Turkey Stuffed Collard Greens

January 23, 2018 By Leanne 24 Comments

Hello cold January evenings! Please meet your new best friend – Turkey Stuffed Collard Greens! Straight up healthy, filling, comfort food!

Is there a meal, dish or recipe that just takes you back to your childhood? Something that you didn’t realize you enjoyed until you were an adult and found yourself craving it?

That pretty much explains how I feel about cabbage rolls! Random, right?

I remember my parents making them in the fall of the year when I was a child. And while I remember liking them, I don’t remember loving them. But as an adult, there is something about them that I totally crave. Perhaps it’s the ground beef and rice stuffing, or it could be the tomato sauce that the rolls just swim around in.

But, if I’m being honest, it’s probably just the memory of my parents making them. There is something so comforting about those memories, don’t you think?

So these Turkey Stuffed Collard Greens are my clean eating attempt at cabbage rolls. Not that cabbage rolls are really unhealthy or overly processed, but I just made a few swaps to add some cleaner ingredients to the recipe. For instance, I used ground turkey instead of ground beef, and quinoa instead of white rice. The collard greens also add dark, leafy greens to the mix, which is perfect for my self-imposed green and clean January challenge! (If you missed that post, I mentioned it here at the beginning of January).

With all that said, these Turkey Stuffed Collard Greens actually came about quite accidentally last fall. I had bought some collard greens at a farmer’s market, with no particular plan for them, but they looked so lush and fresh, I just couldn’t resist them.

Of course, after a while they started to wilt in my fridge so I started cobbling together some random ingredients in an attempt to make good use of them. As luck would have it, I had some pre-cooked quinoa and ground turkey in the fridge for another recipe. So I added some tomato sauce, veggies and seasoning, and these Turkey Stuffed Collard Greens just came together. Love it when that happens!

This recipe is filling, wholesome and surprisingly super easy! You’ll just need the following to pull these bad boys together:

8-10 medium-sized collard green leaves
Ground turkey
Quinoa or rice/quinoa blend
No-salt added tomato sauce
Leeks, onion, red pepper and jalapeño pepper
Salt, pepper and garlic
And some parm cheese if you like!

Seriously, that’s it for the ingredient list.

The trickiest part about this recipe is probably preparing the leaves, but there is actually nothing to it. Just make sure you use leaves that don’t have any holes or tears, and wash them thoroughly. Admittedly, a few of the leaves I used in these photos had tears, but in my defence, it’s difficult to find decent looking collard greens around here in the winter! But they seem to be available year round, so that’s a bonus!

Collard greens are a bit tough, so cut off the lower portion of the stem and boil them for 5-7 minutes. They should soften up enough to wrap but not get too soft that they tear when you’re working with them.

Once the greens are prepared, just stuff, wrap and bake! Easy peasy! These make a perfect meal with a side salad, and have been rockin’ my Sunday meal prep for months now! I love having a few of these rolls to look forward to at lunch during the work day!

If you give these a try, please feel free to leave a rating or comment below. And you can always take a photo and share on Instagram. Just tag @crumbtopbaking so I’ll see your pic!