This is a quick, easy, and tasty way to prepare fresh Swiss chard.
Ohhhhh, don't discard the stems! Like most Italians, I've eaten Swiss Chard all my life and I'd have to say it's my favorite vegetable. The cooking method in this recipe is pretty accurate, but...don't discard the stems! Slice them as you would celery, then cover with water and simmer until tender, then add them to the leaves. The stems of Rainbow chard are particularly pretty and add great texture and contrast, not to mention flavor! I don't bother making a garlic paste, mincing the garlic is perfectly fine. Lemon is not something I routinely add and I found I liked it, tho' I only gave it a squeeze from a half lemon. I didn't use as much bacon either, tho' the term "one bunch" of Swiss Chard is vague, so certainly add all ingredients to taste. For those not familiar with Swiss Chard it is mild, tender and a little sweeter than spinach - not bitter at all like other greens. The effort involved to wash, trim and cook it is well worth it!
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Made this to the recipe...it was ok but wasn't that impressed...I like chard and greens but would use a different recipe before this one....nothing specific, it just didn't do it for us...
Read More Ohhhhh, don't discard the stems! Like most Italians, I've eaten Swiss Chard all my life and I'd have to say it's my favorite vegetable. The cooking method in this recipe is pretty accurate, but...don't discard the stems! Slice them as you would celery, then cover with water and simmer until tender, then add them to the leaves. The stems of Rainbow chard are particularly pretty and add great texture and contrast, not to mention flavor! I don't bother making a garlic paste, mincing the garlic is perfectly fine. Lemon is not something I routinely add and I found I liked it, tho' I only gave it a squeeze from a half lemon. I didn't use as much bacon either, tho' the term "one bunch" of Swiss Chard is vague, so certainly add all ingredients to taste. For those not familiar with Swiss Chard it is mild, tender and a little sweeter than spinach - not bitter at all like other greens. The effort involved to wash, trim and cook it is well worth it!
This was simple and delicious. I added onions and extra virgin olive oil, but the bacon & garlic are the key flavor enhancers. Yum!
Garlic and bacon, what's not to love? And the added zip of the lemon was great... I didn't think it needed salt & pepper and skipped it altogether. 4.5 stars! Because even though it's delicious, I would like something a little easier on the heart. :) Sidenote: be sure to chop the chard into manageable pieces; it does not wilt down the same way spinach does, just fyi.
We LOVED this recipe. I got Swiss Chard at the Farmers Market and didn't know how to cook it because I knew there was something about the bitter taste but I didn't remember what. Anyway, this was a terrific first way to try it! I would imagine it would be great for spinach or beet greens as well, only less cooking? Thanks....
Wow!!! I got family to eat this and ask for seconds... and they never would eat swiss chard before! I used the first batch of chard from the garden and plan to use this recipe often. Although I removed the stems, I cut them up and sauteed them with for a few minutes before adding the chopped leaves. They were delicious!
Fantastic! I had no problem figuring out this recipe, so easy and it came out delicious! I'd never tried Swiss Chard before but my other gardening friends all grew it so I thought I'd give it a shot. Only difference was I used minced fresh garlic instead of paste. In a recipe, unless otherwise stated, an ingredient is typically raw, like the bacon for instance. Covering the dish for 4 minutes is important because this lets the juices from the leaves steam themselves, producing a tender-crisp texture that is just delicious! It did not say to remove the bacon or drain the grease like one reviewer did, the grease is part of the sauteing fat so I left it in and followed the instructions as written, and with that there was plenty of liquid to cook in. One bunch was perfect, and from what I've seen a bunch is typically 8 to 12 leaves... just right for a family of 3 or 4. The recipe was perfectly clear to me, and the whole family loved it! It earns its 5 stars!
I used rainbow chard which made it really pretty for Christmas dinner. I used the stems and cooked them in the pan a couple minutes before adding the leaves, which adds a nice crunch. The flavor was great, everybody asked for seconds and it was great as leftovers, too!
