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Italian Stuffed Collard Greens

July 26, 2016 By Rachel 17 Comments

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Italian Stuffed Collard Greens – Are you a collard green skeptic? I was, until I discovered this amazing way to transform them into a meaty, cheesy, and good-for-you Italian dinner!

Italian Stuffed Collard Greens – Are you a collard green skeptic? I was, until I discovered this AMAZING way to transform them into a meaty, cheesy, and good-for-you Italian dinner! | SimpleSeasonal.com

Today a cooking challenge presented itself in the form of a vegetable I just plain don’t like… The thing is, I love almost any vegetable, the only exceptions being lima beans and collard greens. Blah! This week I got a bunch of collard greens in my crop share so I had to face my disdain for the vegetable. Honestly, the only time I’ve enjoyed collards is in a black eyed pea soup. Since the Philadelphia weather has been a balmy 99ºF, however, I haven’t exactly been in the mood for soup, so this vegetable really had me puzzled.

That’s when I figured that cheese and marinara sauce make everything better, so I decided to make these Italian Stuffed Collard Greens. In the end, I surprised myself with this recipe because I LOVED it – and so did the rest of my family. Who would have known..? Collard greens are good!

Wrapping Stuffed Collared Greens Step 1 Wrapping Stuffed Collared Greens Step 2 Wrapping Stuffed Collared Greens Step 3

The process for stuffing collard greens is actually pretty easy. The key is to first blanch the leaves in boiling water for 3 minutes and then cool them under cold, running water. This will make them soft and easy to roll without breaking.

Italian Stuffed Collard Greens – Are you a collard green skeptic? I was, until I discovered this AMAZING way to transform them into a meaty, cheesy, and good-for-you Italian dinner! | SimpleSeasonal.com

Bake over a layer of your favorite tomato sauce and the result is a cheesy, rice-and-sausage center wrapped in a tender collard green bundle. Delicious enough for the biggest collard green skeptic!

Italian Stuffed Collard Greens – Are you a collard green skeptic? I was, until I discovered this AMAZING way to transform them into a meaty, cheesy, and good-for-you Italian dinner! | SimpleSeasonal.comItalian Stuffed Collard Greens – Are you a collard green skeptic? I was, until I discovered this AMAZING way to transform them into a meaty, cheesy, and good-for-you Italian dinner! | SimpleSeasonal.comItalian Stuffed Collard Greens – Are you a collard green skeptic? I was, until I discovered this AMAZING way to transform them into a meaty, cheesy, and good-for-you Italian dinner! | SimpleSeasonal.com

Italian Stuffed Collard Greens
 
Print
Prep time
25 mins
Cook time
1 hour
Total time
1 hour 25 mins
 
Are you a collard green skeptic? I was, until I discovered this amazing way to transform them into a meaty, cheesy, and good-for-you Italian dinner!
Author: Rachel Hanawalt
Recipe type: Entrees
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 5-6 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 bunch of collard greens (10-12 leaves)
  • 1 16 oz jar marinara
  • 1 pot salted boiling water (about 1 Tbsp salt)
Filling
  • 1 lb. Italian chicken sausage, casings removed
  • ½ C diced sweet onion
  • 3 cloves minced garlic
  • 1½ C cooked brown rice (3/4 C dry)
  • 1½ C part skim low moisture shredded mozzarella cheese
  • ¼ C parmesan cheese
  • ¼ C fresh basil
Instructions
  1. Cook the collard greens in a pot of salted boiling water for 3 minutes or until just tender. Drain and rinse with cold water and arrange the leaves so that they are laying flat and won’t break.
  2. Cook the rice per package instructions. Plan on cooking ¾ C brown rice to equal about 1½ C cooked rice.
  3. Over medium heat, cook the sausage and onions in a skillet until the sausage is browned. Add the minced garlic and cook 1 more minute, then remove from the heat. Allow the rice and the meat about 20 minutes to cool so that it doesn't melt the cheese when added.
  4. Add the cooked rice, mozzarella and fresh basil to the cool skillet with the sausage and onions and stir to evenly combine.
  5. Line a baking dish with the jar of marinara sauce.
  6. Place ⅓-1/2 C (depending on the size of your leaves) of the sausage and rice mixture in each cooked collard green leaf, roll, and place in the baking dish until all of the rice mixture is used.
  7. Cover with foil, and cook in a 350ºF oven for 35-40 minutes. Allow 5 minutes to cool and then serve immediately.
3.5.3208

Italian Stuffed Collard Greens – Are you a collard green skeptic? I was, until I discovered this AMAZING way to transform them into a meaty, cheesy, and good-for-you Italian dinner! | SimpleSeasonal.comItalian Stuffed Collard Greens Nutrition Facts

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Filed Under: Chicken, Collard Greens, Entrees, Healthy, Italian, Recipes, Summer, Whole Grains Tagged With: Basil, brown rice, Casserole, collard greens, Italian, Italian sausage, Mozzarella, parmesan cheese, tomato sauce, Whole Grain

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Comments

  1. Lucy says

    August 1, 2016 at 2:11 pm

    There is a great family-friendly burger restaurant near us that serves a delicious turkey burger wrapped in collard greens. I never knew how to prep the collard greens to make it at home. Now I can’t wait to try! This recipe looks super delish, too. I love chicken sausage. Pinning!

