simple sautéed swiss chard
Who are my Swiss Chard lovers? If you love Swiss Chard you will fall head over heels for this Simple Sautéed Swiss Chard Recipe. It is so easy to prepare, and only 80 calories per serving. Naturally vegan and only 7 grams net carbs per serving.
If you are stuck in the rut of baby spinach from a plastic box every week, it’s time to get on the Chard train! Don’t be intimidated by it, it’s not as scary as it looks and it is so good for you. Before we get to the tips on how to make this simple sautéed Swiss chard, here are some useful facts about it!
What is Swiss Chard?
Swiss Chard is a leafy vegetable that is related to beets. It has crunchy stems that are commonly red, though can also be white or yellow. The leaves range in color from dark green to reddish green. The flavor is similar to beets and spinach, with slight bitterness, and strong earthy flavor.
What Part of Swiss Chard is Edible?
Swiss Chard is entirely edible, including the leaves and stems. The stems need a little more cooking time than the leaves because they have a lot of cellulose that needs to soften for longer. The leaves cook quickly.
Swiss Chard can be eaten raw, though it contains oxalic acid, so it may be better for you to eat it cooked. Cooking it also makes it less bitter. I like to pair it with sweet onions, garlic and even a splash of vinegar. While it may be counterintuitive to add vinegar to make it more palatable, the acidity in the vinegar balances the bitter taste in the chard and the overall effect is more harmonious.
Benefits of Swiss Chard
What are the Health Benefits of Swiss Chard? Swiss Chard is naturally low in calories and carbohydrates but high in Vitamin K, Vitamin A and Vitamin C.
What is the difference between Swiss Chard and Rainbow Chard?
Swiss Chard is somewhat of a misnomer because it implies that it is a variety of chard from Switzerland. But actually it is a general common name for chard, and got the designation from the botanist who determined the plants scientific name in the 19th century. So to clarify, Swiss Chard and Chard are the same thing. Rainbow chard is not a specific variety of chard but a blend of different varieties planted and harvested together (or sometimes commercially blended after harvesting.)
How to Prepare Simple Sautéed Swiss Chard with Onions
- Chard cooks down a lot when you cook it, so I like to make a big batch of it. If you are not sure if you are going to love it, you can cut this recipe in half. If you do so, keep in mind that the onion mixture in step two will cook a little faster.
- To cut the Swiss Chard, lay a few leaves on top of each other on the cutting board, and remove the stems. Chop up the leaves and place them in a salad spinner. Repeat until you have a stack of stems and a spinner full of greens. Fill the salad spinner with water, swish it around and drain it. If it is a particularly muddy or dirty batch of chard, wash it again. Spin the chard greens dry. Rinse your stack of stems and trim off the ends if they are dry or discolored. Chop the stems up, just like you would celery.
- Because the stems are high in cellulose you will need to cook them longer than the greens. I love to add flavor and sweetness by cooking the stems with a chopped sweet onion. They cook at about the same rate and the onion really balances the flavors of the chard.
- Once the stems and onions are softened and the onions are starting to caramelize a bit, then add the green leaves at the end, since they don’t need as much cooking time to become tender.
- To wilt the greens, splash in a couple tablespoons water and cover the skillet with a lid. Note: If you don’t have a very large skillet with a lid you can do this in a wide Dutch oven instead.
- Once the greens are wilted down, remove the lid and continue cooking and stirring until the greens are tender.
- If you want to, drizzle on some Balsamic vinegar. Other ways to add a bit of pizzazz are to add a handful of toasted almonds or pine nuts, golden raisins, dried cranberries or dried currants, or even a little crumbled feta or goat cheese. Fresh herbs can be added as well. Mint goes well with feta and pine nuts. Try it!
Steps To Make This Recipe
- 1. Cut off stems from the Swiss Chard at the bottom of the leaves.
- 2. Finely chop the Swiss Chard stems.
- 3. Cut the leaves into pieces roughly 2-inch square.
- 4. Sauté onion, garlic and the stems in olive oil with the seasonings until the onion is starting to brown, 6-8 minutes.
- 5. Add the chard leaves and 2 tablespoons water to the skillet.
- 6.Cover and let the leaves wilt for 2 to 4 minutes.
- 7. Remove lid and continue stirring until the leaves have wilted down and softened, 1 to 3 minutes.
- 8. Remove from the heat and drizzle with Balsamic vinegar.
More Healthy Swiss Chard Recipes
- If you love Swiss Chard and want more healthy ideas here are a few of my favorites:
- This Chard Egg Bake is an easy way to use up extra greens and get in your veggies at breakfast!
- I love using whole leaves of chard to make these Swiss Chard “Cabbage” Rolls.
- Chard Tart with Goat Cheese, this is a lovely vegetarian entree for the holidays or entertaining.
- I’m so into the flavor combo here: Chard with Chicken and Curry.
- You can even add Swiss Chard to your smoothies! Try this Healthy Green Smoothie to start.
What to Serve with this Recipe
This Balsamic Chicken would be nice or my beloved Turkey Meatloaf recipe.
This sautéed swiss chard would be a super yummy and easy accompaniment to these Lemon Caper Salmon Cakes.
For a weekend meal, try this spatchcocked chicken and a batch of simple saffron rice.
Or for a vegetarian meal, serve this with my pumpkin brown rice risotto.
Thanks so much for reading. Let me know if you make this recipe by coming back and leaving a star rating and review! It is so helpful! And if you are new here you may want to sign up for my email newsletter and follow me on Instagram to keep up with the latest.
Happy Cooking!
~Katie
Printsimple sautéed swiss chard
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 20
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: side dish
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: American
Description
Simple Sautéed Swiss Chard with onions, garlic and a splash of balsamic vinegar. A healthy low calorie side dish.
