How to make kale cook faster and taste edible?

If you don’t like the way it tastes, you probably should move on to a different green. I find kale tasty even raw, and when I cook it, I only lightly sauté it with a touch of salt and garlic so that the stems don’t lose all of their crunch.

Or maybe that is the problem – that you are cooking it for too long? Try snapping the stem off and taking a bite of that. If you don’t like that taste, kale will never be for you.

I hate kale. I’m going to follow your Q to see what others do, but I thought I would mention that I read kale is now on the list of veggies with lots of pesticides. It wasn’t previously, but now that it is popular the bigger farms are growing it and doing what big commercial farms do, spraying. That is if that article I read is reliable.

I just eat other dark green leafy like spinach and some other greens. I think it is just as good, or close enough. I never really looked up the exact nutrients to compare, but you might consider it if you hate kale, but want the nutrients it can provide.

I love Kale. I steam it with a sprinkle of onion/garlic powder and then put homemade raspberry dressing on it.

Raspberry dressing: some crushed raspberries, some olive oil and a dash of balsamic vinegar. Maybe add some crushed almonds.

If you want it to cook faster you’ll have to cut it into very, very thin strips. Personally, I like it steamed (but not too much) and served with melted garlic butter.

Okay then. I just had it once it it tasted tlike chewing on wood or something. I’ll try it again.
Thanks all.

@flo It might just have been a bad piece of kale. When you look at it in the grocery store, it should have a very fresh, green, juicy look. If it looks brownish or wilty, steer clear.

@glacial it looks greyish green whenhever I see it. Like someone sprayed it with some white powder. Not at all juicy look.

I caramelize onions in plenty of coconut oil first, then add other veggies (carrots, green pepper, celery, mushrooms, whatever) and when they’re cooked, I add the kale. The sweet veggies (carrots and onions) add a little sweetness. People rave when they taste this, and I often hear that the coconut oil really adds that extra oomph.

Chop it and Bake it with chicken.

Don’t eat the stems and its a little late now but maybe in your area they have an indoor hothouse where they grow kale with out all the chemicals.

Also there are many different varieties purply, curly, flat, green etc..

The big flat one’s are great for sandwhich wraps. Just fold the leaf at the stem take a knife to the fattest part but leaving enough so it remains whole. Place it over something cooking stovetop maybe a filling. Let it sit there for a minute and then flip it..

Fill it up. Wrap burrito style and plate or wrap in saran wrap and fridge it for a lunch or snack later.

Also green smoothies are a wonderful medium for this. Just add some fruit to make it sweet if necessary.

Other then including it in stews I leave it raw.

You can remove the stems, cut into chiffonade, steam and then throw into any soup or stew as “soup with greens.”

Or else sauté the same thinly sliced pieces in olive oil and a little garlic.

Apparently, almost any fruit or vegetable may be sprayed; you have to check the provenence. I buy produce only at our two food coops.

A few nights ago, I lightly sauteed some kale and mushrooms with a wee bit of chopped shallots and used that as a filling for my lasagna.

I too, love kale, so I may be the wrong person to ask.

This recipe for Raw Kale and Root Vegetable Salad is one of my go-to recipes. Instead of going to the trouble to make the spicy nuts, I just buy Trader Joe’s sweet and spicy roasted pecans.

Maybe you could try making some Kale Pesto

It’s also good, if you throw some finely chopped or chifonaded (like Gail mentioned) kale on the top of a fresh or frozen pizza about 2 minutes before it is done. Don’t put it on any earlier, or it will start to burn. But if you put it on during the last few minutes, it will crisp up and be a nifty and very different texture to your pizza.

Borscht is also very good with the addition of Kale.

I use Alton Brown’s spinach salad with warm bacon dressing recipe for kale.

It works for dandelion greens too.

I don’t know what you must be doing with it but it takes about 5 minutes, if that, to cook in my house. The taste depends in what you are cooking with it.

I do kale chips. take out the ribs, toss with evoo and salt and crush pepper, bake for 15 minutes

I think @glacial is onto something, kale tastes awful when it’s overcooked.
My wife makes a great kale salad and the kale is ‘cooked’ by just the lemon juice in the dressing. It has some olive oil and toasted pecans and a few other things. ... probably we’ll see a batch this Thursday for Thanksgivukkah.

@dabbler: How thinly sliced are the individual kale leaves?

Salad size, maybe cut into ½” to ¾” strips. Small enough to be no problem on a fork.

Thanks.

Thank you all. I guessdon’t go by one experience, is the lesson here.