Sauteed Swiss Chard with Carrots and Celery is a deliciously easy way to prepare this healthy vegetable.
I’m always looking for new ways to get my boys to eat leafy green vegetables. Out of all the vegetables, I’ve found leafy green veggies to be the hardest sell.
Over the years, I’ve turned kale into pesto, made kale chips and roasted kale to get the boys to eat kale. When it comes to Swiss chard, I either cook it by steaming it first, then sautéing it, or make pesto out of it. The reason I steam Swiss chard before sautéing it is that I find the stems become tender at the same time as the leaves. Swiss chard is an excellent source of vitamins K, A, C and E, as well as magnesium, copper, manganese, potassium and iron, so there are some great health benefits to getting your family to try it.
Typically, I just saute Swiss chard with onions, but recently, I tried adding garlic, carrots and celery to the mix and it has transformed my typical simple preparation of Swiss chard into something so much more flavorful. Onions, carrots and celery are often used together as the base in soups, stews and braises (“mirepoix”), so it’s not a surprise that this works for a simple sauteed vegetable.
I’m not sure why I didn’t think about this before, but I’m glad I now have a tastier way of serving Swiss chard to my family.
For more Swiss chard recipes, check out this post on Favorite Swiss Chard recipes.
Sauteed Swiss Chard with Carrots and Celery Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 large bunch Swiss chard well rinsed, roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 1 stalk celery chopped
- 1 carrot peeled, sliced into 1/4" pieces
- 1/2 cup vegetable broth or water
- sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Instructions
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Steam Swiss chard for 6 minutes; remove.
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Heat olive oil in a large pot and add chili flakes, garlic, onion, celery and carrot. Saute until carrots are slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Add steamed Swiss chard, broth, salt and pepper; cook for 2-3 more minutes.
Recipe Notes
Adapted from Saveur
I’ve been getting lots of Chard in my CSA shares and am always looking for new ways to prepare it (love the idea of using it in pesto, too!)
Me too Deanna – pesto is a great way to use it up.
What a great idea to steam the chard before sautéing. That is a trick I will definitely be trying!
Dara – I’ve found steaming makes the stalks and leaves tender at the same time – hope you try it.
I love this Jeanette!!
I don’t use Swiss Chard often, but it is lovely and I do love it!
I started using Swiss Chard when I joined a CSA a number of years ago. It was a great way to try different ways to use this healthy vegetable.
I’m embarrassed to say that I have never made any kind of Swiss chard dish. I def think I need to change that!
My mom used to make it once in a while but I didn’t try it until I got it in my CSA Box
I’ve never steamed and sauteed chard . . can’t wait to try this!
Let me know what you think of steaming it first – I think it helps take some of the bitterness away too
Swiss chard is something I’ve been wanting to try with my boys foreverrr. I think the steaming and sauté would help sell this as a regular vegetable!
Hope you have a chance to try it on your boys – I’m always trying to get them to eat leafy greens, which is the toughest sell among all the vegetables.
I prefer kale and this recipe will work with kale. I have had luck with bitter greens and cornmeal. One recipe is for a regular polenta with cheese and sauteed greens and aromatics. The other is baked with layers of cheese polenta with layers of sauteed greens and aromatics. I know you can come up with delicious recipes for both these ideas if you think they will suit your family. Hoping to see some!