Ingredients
2 large bunches Swiss chard, or rainbow chard
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large onion, diced
½ teaspoon salt
pinch each dry thyme and nutmeg
Freshly ground pepper to taste
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar, optional
Instructions
- Chop and clean Swiss Chard: Stack several pieces of Swiss chard on work surface. Remove stems and set aside. Roughly cut leaves into pieces about 2-inch square. Repeat with the remaining swiss chard. Transfer the chopped leaves to a salad spinner filled with water. Drain, repeat washing if necessary, and spin dry. Rinse and chop the Swiss chard stems (about the same size as the diced onion.)
- Cook The Swiss Chard: Heat oil in a large heavy skillet over medium high heat. Add chopped chard stems, garlic, onion, salt, thyme, nutmeg and pepper and cook, stirring often until the onions are starting to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Add chopped cleaned Swiss chard leaves, 2 tablespoons water and cover. Let wilt, 2 to 4 minutes. Remove lid and continue cooking, stirring occasionally until the Swiss chard is completely wilted and softened, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and drizzle with balsamic vinegar if using. Serve hot.
Notes
Alternative To Large Skillet with Lid: If you don’t have a very large skillet with a lid you can do this in a wide Dutch oven instead.
Other Elements To Try Adding To This Recipe:
If you’re ready to get creative with this recipe here are some idea starters for ways to liven up this recipe even more!
- Add a handful of toasted almonds or pine nuts at the end.
- When you remove the lid add a handful of golden raisins, dried cranberries or dried currants
- When you pull it off the heat crumble on a little feta or goat cheese.
- Fresh herbs can be added as well. Savory woody herbs like oregano or thyme can go in with the onions, where as tender herbs like mint, basil or chives can be stirred in after it comes off the heat.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2/3 cup
- Calories: 80
- Sugar: 5 g
- Fat: 5 g
- Carbohydrates: 9 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 2 g
Delicious! Definitely add the viegar, even just a little.
★★★★★
I’m so glad you tried it and liked it! Agreed about the vinegar. It balances everything.
This is a great, simple recipe. I loved it. Thanks for sharing.
★★★★★
Hi Niki. I am so happy you liked it! Yay!
Loved this recipe and so simple. We added some sliced red pepper which was a way to use it up. We did have it with the vinegar which was tasty.
★★★★★
I am so glad to hear you liked it. Love the addition of peppers. Local peppers are available here right now so I have been sneaking them into everything too!
So easy and so yummy, loved the balsamic! Thanks for a great recipe
★★★★★
Thank you Rachel! I am so happy to hear you liked it!
This was so good. I usually just freeze my chard for winter soup making. Followed your recipe and added fig balsamic vinegar which is a bit sweeter than regular balsamic. Thanks for the recipe.
★★★★★
Hi Charlotte. I am so happy to hear you found this new way to enjoy chard in the summer. I will have to try that fig balsamic. Sounds amazing! Thanks for leaving a review and rating. Appreciated!!
I did this recipe to use up a glut of chard in our veg patch. My husband can be a bit fussy, but loves mushrooms so I chucked in a whole load of mushrooms too and sauteed them with the onion & chard stalks. Our chard is quite “earthy” so I also added a veggie stock cube, a slosh of white wine (just because I had a glass on the go) & a teaspoon of sugar. The result was delicious and got hubby’s seal of approval – yay!
★★★★★
In all honesty, chard is not one of my favorite things. But, someone gave me a large bunch of it that I needed to use up.
I liked the balsamic drizzle. But, would add more the next time around as it sort of disappeared to my taste. Perhaps I’ll add some lemon juice too. This time around I also added some sliced button mushrooms that were lurking around the fridge, so perhaps that added a little more moisture to the pan.
I’ve pinned this recipe to use again in the future.
★★★★
I’m glad to hear you liked it and will make it again. Thanks for letting me know and good feedback about the balsamic and mushrooms. Have a great week!
I’ve made this twice and love it, but I have a question. I am harvesting my own chard and just guessing on the amount. How much chard is a “bunch”?
Glad you like it! Thank you! The size of Chard bunches varies. I would estimate 6 medium-large stalks per bunch. 8 if you have smaller stalks.
This was delicious! I made it with the vinegar and we really liked it.
★★★★★
That’s so great! I am so happy you liked this one Amy! Yay! Have a great week.
Awesome! The different flavors and textures worked out really well, and the color also! This was a real winner.
★★★★★
I am so glad you liked the recipe Shmuel! Thank you!
tasted perfect! vinegar made this dish…
Thank you Ronald!
I’ve never had Swiss chard before but my cousin gave me some fresh out of her garden. I decided to try this because it looked easy. It was easy but very delicious! Paired with a grilled cheese sandwich it was a great simple supper.
★★★★★
This is the best! Thank you so much for telling me how you came across this recipe. So glad you loved it!
Love this! So good with almonds, cranberries and golden raisins
And in a Japanese style bowl of short grain brown rice.
Thank you!
★★★★★
I love your addition of almonds, cranberries and golden raisins! How yummy! Thanks for coming back to leave your review Michelle. Have a great rest of your week.
Super good. I added tempeh for some protein and a serrano pepper for kick. Definitely should have used two bunches of chard.
★★★★★
Hi Jef. I am psyched you tried it and liked it. Love the idea of your additions. I don’t use tempeh enough but I really love it. Great idea to add serrano. Yum! Thank you!
We had never had chard and this was a delightful first experience thank you. We threw on a handful of chopped bacon at the end. Balsamic vinegar was a great idea! We are going to used the left overs in a frittata tomorrow with potatoes eggs and cheese. Thanks again
★★★★★
Love the idea of adding bacon! Yum!