There’s something comforting about the earthy flavor of turnips and greens in a warm hearty broth on a cold winter night. And bacon and greens just seem to naturally go together. In this turnips with greens recipe, a little sugar counteracts that bit of bitterness in the greens and the wine adds some tanginess to the pot liquor.
Find turnips with tops or buy the turnips and greens separately.
You can often find turnips with their tops, but if they’re not available, you can buy the turnips and turnip greens separately. It’s a good idea if you’re not going to use your turnips with tops right away to cut the greens off to store them.
It’s important to wash the turnip greens well.
Turnip greens tend to have a lot of sand on them and you don’t want your greens to be gritty, so coarsely chop the greens, put them in a large bowl and fill it with cold water. Swish the greens around in there and leave them submerged a few minutes. Then lift them out of the water and pour it out along with the sand that will have collected in the bottom. Do this at least a couple to a few more times until there’s no more sand in the bottom of the bowl.
Turnips and greens are super healthy!
Turnips are one of the healthier starchy vegetables because they’re relatively low in calories and high in fiber. Both turnips and their greens are good sources of the minerals, calcium, magnesium, and potassium, and of vitamins C, B6 and folate. Turnips and their greens contain glucosinolates – the phytonutrient in cruciferous vegetables that may be associated with cancer prevention. Turnip greens also have abundant vitamin K and eye-healthy vitamin A, lutein and zeaxanthin.
Pair this turnips with greens dish with a protein source and enjoy a hearty, healthy full meal!
- 1 bunch turnips with tops (about 1 ½ - 2 lbs turnips)
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 slices bacon
- 1 small onion
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 1 ½ cup chicken stock
- Chop turnip roots away from greens.
- Strip turnip leaves away from stems and discard stems along with any discolored portions of leaves.
- Coarsely chop turnip greens.
- To clean them, swish them around in a large bowl of cold water and let sit a few minutes.
- Lift greens out and drain water and sand.
- Repeat 2 to a few more times until no more sand collects in bottom of bowl.
- Chop leaves into approximately 1 inch by 2 inch strips.
- Peel turnips and cut into roughly 1 inch cubes.
- Peel and chop onion.
- Chop bacon into 1 inch pieces.
- Add 1 Tbsp oil to a large pot and cook bacon over medium heat until browned but not crisp.
- Drain all but 2 Tbsp fat from pan.
- Saute onions until soft.
- Add wine and boil scraping up browned bits from bottom of pan until reduced by half.
- Add chicken stock.
- Add salt, sugar and pepper.
- Add turnips and greens.
- Bring to boil, then turn down heat and simmer 40 minutes covered.
- Take cover off, turn up heat and boil 5-10 minutes until liquid is reduced to about ¼ inch deep in pan.
- Serve turnips and greens with pot liquor (pot liquid).
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