We had a very hard time understanding the recipe. First we couldn't tell if you chop uncooked bacon (a chore) or cooked. So we used raw bacon, and had the "separated fat" from the meat in the pan. It didn't say drain it, or remove bacon; just melt butter in the skillet. I chose to drain it and wipe the skillet out first, then add the butter, garlic, and lemon. As others had suggested, we enjoy using the sliced crunchy stems and had to cook them a few minutes first, so we tossed the bacon pieces back in. Then we added the leaves, which we kept stirring over medium heat so neither the chard nor bacon would scorch because there was very little liquid. I can't imagine turning up the heat and covering it. By the way, since we were confused about how much swiss chard is a "bunch", we used about 12 large leaves... maybe it was too much? I gave it 4 stars because the flavor was very good and the ingredients are a great mix. Just wish it was written more clearly.
This was very good. And the family enjoyed it. I did slice up most of the stems and threw them in before wilting the greens. Yum!
Loved this! I doubled the bacon and butter, and found that I didn't need salt. I tossed it with half a pound of penne pasta and enjoyed it with a glass of white wine. I will definately make this again!
This is so tasty I was amazed at how delicious it was! I grew swiss chard this year for the first time, but had no idea how to cook it.but thought it looked beautiful in the garden I did follow some of the modifications that was suggested boiled the stems and added them to the mix also used olive oil instead of butter and next time I will use less bacon grease. The garlic, lemon and bacon are so good together! Try this you won't be disappointed. Barrington, NH
I really loved this! I added a little more garlic, used panchetta instead of the bacon since that's what I had on hand. I will be making this often. Thank you!
This was delicious!! I used red wine vinegar instead of lemon juice because it was what I had on hand. I chopped the stems and sauteed them in the butter before adding the chard leaves and vinegar. I will be making this often.
This is a great, simple recipe. I used fresh garlic I diced and tweaked the amounts of things a little, but it had great flavor and was easy to pull together!
Pretty good, but you REALLY should remove the bacon before adding the chard if you want the bacon to stay crispy. Leaving it in causes it to steam and become almost soggy. It wasn't bad, I would just have preferred it to stay crispy! Next time, I'll remove the bacon and most of the bacon grease before sauteing the garlic in the butter and add the bacon back after the chard is wilted!
Amazing! Though I did cut down the lemon juice a little bit. Also great if you throw in some cannellini beans!
This was great! I read the reviews and incorporated several options, I left some of the stems, mixed a tbs of olive oil with butter, but overall the family loved it! Thanks
Very good. Cooked as written except I used a previous reviewer's suggestion and cut up the stems as I would celery, boiled them in water until soft, and then added them to the leaves. Very lemony... next time I'll add the lemon gradually. Great way to use up Chard from the garden! Delicious served with quinoa/rice combination.
Made this to the recipe...it was ok but wasn't that impressed...I like chard and greens but would use a different recipe before this one....nothing specific, it just didn't do it for us...
My husband has never had Chard so now this is one of his favorites The only thing I did different was at the end I threw in a splash of Balsamic Vinegar Yummy Thanks for sharing.
Although I really liked this recipe, I downgraded it on the merit of nutrition alone. I can't imagine why you would want to add two tablespoons of butter to the already greasy bacon drippings. I sauteed the bacon in a non-stick pan and drained some of the bacon fat off then continued with the recipe. That cuts the calories at least by a third if not by half and is still very good. My hubby loved this recipe and it is a definite keeper. I think adding balsamic vinegar rather than lemon juice would also be a hit.
WHOA!!!!!! This was incredible!! It almost didn't make it to the table b/c we were picking it out of the pan!! My husband cooked an amazing steak and he said "the only thing I don't like about this dinner is that there's no more swiss chard!" Seriously. Crazy good. We used fresh garlic and I went ahead and used all of the chard, including the stems. I just cut the chard across in about 1 inch slices. It was perfect. Our new favorite. We also served grilled sweet potatoes with cumin and brown sugar...good stuff....
I made this tonight using vegetarian "fakin bacon" and it was a hit! I also used olive oil instead of butter, and chopped garlic instead of paste. Great way to get the family to eat their greens!
Just tried this recipe today and it was delicious, followed the recipe and it came out beautiful. I used red chard. I didn't use garlic paste, instead I crushed two cloves of garlic and dropped them into the pot with the bacon grease. I also added baked sweet potato chunks to the chard and topped it all with shaved parmesan cheese. YUMMY!! Definitely will try this again.
