Sautéed Kale with Garlic and Parmesan

4.86 from 7 votes

Sautéed kale with garlic and parmesan makes an easy, flexible, and super-savory side dish for a wide variety of meals. Don't miss it.

Course: Sides

Cuisine: American

Keyword: sauteed kale with garlic and parmesan

Calories: 96kcal

Author: Carolyn Gratzer Cope

Strip the kale from its stems and tear into bite-sized pieces. Wash and dry well in a salad spinner.
Heat the olive oil over medium-high in a 12-inch frying pan. Add garlic, salt, and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring frequently, for a minute or two, until garlic is very fragrant and beginning to take on the slightest bit of color.
Add kale by the handful. Pan will be very full at first.
Cook, stirring very frequently at first, until kale is tender and dramatically reduced in volume. Depending on the variety and thickness of the kale you're working with, this will take anywhere from a couple of minutes to more like 10 minutes.
Off the heat, stir in the parmesan and drizzle with balsamic glaze.

This recipe works equally well with curly or lacinato kale (also called dinosaur or Tuscan kale or cavolo nero). Choose whatever looks best at the market. Kale is at its peak in the colder months but is good any time of year.
I've called for olive oil, which complements kale nicely. You can use butter instead if you like, to change up the flavor profile a bit.
The red pepper flakes are optional, though I think a little touch of heat adds a lot of dimension. You can use as little or as much as you like.
Instead of using balsamic glaze, you can stir in a tablespoon of regular balsamic vinegar toward the end of cooking and let it reduce a bit.
This dish only takes a few minutes to cook, so I like to make it shortly before serving. You can prep all the ingredients up to about 24 hours in advance. Leftovers will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for a week.