Don’t throw those swiss chard stalks out! We’ve discovered a delicious thing or 3 to do with them.
I’m ashamed to say our swiss chard has been languishing in the garden because our family just hadn’t taken to these easy-to-grow greens, until now…
First, separate your chard leaves from the stalks and cut your stalks into 4″ long pieces. Save them in a bowl. Aren’t they pretty?
Spicy Swiss Chard Chips:
We all know what kale chips are. Well, try making chips with your swiss chard, too. They’re a delicious and nutritious substitute for potato chips. By adding a little garlic powder, salt, and some chili powder, you won’t be able to eat just one.
Turn your oven to 275 degrees. Place your chard pieces on a baking sheet or glass baking pan. Add a tablespoon of olive oil per baking pan and toss the chard leaves with equal amounts of sea salt and garlic powder and chili powder. That’s it! Add your spice to taste and be sure to not make it too salty.
Bake for 20 minutes and then turn the leaves over and bake another 10 minutes if needed. Your bake time depends on your baking dish.
Enjoy!
Chard Stalk Pickles:
Now take your stalks and if you have a bottle of Claussen pickle juice waiting for something delicious to throw in, just stuff a few of your raw stalks in the bottle and within a few hours you’ll have delicious chard stalk pickles. My kids love them.
I found another recipe for delicious pickled swish chard stalks at Cookistry. But if you want to read my entertaining version with home-grown photography, here we go:
Blanch your stalks in boiling salted water for about 3-4 minutes. You want them to stay crunchy so be sure to not overcook them. Drain the stalks and try a few at this stage. Aren’t they delicious? We loved the slightly salted cooked stalks so much we saved a few and had them as a side dish with dinner.
Find a mason jar or 2 and put your stalks in them.
Then, bring the following ingredients to a boil and make sure everything is completely dissolved:
2 cups water
3/4 cup white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
Pour your water into your mason jars with chard stalks in them and screw the tops on. Put them in the refrigerator when they’ve cooled and you can enjoy these pickles for a few weeks.
Do you have a favorite chard stalk recipe? I was so excited to find a way to save them from the compost bin or chicken yard I’d love to learn of other chard stalk rescue recipes.
Pioneering The Simple Life 
AND you can juice them! 😉
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Oh, yes! Can you provide a link to your favorite smoothie recipe with chard here?? We’d love to try it.
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Oh my goodness, there’s a challenge! I would just put it in a juice where you would normally use kale or spinach. I prefer to juice green leaves with other veg and fruit rather than blend them, a little too much fibre. I tend to use romaine leaves in smoothies, lighter and not such a strong flavour, goes better with nut milk smoothies I think. The next time rainbow chard comes in our organic veggie box I will try to come up with something appropriate. For now here is a link to my Kiwi Protein Shake http://wp.me/p6UDky-mN You could try swapping a little chard for the romaine and if you’re not used to green power smoothies perhaps reduce the hemp protein powder.
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Thank you!
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The chard stalk chips sound yummy, can’t wait to try it!
I wrote a post on preparing chard on one of my blogs a couple of days ago:
https://naturallyhealthyfitandfrugal.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/all-chard-up-preparing-chard-and-greens/
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Hi Kit: I love your post and what a great idea to simply blend your extra chard down into a green sauce to use in recipes like tacos! That’s such a great idea. I’m thinking that we could freeze the green sauce in little chunks and add it all year long to things like smoothies, soups, and pesto. Many, many thanks for sharing!
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So glad you liked it!
That’s a great idea – to freeze it in little chunks and then use as needed. Perfect for busier days!
Also, do you have any ideas on how to package things for freezing without relying solely on plastic? I figured if anyone would know it’d be you.
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Definitely, and thanks for asking! Just freeze in your usual ice cube trays. And if you don’t like plastic at all, people can find metal ice cube trays at yard sales or they’re available online. You can ask in your local Buy Nothing group, too. I use a silicone ice cube tray that’s little fishies, of all things. But the point is that I can make batches of frozen, well, fish, but it’s often things like concentrated pestos etc and then when they’re frozen, I pop them into a glass mason jar and then into the freezer. Hope that helps! I freeze tons of stuff in mason jars, with the caution of making sure I don’t fill my jars to the top. Frozen liquids and sauces expand when they freeze.
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Thank you very much for the suggestions – they’re a great help! 🙂
As for the Buy Nothing group, as of the moment I’m still shying away from getting a Facebook, and as I far as I understand that’s the only way to participate. If my views on the subject change (or it stops being Facebook-based) I would love to be a part of it.
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Wonderful Great Photographs ♥♥♥
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Aw, thanks so much for the encouragement!
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You can also grill the stems/leaves. A little olive oil and salt and pepper.
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Mmmmm. Hi Laurie! That sounds really good. Thanks so much for the tip!
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Or you can pretend they’re asparagus. Lightly steam, then eat them by dunking them in butter, or mayonnaise, or whatever your favourite accompaniment to asparagus is.
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