This didn't turn out so well for me. I might have over cooked. It had a bitter taste so I added a little brown sugar which took the edge off of the bitterness. I might try again. Or I might leave out the lemon juice next time or replace with some vinegar.
This was easy and delicious. Never had chard before, and I got two bunches in my "Farm Fresh to You" delivery this week. I did add more garlic, and I stopped cutting when I smelled beets, so I didn't use the end of the chard stalks. My daughter gave it a thumbs up...and she's as picky as they come!
EXCELLENT!! Made just as written and it was wonderful. Had never had swiss chard before but it was sooooooooooo good. Will definitely make again.
Really, really good. I added half an onion, chopped, after the bacon had cooked a little bit. Served this all over rice as a full meal. The lemon made it over-the-top delicious for me!
Loved this recipe. Added bok choy to the pan as I had some to use up. Will make it again!
This was a great way to use the swiss chard from my garden. I added canned beans to extend it, because the swiss chard shrinks alot after it cooks. My kids liked it, and so I think it's a winner.
I made this without the bacon and added chopped red onion to it. It was delicious! This was my first time trying chard and it was delicious with this recipe!
Skipped the bacon ... Was great!!! Looking forward to picking up some more chard at the farmers market!
This was very good, but I changed it a little. I don't throw out the stalks, I like the crunch, so I chop them up and cook them for a couple of minutes first, then put in the greens. I also added just a dash of red pepper flakes. I loved it.
We're growing Swiss chard in our garden, and just today, it was ready to cut. I'm so glad I found this recipe. I haven't been crazy about Swiss Chard, and now I know why.. I didn't know the secret of bacon and garlic! We served this to my husband's parents. It was really fun to serve something so delicious that we grew ourselves. I forgot the lemon, but I did chop up a Vidalia onion and sauteed it with the garlic. YUM!
WOW! So tasty!!! I just used bacon bits instead of bacon and that worked just fine. My husband LOVED this!
This was ABSOLUTELY delicious! I cooked the bacon in the oven and used 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease and olive oil instead of butter....Next time I will use 1/2 grease and oil. I also added a little freshly grated ginger. I also added some frozen shrimp I had on hand. This was a meal by itself for me and I actually prefer swiss chard now over fresh spinach.
Easy! Yummy! Quick! I will try this with other greens that I make (kale, collards, beets).
My family liked this dish. It was very good. My kids didn't much like the texture, but the adults liked it alot. It's one of those dishes that you like more, the more you eat.
Love this recipe, I grow Swiss Chard in my garden every year and this is now my go to recipe for it. I also chop up the stems and biol them before I add them to the pan. Thank you for sharing this with us.
My husband & I enjoyed this recipe. I used spicy brown mustard instead of lemon juice, so it had a bit more "kick". Hubby loves chard, but is very picky. It's rare when he compliments a dish without my asking, but he did with this one. Thank you!
Used this recipe to taste Swiss Chard from our garden--first time eating Swiss Chard. Delicious!
Although the stems of the chard can be tough, I choose to cut them from the leaves, slice them and simmer in a bit of water to soften them. Especially if using rainbow chard they not only add nutrients and texture but are visually appealing. Two slices of apple wood smoked nitrate free bacon and 1 Tablespoon of butter worked perfectly with my bunch of chard. The splash of lemon brightened all the flavors quite beautifully. This is an excellent recipe that I will use again.
We get the Farm Fresh To You organic produce deliveries and the first time we received swiss chard in the box I searched for a way to prepare it since I'd never had it before. This recipe sounded great... who doesn't love bacon, butter, and garlic?? This recipe tastes great too! It is now a staple around our house :) Thanks for the great recipe!
Thought this was good. Swiss chard is my dad's favorite vegetable, so it's always fun to explore options for preparing it. I don't think "The Hubbs" would list ANY vegetable as a favorite, and even he seemed to enjoy this one. Will definitely be making this one again.
I used sliced corned beef cold cuts I had on hand instead of bacon to keep it lighter. It was delicious! The lemon was a great surprise for me. Will be making this often.
