How to Cook Dandelion Greens & Recipes

Recipe: How to Cook Dandelion Greens

Summary: There are various ways to cook dandelion greens, an edible weed, this post includes two of them- plain with butter or olive oil and tossed with bacon. When I make these recipes I use dandelions out of my yard that has not been treated with any chemicals, also I use organic butter, organic extra-virgin olive oil, organic hot red pepper flakes, and uncured nitrite and nitrate free bacon with no artificial preservatives.

Ingredients

  • Dandelion Greens
  • Bacon
  • Hot Red Pepper Flakes
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Butter
  • Olive oil

Instructions Recipe 1

  1. Gather, wash, and cook greens.
  2. Drain cooked dandelion greens well.
  3. Serve with butter or a drizzle of olive oil.
  4. Dash of salt and pepper, to taste.
  5. For serving dandelion greens w/ bacon & hot red pepper flake follow directions for cooking dandelion greens.
  6. Cut-up bacon in 1-inch pieces, cook well.
  7. Add drained dandelion greens to bacon, toss.
  8. Add a sprinkle of hot red pepper flakes.
  9. Dash of salt and pepper, to taste.

Preparation time: 30 minute(s) Cooking time:

Number of servings (yield): 8

My rating 5 stars:  ★★★★★ 1 review(s)

Recipe 1

Handful of Dandelion Greens - Wild Greens
How to Cook Dandelion Greens – Wrap your hand around the dandelion greens and make your cut at the base of the plant.

About Dandelion Greens

Picking Dandelion Greens | Pick a lot of dandelions as they shrink down considerably
Dandelion Greens – Pick  a Bag Full

In the spring of the year dandelion greens are found everywhere you look. It’s one of the first edible weeds that you can eat from the blossom (head) to the root.

How to Cook

It’s a simple wild green to fix, and can be used in many ways. Everything from tea to sauteing the roots. To get started, go find your dandelion patch– First, wrap your hand around the dandelion greens and make your first cut at the base of the plant. I use sharp kitchen scissors and cut leaves enough to fill a plastic shopping  bag full.

Last week I cooked up a batch of wild greens for the family, yummy—they are already asking for more!

Every spring we harvest this free delectable wild green, when there isn’t anything else growing.

Once I get our bag of greens, I clean one side of the kitchen sink, then fill it with cold water.The leaves are placed in the water and cleaned by swishing them well. I use a very large kettle with a lid to put greens in.

Large Kettle | for cooking dandelion greens

Dandelion Greens Blossoms

Dandelion Blossoms | Flowers (Head)

You can just taste the healthiness in these wild greens, and is a great edible weed that you can forage for in early spring!

 

Dandelion Greens w/ Bacon & Hot Red Pepper Flakes | Recipe 2

Follow all the same directions for cutting, cleaning, and cooking your greens. Drain. You should have about 4-cups of greens once boiled down.

Bacon pieces for sauteing dandelion greens in.
Cut-up bacon in 1-inch pieces to cook dandelion greens in.

Cut-up bacon in small 1-inch square pieces, fry until done.

Take your 4-cups of well-drained dandelion greens and place them in the fry pan with cooked bacon and grease; toss.

 Serve dandelion greens hot; with a sprinkle of hot red pepper flakes, and a dash of  salt and pepper.

 


Battered Fried Dandelion Blossoms (Heads-Flowers)

Battered Fried Dandelion Blossoms (Heads-Flowers)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go to next recipe…

Batter-Fried Dandelion Blossoms Recipe 

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-Virginia

Author, Food Writer, Recipe Developer, Foodie & Queen of Recipe Adaptation

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Adapting Recipes

By Virginia Wright

Whatever your health goals are, adapting recipes is a good place to start when wanting healthier versions…I’ll help you learn how to adapt recipes! For ten years I was recipe developer on a low fat recipe and health information website that I founded. I gained the name of “The Recipe Lady” while working there and I call myself– “Queen of Recipe Adaptation.” What I try to do in all my recipes is change them up wherever I can to make them a healthier version. Many of the recipes that I created while recipe developer, I will be bringing to The Recipe Weekly. They will be versions of recipes that I’ve adapted in some manner; cutting the sugar a little here, the bad fats a little there, cutting calories too.

How do you begin adapting recipes? You start by taking your favorite recipes and experiment slowly, adapting them in small ways, such as in a cream cheese frosting recipe by substituting regular cream cheese for Neufchatel.

Example:  Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

If you want to make your favorite carrot cake and frost it with cream cheese frosting, here is an alternative recipe for the frosting. The original calls for confectioners’ sugar, regular  butter, whole milk, vanilla and regular cream cheese:

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 box Confectioners’ Sugar

8 oz Neufchatel Cheese

4 Tbsp light margarine or Vegetable oil spread

2 tsp Pure Vanilla

4 Tbsp Fat-free milk, more or less

Cream non-hydrogenated margarine or Vegetable oil spread in large mixer bowl with Neufchatel cheese, add confectioners’ sugar alternately with milk, beat to spreading consistency ( an additional tbsp of milk may be needed, more or less, add a tbsp at a time until you reach the right consistency), blend in vanilla, mix well until frosting is a smooth consistency.

Savings in fat in the cheese alone…

1 serving Neufchatel Cheese    6 grams of fat

1 serving Cream Cheese   10 grams of fat

Tabulating results…

You save 4 grams of fat per 2 Tbsp serving

Then you will save more on saturated fat and cholesterol by using the Fat-free milk, you will save again using the light margarine or vegetable spread in place of butter.

Just Experiment with your recipes by adapting them.  Not all will turn out with the same texture or taste, but most of the time, the recipes won’t taste all that different than the original.  No palate death here!

Watch for the Carrot Cake recipe in upcoming postings at The Recipe Weekly…