Mistakes Everyone Makes When Sautéing Greens

The first potential pitfall comes with washing the greens. This is an easy step to skip because, quite frankly, it's a pain. The leaves are too delicate to scrub the way you would potatoes or carrots, and some varieties, such as mustard greens and certain types of kale, have frilly edges that are difficult to clean fully, even when you run a powerful stream of water directly onto them. And yet, washing greens is non-negotiable. Vegetables are often the cause of foodborne illnesses due to contamination by bacteria such as E. coli, norovirus, and Listeria. Beyond these dangerous germs are less harmful but more immediately obvious contaminants like dirt and grit that might hurt your teeth when you bite down or leave an unpleasant taste in your mouth.

To avoid these risks, washing is a necessity. To do so thoroughly, soak them in a water bath instead of holding them under a running tap. This gives the dirt time to dislodge from all the nooks and crannies of the leaves and sink to the bottom of the bowl. Give them a final rinse and spin them in a salad spinner to remove excess moisture.

Oil is full of calories. There's no getting around it. Whether you're using butter, avocado oil, or lard, adding it to your greens will significantly increase the number of calories in the dish. A single tablespoon of olive oil contains about 120 calories, more than a slice of bacon, and just barely less than 10 Doritos. But oil is a necessary part of sautéing if you want that trademark browning and lightly caramelized flavor. It also plays a crucial role in cooking the food evenly and preventing it from sticking to the pan.

Oil creates a medium where the heat from the pan travels to the greens, slowing the cooking process. If parts of the greens are touching the pan without oil to buffer them, they will cook more quickly and burn before the rest of the greens are fully cooked. If your greens aren't burning despite being in an unevenly oiled pan, it is likely because you've lowered the heat to avoid sticking and overcooking. As a result, the greens will be steamed in their own moisture rather than sautéed, leaving them limp and soggy. Adding more oil is always better than adding less when you're using this cooking method. If your pan becomes dry during the course of sautéing, do not be afraid to add another teaspoon or two of oil. The results will speak for themselves.

Once you've established the type of oil you're going to use and added a generous portion to the pan, you are still not in the clear. The final oil-related hurdle is preheating. A cool or lukewarm pan will slowly draw out moisture from the food, but it will not be hot enough to burn off the moisture. Instead, your greens will be left to bubble away in their own juices, and by the time the liquid has burned off and the pan is hot, the oil will be displaced, and your greens will burn and stick. The other issue with adding the leaves too early is that they will absorb the oil. When the oil is properly heated, it creates a seal on the outside of the food. When it's cool, however, the food has time to absorb it. As a result, you'll end up with greasy greens rather than caramelized ones.

The question then arises of how you know when the oil is hot enough. Unlike the preheating function on an oven, most stoves do not alert you when the pan has reached the desired temperature, and a surface thermometer isn't a common kitchen tool. To tell if your pan is hot enough, wait to add your oil until a few drops of water skitter, bubble, and evaporate across the surface in a couple of seconds. Then, add the oil and wait 30 seconds before adding any other ingredients.

The phrase "leafy greens" encompasses a wide range of veggies that are not created equal. While kale and collards are tough and fibrous, spinach is so fragile you might only have to cook it for a matter of seconds. As a consequence, you'll need to choose the varieties carefully or alter your preparation methods to avoid having some greens end up nearly raw, and others slimy and mushy from overcooking.

The easiest option is to cook a single type of green. If you opt for this route, make sure you're using a recipe tailored to that specific ingredient (using a sautéed spinach recipe for kale will yield nearly raw kale). Another option is to use similar types of greens. Collards and kale have a comparably tough, fibrous texture, for example, while chard and beet greens have a similarly meaty but delicate structure. If you want to serve kale and chard together, however, there are a few ways to prep the kale so that it will cook at the same rate as its more tender companion. The first option is to steam it. This cooks the kale before you even begin to sauté it, ensuring that there is no toughness whatsoever. Another less drastic option is to massage it. This process, which involves rubbing the leaves together for several minutes to break down their fibrous texture, ensures that it will be tender when you add it to the sauté pan but not loaded with unnecessary moisture.

No matter how many times you cook leafy greens, you will probably never cease to be amazed by how much they cook down. Depending on the context, watching an enormous bag of spinach wither away into a measly spoonful or two will either bring you to laughter or rage. But either way, we can all agree that a little more predictability would be helpful.

Different types of greens cook down to varying degrees. In general, a pound (approximately two bunches) of hearty greens such as kale or chard will cook down to four or five cups, or about 40% of their original volume. When you see all the raw, de-stemmed leaves overflowing the mixing bowl, you might think you've made a mistake and doubled the recipe, but rest assured that those fibrous greens will shrink to almost nothing. Spinach undergoes an even more dramatic transformation. For a single cup of sautéed leaves, you'll need a whopping 10-12 cups of raw, chopped leaves. So, the next time you're at the grocery store, don't skimp on fresh greens. You'll end up with a lot less than you think.

Despite how lauded they are for their vitamins and easy integration into a wide range of dishes, greens often have a bitter aftertaste that can be downright unpalatable when served on their own. This is rarely noticeable in soups and stir-fries because there are plenty of other ingredients to outweigh the bitterness, but when you're serving a dish made almost entirely of robust, leafy greens, you might notice an unexpected and unwelcome pungency.

To combat this, you have a few options, most of which you probably already have in your kitchen. Sugar is perhaps the easiest and most readily available counterweight to the unwanted flavor. The trick is to add enough sweetness to balance the bitterness without giving the greens a recognizably sweet flavor. Start with a pinch, then taste and add more as needed. You can also add the sweetness as a separate element, such as with dried fruit. Sourness is also a counterweight. Lemon juice and vinegar are the obvious choices, lending a brightness that takes the edge off the bitterness. You can also combine the sweet and sour elements in one ingredient, such as balsamic or umeboshi vinegar. If you're unsure about which greens need the most balancing, mustard, collards, and kale are at the far end of the bitter spectrum, while spinach is mild enough that you might not need to add anything to combat bitterness at all.

Making sautéed greens doesn't mean that the only ingredients you can use are green and leafy. There are plenty of additional flavors you can add to enhance but not overwhelm the star of the show. Garlic is the go-to option found in many recipes. It adds a pleasantly sharp, pungent flavor and aroma that immediately upgrades the greens from demure to attention-grabbing. Another easy upgrade in addition to the garlic is red pepper flakes. With just a few shakes, you'll have a kick of heat and savoriness on top of the familiar garlic flavor. Lemon juice and vinegar are also popular options and serve to balance some of the bitterness inherent in sturdier types of greens.

For more adventurous flavors, opt for the sweetness of shallots, the smokiness of smoked paprika, or the salty umami notes of Parmesan cheese. Toasted pine nuts and sunflower seeds add a buttery, crunchy element, while sun-dried tomatoes add a hint of Mediterranean warmth and sweetness.