I've never had Chard before but I got some at a local market and thought I'd give it a try. This recipe made it surprisingly delicious, despite the ambiguous instructions. The lemon and bacon combo actually works very well together and garlic is always good. I'll be making it again for sure
Everything tastes better with bacon. Didn't add the butter (the bacon made enough fat) or the lemon juice. Probably added more than 1/2 tsp of garlic as we love it as much as bacon. Gave the pan a swig of balsamic vinegar at the end. Great way to cook chard.
Not a bite left. Love the tang of the lemon juice. Only change was to use fresh garlic instead of garlic salt.
First time Swiss chard cook. Loved this recipe. After reading all other's reviews, I pretty much stuck to the original recipe. Steamed the stems ahead of adding them to the recipe with the leaves. Also, for my palate only, I added hot sauce (I'm a spicy girl) to my portion only. Love reading everyone's reviews as it gives me confidence to try new foods.
I have to admit that I didn't have any bacon but it still tasted delicious! I also omitted the salt and pepper. My 2 year old kept saying he wanted "more greenies." We all loved it and will make this again.
I made this tonight with our own home grown garden chard. It was delicous and a good base recipe, that I added my own touches to.I did not measure. I sauteed sliced onion,2 fresh garlic cloves with the cut stems in olive oil.Then I added the chard leaves and chopped cooked bacon (1 slice) lemon juice and toasted pine nuts on top. I will be making often, as our chard grows - thanks for sharing your recipe.
So good! I should have made twice as much for my family of 4. I used kale, and just chopped it into rough inch-and-a-half bits. I also used canadian bacon (it's what I had) and minced 2 garlic cloves instead of the garlic paste. I couldn't believe how fast it went at the table!
Delicious! I did use the stems though. I cut them into small pieces and threw them in for a a few minutes before i added the leaves. I want to try this again but to make it a tad healthier i am planning on substituting turkey bacon. I used a "bunch" of swiss chard from the store but i wish i would have used two! I found that one bunch was too small.
I used half the bacon and fresh pressed garlic - wonderful recipe overall and we'll be eating this often!
First time I've ever had chard and I couldn't believe how delicious this was! I didn't think anything could taste better than spinach, but this may be it. And right - keep the stems.
GREAT! Even my non-veggie eating 2-year old at this. Goes to show that bacon makes everything better!
How you can love anything that has bacon!! I didn't have the garlic paste so I just chopped up a couple cloves very finely. Nice pop with the addition of the lemon too. Thanks!
I thought this was delicious. And I count anything as a success if it gets my husband to eat leafy green vegetables. I did follow the advice of another reviewer who chopped up the stems like celery and sauteed them for a little bit before adding the leaves.
First time cooking with Swiss chats. I had 4 stalks of rainbow. I did not use garlic paste just minced some. It turned out really great, thank you for the recipe
I had prefried bacon that I crumbled a few strips of. I have a jar of frozen bacon fat in the freezer that I cut a couple of tsp.'s of and heated up in the pan & then added the butter. I sautéd some chopped onion, the chard stems (& garlic after a few minutes) then followed rest of recipe and added the bacon and some crumbled feta cheese. Loved the lemon addition. Great recipe!
This is a great recipe. I also added 1/4 sliced onion and 1/4 tsp. sweet paprika.
I've made this twice. The first time, I added all 3 tablespoons of lemon juice and it came out too tangy for us. The second time, I only added two tablespoons of lemon juice and it was perfect. I also waited till it was done cooking to add back the pieces of cooked bacon so they would still be crispy.
I made this tonight as my second attempt at cooking Swiss Chard growing in my garden (first attempt wasn't a hit). I used white stemmed chard (milder), omitted the butter, opting to cook in the bacon fat (yum!),cooked the stems with some red pepper flakes, onion and mushrooms, wilted the greens and topped with parmesan cheese...well, wow! I didn't get a chance to add lemon (which I WILL do next time!) and this side dish turned into my main. I wish I had more bacon, I'd be making a second helping. I am now eager to try other chard recipes, but I know I'll be coming back to this combination and continuing to grow chard in my garden.