    Reply
    • Rachel says

      August 10, 2016 at 5:05 pm

      I’m so happy this was a help! In the past I’ve made the mistake of making this recipe without blanching the collards first. Bad idea! It’s the most important step! Thanks for pinning. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Anna @ Crunchy Creamy Sweet says

    August 2, 2016 at 12:25 pm

    I absoltely love this idea for collard greens! Looks crazy delicious!

    Reply
    • Rachel says

      August 10, 2016 at 5:02 pm

      Thanks Anna! I find collard greens to be one of the tougher vegetables to cook with and my whole family approved this one!

      Reply
  3. TastesLikeFood says

    August 8, 2016 at 10:57 am

    There is an Eastern European dish, ‘Golabki’, with a similar idea (cabage staffed with rice and meat), but I like your version much more! Can’t wait to try it!

    Reply
    • Rachel says

      August 10, 2016 at 5:00 pm

      I know which dish you’re talking about. Good stuff as well! If you give this recipe a try be sure to come back and tell how it turned out!

      Reply
  4. Joani Trevino says

    December 30, 2017 at 7:44 pm

    Great recipe! However I veganuzed it with tofurky Italian sausage and subbed homemade almond ricotta for the mozzarella cheese. So delicious and way less saturated fat. My meat eating friends didn’t loved it too.

    Reply
    • Joani Trevino says

      December 30, 2017 at 7:46 pm

      *I meant to say my meat eating friends didn’t even notice it was vegan and loved it too. 😉

      Reply
  5. Natasha says

    March 4, 2018 at 9:44 pm

    These were delicious! I was looking for a new way to make collards since we get them often in our winter CSA. This recipe is definitely a keeper!

    Reply
    • Rachel says

      April 4, 2018 at 1:53 pm

      That’s how this recipe came to be. I kept getting collards in my CSA! Thanks for letting me know that you enjoyed the recipe!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. CSA: May 8 and 10, 2017 | Snead's Farm says:
    May 7, 2017 at 4:00 pm

    […] Night 1: Swiss chard, strawberry and feta salad Night 2: Throw a bone-in chicken breast on the grill, coat it in barbecue sauce and serve alongside these Southern-style collard greens Night 3: Sesame roasted snap peas would go nicely with some rice and this easy hoisin baked salmon Night 4: I recently heard an interview with an NYC pizza chef where he encouraged adding raw chopped greens as a final topping to pizza before it goes into the oven. The parts of the greens touching the cheese will wilt and melt into the pizza, and the parts sticking up will get crispy (kind of like kale chips) and add nice texture. You could try this with either chard or collards. Here is my go-to recipe for homemade pizza. Night 5: Swiss Chard Cakes (I know the recipe calls for 3-4 bunches, but with only 2 eggs, you’re probably going to be fine using one bunch, or even less.) Night 6: Quinoa salad with sugar snap peas Night 7: Giant collard leaves make a nice alternative to rice paper for these spring rolls . Or go a different direction with Italian Stuffed Collard Greens. […]

    Reply
  2. Farmers Market Challenge: Summer 2017 Week # 1 – New West Farmers Market says:
    June 8, 2017 at 3:53 pm

    […] original recipe can be found here. Instead of brown rice, I used cooked quinoa, and because I didn’t have Italian chicken sausage, […]

    Reply
  3. Farmers Market Challenge: New Discoveries says:
    June 13, 2017 at 12:04 pm

    […] original recipe can be found here. Instead of brown rice, I used cooked quinoa, and because I didn’t have Italian chicken sausage, […]

    Reply
  4. Farmers Market Challenge: Summer 2017 Week #4 says:
    June 26, 2017 at 8:53 pm

    […] Italian Stuffed Collard Greens […]

    Reply
  5. Farmers Market Challenge Summer 2017 Week # 4 says:
    June 28, 2017 at 4:13 pm

    […] • Italian Stuffed Collard Greens […]

    Reply
  6. What To Serve With Smoked Turkey Breast - 15 Tasty Sides says:
    June 15, 2022 at 4:36 am

    […] Italian-stuffed collard greens are guaranteed to be a massive hit among your […]

    Reply
  7. Garden Ideas for November and into December – 2022 | The Becker Green Classroom says:
    November 16, 2022 at 10:42 am

    […] Stuffed Collard Greens – this looks yummy, you will definitely need to prepare a few things ahead of time but I bet the kids will love this wrap! […]

    Reply

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Hi, I'm Rachel! Welcome to Simple Seasonal, a resource for simple, healthful, and delicious recipes that help you make the most of seasonal produce from your local farmer's market, CSA, or home garden. Simple Seasonal is committed to a whole foods diet. With an occasional cookie... ;)


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