Some of you may know I have a little garden in my backyard. I say little and people don’t believe me thanks to all the vegetables I harvest from it. I have two 4 x 8 raised garden beds. For the past month, I’ve meant to harvest my beets and swiss chard. I finally had the chance the other day. Little did I realize that my sink would be full of vegetables. My husband wasn’t too happy when we planted our winter crop and 1/3 of our tiny raised garden beds were consumed by beets and swiss chard. He isn’t in to the earthy greens and root vegetables like I am. I think overall he did enjoy the Sautéed Beet Greens and Swiss Chard I made for us the other night. So hopefully, that means I’ll get to plant them again next year in the garden.
Growing up I ate canned pickled beets. In my 7-year old bran, it was such a treat to eat these for dinner! I told you I was a vegetable-loving (freak of nature) as a kid. What kid loves pickled beets?
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to enjoy the fresh variety of the root vegetable over the canned. I enjoy beets and to be honest one of the only reason why I grew beets was to sauté the beet greens. In my book they are like 10 times better than the beet themselves. But since I enjoy both I figured this was a win-win vegetable to grow in my book! I could sauté the greens and pickle the beets. I plan to go to a canning session while in Austin, Texas at BlogHer Food this weekend. Hopefully upon my return I’ll be pickling the beets I boiled and canning them!
If you plan to grow beets in the winter next year here is some food for thought.
- Do plant the seeds directly into the ground
- Don’t just pour the packet of seeds into the ground. Be meticulous and spread out the seeds. I think my beets could have gotten much larger had they had more room to grow. I.e., I just poured the packet in the ground and hoped for the best!
- Do harvest the beet greens before it gets hot out. Greens get bitter as the weather gets warmer.
Next time you buy beets from the store (or grow them in my case), do not discard the coveted beet green tops! Clean them well, chop them up, and sauté them to make my Sautéed Beet Greens and Swiss Chard. If you only have one of the varieties–it’s ok. The recipe will still work and taste delicious.
Katie Original Recipe
Sautéed Beet Greens and Swiss Chard
Equipment
- Saute Pan
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 4 garlic cloves chopped
- 12 cups swiss chard
- 4 cups beet greens
Instructions
- Remove the stems from the greens, place them in a large bowl with water. Let them sit for 5 minutes. All the sand/dirt will fall to the bottom. Remove the greens, dump the water, and repeat until your greens have been washed thoroughly and no longer have dirt/sand on them.
- In a large sautéed pan (fitted with a lid) place the olive oil, butter, and garlic in the pan and cook for 1 minute (or until butter is melted) on high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and begin to add the greens. Place all the greens in the pan, put the lid on the pan and cook for 10 minutes. Greens should begin to wilt. Carefully stir, the greens (moving the top greens to the bottom and the bottom greens to the top). Cook an additional 5 minutes longer then serve.
Notes
- Take the time to properly wash your greens to avoid a gritty side dish.
- Roast your beets and save the greens for a vitamin packed side dish. Absolutely no waste when you get to use the beet greens, too.
Just made this for dinner and served it over rice with a sweet potato on the side. Delish!! Thanks for the super simple recipe,
Teysha–glad you enjoyed it! I love beet greens!!!
Oh, I’d love to have a garden that produces like this 🙂 looks wonderful!
Thanks Brandy. I’m still very new to gardening and I just plant seeds and pray they flourish! lol
I always dream of having a backyard garden since I was a kid and I envy for having one. 🙂
Awe Jarome. If you have even a patio you can start a container garden! I always dreamed of having a garden too!
I love beets too! I’m not big on the greens, but maybe because I haven’t found a good recipe yet. This seems like a good contender!
Ashley you definitely have to enjoy greens to enjoy the beet greens — they are amazing!
I love beets and grow them in my garden as well. I enjoy sautéed beet greens and usually add the beets (cubed) cooked with olive oil and garlic. Delicious.
Thanks Karen for visiting!
I am so envious of your backyard garden!! I love Swiss chard and beet greens!!
Awe thanks Liz!