I loved it, but I'd love roadkill cooked with garlic, butter, and bacon! Just kidding ; )
Mmmm, so good! But healthy? Maybe a wash, if the chard outweighs the bacon fat and butter. I think I will try this without the bacon or maybe draining most of the bacon grease.
I was trying Swiss chard for the first time and didn't know what to do with it. Since everything is better with bacon I googled Swiss chard and bacon and this recipe popped up. Awesome! I am trying this with kale next.
Excellent, easy to make dish that both my husband and I Ioved. Will make this again for sure!
Terrific recipe. I made this for dinner and we were sorry there wasn't more. That's the problem with the greens--you start out with a big bag and end up with two servings.
I loved the flavourful base ingredients for this recipe, however I was looking for something with more ingredients to add nutrients, making it a complete one dish meal. I made the base, adding a sliced Portobello mushroom and 1/4 large onion. Sautéed for 3 min on med high, added Swiss chard and equal amount of kale pieces along with chopped swiss chard stems completing as the original recipe stated. Definitely tasty!
yes! Quite good when topped with thin slices of cheddar and a dusting of parmesan in the last 10 minutes of baking.
I was prepared to find this so-so because I'm not accustomed to cooked.greens, but this was excellent! I wasn't sure on the amount of chard but used four large leaves of chard and half the other ingredients. Used minced garlic and lemon juice because that's what I had. Delicious!
I've never had Swiss Chard and have been wanting to try it. Following some suggestions, I chopped up the stems and boiled them about 10 min to tender them up, adding right before serving. I sauteed some red onion in olive oil & butter and also added a small amount of white wine and crushed red pepper. Topped with some parmesan cheese. I did enjoy this new dish for me! Thank for the suggestions and melanie for the recipe!
I've never made Swiss Chard before but was gifted some from a garden earlier this week. This was really good! I didn't have any lemon juice (found that out as I went to get it) so I swapped in red wine vinegar. But I want to try it with the lemon too! I did as another reviewer suggested and just chopped up the stems. It's kind of like celery so I chopped them pretty fine so they would cook down more quickly. They added the right amount of crunch and color. This is a keeper!
My first time ever fixing and eating swiss chard. This was a great recipe and made for a very pleasant first experience. Thank you for sharing.
Yum! This was so good! So much flavor. I never would've thought to combine bacon and lemon, but this was awesome. I added extra bacon, lemon and garlic.
Great recipe. Delicious and easy to make . I used chopped garlic instead of garlic paste.
I just love this recipe for using swiss chard in my garden! It's easy and tasty and the bacon is a perfect complement to the flavors of the chard.
I used minced garlic instead of garlic paste, but it was awesome. We loved it.
This is a very good recipe, my mother fixed this maybe once a week. My mom and dad were from Croatia where it was considered a staple dish. She fixed it without garlic (I have no idea why, she put garlic in everything else!) but she did use 1/2 a small onion, cut in small slivers, sometime's she added bacon, but that depended on what else we were having for dinner, people were a little more frugal when she began cooking almost a hundred years ago. She was insulted if someone served this dish with "stems", it implied that they just didn't care enough to take the time to remove them. In Europe there is/was a certain amount of etiquette involved in the preparation and presentation of one of the most important aspects of life......food! Croatian and Italian food are almost identical. They each will protest.........but it is. I also meant to add that when I add bacon it is always from "extra" bacon I have fixed from previous breakfasts, for future meals. We don't need to cook the chard in any extra fat.
Delicious! I used 3 cloves of minced fresh garlic instead of garlic paste but other than that stayed true to the recipe...yum!
I followed this recipe except for the garlic paste. I did not have any, so I used chopped (slightly minced) garlic. The dish turned out great!
I will make it again. I did not enjoy the lemon juice. Next time I may use roasted garlic to add a taste of sweetness. I also added blanched stems.
I have a ton of swiss chard in the garden so I’m looking for various ways of making it. This was very good, but my husband thought I put in too much bacon. Ah well, next time more bacon for me.
Amazing! Even without the lemon juice i had on hand but accidentally omitted. Slightly greasy with the bacon grease, I will drain the grease next time. Definitely a keeper! Ty!
