beet Greens with Bacon
1 pound beet greens
3 strips bacon, chopped (or a tablespoon of bacon fat)
1 large garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup of water
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 teaspoon garlic chile sauce
1/6 cup of cider vinegar
salt
Wash the greens in a sink filled with cold water. Drain greens and wash a second time. Drain greens and cut away any heavy stems. Cut leaves into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.
In a large skillet or 3-qt saucepan, cook bacon until lightly browned on medium heat (or heat 1 Tbsp of bacon fat). Stir in garlic. Add water in a gentle stream to the hot pan, stirring to loosen any particles from bottom of pan. Stir in sugar and garlic chile sauce. Bring mixture to a boil.
Add the beet greens and gently toss in the garlic mixture so the greens are well coated. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes until the greens are tender. Stir in vinegar. Add salt to taste
Karen in the Kitchen 
As with many foods that I may be a little slow to love, I added bacon. I don’t know if it was the bacon or that fact that I cooked the greens the same day I bought them, but they were delicious. I’m a convert! I will never toss out those greens again. When I run out of bacon, I’ll try sesame oil for an Asian take. I bet I will even like them with nothing more than garlic and olive oil. That’s how Amy cooks them.
I made this recipe and the beet greens were delicious. However, the recipe itself was poorly written and, could be quite dangerous if someone were to follow the instructions. After cooking the bacon, the instructions state to “add water to the hot pan”. Adding water to hot bacon grease would be dangerous! I assume that the intent was to remove the bacon greases before adding the water….Also, the Instructions have you add the beet greens and “toss with the onion mixture”. There are no onions in this recipe…..
Thank you for your concern about the “water being added to the hot pan” issue. There really isn’t even bacon grease to cause any damage. I’ve made the recipe plenty of times and have had no problems with it. You definitely don’t want to dump the water in vigorously. A gentle stream is great.
You did catch my mistake about the “onion mixture,” it should have read “garlic mixture.” I’ll make sure to edit my recipe for that mistake.
Yes, provided the water is added in a slow stream, as Karen stated in the instructions, then you don’t have any problems with sizzling. There’s not much grease left anyway, as Karen says, by this stage!