15 Leafy Greens You Should Be Cooking With (And How To Use Them)

While kale, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower were once America's rejects, they've been rebranded in the 21st century as trendy and desirable. Kale can be readily found at gastropubs baked into crispy chips or at a hipster diner blended into almond milkshakes. There are plenty of different types of kale, but you're probably most familiar with curly kale.

If you're sticking to a simple salad, massage your kale by oiling and pressing the leaves between your fingers until the fibers soften and they turn dark green. You'll also want to consider stripping away the stems from the leaves. But don't throw them out, as there are several ways to use leftover kale stems. This process will make the salad tender and less bitey. Kale can also be sautéed in oil and garlic as a side or baked at a high temperature with oil and nutritional yeast to craft crunchy chips. Kale can be blended into sauces and pasta dishes, and even raw into smoothies.

No matter what rock you live under, your diet, or where you buy groceries, you have likely eaten plenty of spinach over your lifetime. It's easy to work with a dark leafy green that's eaten raw just as much as it's enjoyed cooked. Unlike most leafy greens, you can find spinach in comfort foods like spinach dip, ricotta stuffed shells, and classic creamed spinach.

Raw spinach is nearly flavorless, so it's easy to blend into a fruit smoothie or pair with fruit in salads. Some people throw a handful of spinach into their baked goods or oatmeal because cooked spinach doesn't have a dominating flavor. Include it in your stir fries, pasta dishes, sauces, and bakes to add a nutritional boost without changing your dish's composition. If you plan to cook spinach, note that it can get soggy when overdone. If you're planning on cooking spinach for long periods, it's best to mince it up beforehand and mix it with something sturdy like cheese.

Let's take a trip down south and explore one of the healthiest and least expensive greens out there: collard greens. This vegetable is notorious for being cooked for hours in broth with bacon and seasonings. During this process, the leafy green breaks down and becomes tender. There are plenty of other unexpected ways to use collard greens in everyday cuisine, including in stuffed egg rolls, quesadillas, quiches, and dips. Use classically seasoned and cooked collard greens or simply sauté them in butter or olive oil.

Collard green's raw leaves are quite crunchy and a bit bitter like kale and can be used in several ways. After you remove its stem, stuff your leaves with sandwich fillings, and roll the contents up like a wrap. You can also blanch the leaves before doing this to remove some of the bitterness — making them slightly more flexible. Just a brief plunge in the boiling water will do, especially if you want the leaf to keep its structure.

There are plenty of plants out there where it's easy to assume that once we've harvested all we need from them, we can compost the rest. However, it's most likely that the entire plant can be used and should be used. We are making a case for mustard greens, that come from (you guessed it) the plant that gives us mustard seeds. Like mustard, the leaves are a bit peppery but tend to be less bitter than kale, rapini, and dandelion greens.

You can enjoy mustard greens raw or cooked. Usually, the younger leaves are enjoyed raw in a salad, while the more mature greens typically find themselves in a sauté pan alongside aromatics and fat like butter or olive oil. Mustard greens can be swapped for collard greens in a typical southern recipe and used in place of Swiss chard for a bolder and a savory and peppery flavor.

Even if you didn't have the time to plant your own vegetable garden this year (or if your thumb has never been green), don't be disappointed. You still have the opportunity to harvest fresh greens from your backyard. Dandelions are edible and eating raw dandelions cannot make you sick. Enjoy their bright yellow flowers and their leafy greens. However, the stems should be avoided. The greens, in particular, are slightly bitter, but pleasant and tender. Pair them with sweet vinaigrettes with maple syrup or honey to mellow them out when you're cooking.

Try a simple dandelion greens recipe using a few ingredients like extra virgin olive oil, garlic powder, pepper, salt, and parmesan cheese. Delicately sauté the leaves in olive oil and include other ingredients for additional flavor — leaving parmesan for last once the greens have been removed from the heat. Who knew backyard scavenging could be so easy?

Endives are a distinctive leafy green, shaped similarly to a narrow football, and packed with neatly layered leaves like iceberg lettuce. Like cabbage, endives come in both a light yellow-green shade and deep purple-red. The leafy green is pleasantly bitter with a sharp aftertaste. They also have a crunchy, watery mouthfeel, and pair well with cheese. The leaves are more tender than cabbage and chewier than iceberg lettuce. Endives can be shaved and enjoyed raw in salads, sliced and grilled, braised, or seared.

Consider slicing endives in half, tip to base, and searing them in a pan, cut side down. Use citrus fruits and bold flavors like orange and ginger to complement their intensity, and be sure to let the portion of the endive that's in contact with the pan caramelize. Due to their structure, you can use the outer leaves as boats, and stuff them with cheeses, meats, and other vegetables — resembling a dish like stuffed peppers.

Bok choy is a leafy green you should be cooking with that often goes overlooked. You may have enjoyed it in Asian cooking before — perhaps diced up with a stir fry or seared and added to a bowl of pho. This green has a watery and almost celery-like flavor with subtly cabbage-like undertones. Its stems are almost entirely flavorless, while the leaves carry a subtle but pleasing bitterness. For an irresistible braised leafy green side, read up on the tips you need to know when cooking with bok choy!

This vegetable comes in several varieties, but most grocery stores will carry a large head and baby bok choy — which is about the size of your palm. This baby bok choy can be sliced tip to base and placed cut-side-down in a pan for searing and braising. Typically, the larger variety is diced and used in stir-fries, but both make an incredibly flavorful side when simmered in a little oil and tamari. You may add a splash of water to help the green steam fully but don't be afraid to let parts of it crisp up! Its layers will capture the sauce well, and make for a beautiful presentation.

If you hear the term "micro-greens" often, then you probably enjoy going to a co-op, farmers market, and foodie scenes. Micro-greens have gained popularity for their nutrient density and aesthetic appeal. While sprouts have been all the rage for quite some time, micro-greens are slightly matured sprouts that have spread their leaves.

There are a variety of micro-greens — which refers to the plant's stage of life not its family in the plant kingdom. Pea shoots are a common micro-green and there are several ways to eat them. But there's also find broccoli, kale, and radish micro-greens, too. Like most leafy greens, they can be cooked or eaten raw. Top your burgers with micro greens or use them as a garnish in soup. You could also them to your pesto for a nutrient-packed spread. Most have a refreshing grassy flavor. Depending on the species, they can also have sweet, bitter, and nutty undertones.