How to Make a Collard Green Wrap

I’ve always wondered how to make the perfect collard green wrap. Fastforward 10 years and a health supportive culinary degree and now I know how! So I’m going to show you exactly how to make perfect collard green wraps at home, every time!

Whenever it’s an option on the menu I always order it. But why not enjoy them at home? Collard wraps are great for quick and versatile lunches. You can fill them with just about anything and have a tasty detoxifying meal in minutes. Any combination of flavors will work, you can make Mexican style wraps with beans and guacamole or Mediterranean ones with Israeli salad and this 20 minute Raw Vegan Falafel.

I love wraps, but as someone who has been avoiding grains and flour, I thought that my wrap eating days were over. Unfortunately, many restaurants still don’t offer collard green wraps. Spinach wraps are more popular but they’re essentially a green wheat wrap with some spinach mixed in.

When Bare Burger offered collards as an option for wraps, for the first time in a long time, I felt like a normal person being able to order straight off the menu, no substitutions! This experience definitely has driven my desire to learn how to make the PERFECT wrap out of collard greens.

Back in the early 2000’s, when I started eating raw foods, I would try to create my own wraps at home. I didn’t know all the little tricks that keep wraps together. Like trimming the stems and steaming the greens slightly to make them more pliable. A decade and a culinary degree later, I was able to do it. But you don’t need a culinary degree to create beautiful and quick veggie wraps out of collards. Just some guidance.

So here you’ll find everything you need to know in order to create the perfect wrap.

What You Need to Make a Collard Green Wrap

You’ll only need a few things. Collard greens and filling. The filling should consist of something “gluey” like hummus or vegan refried black beans, and something solid like falafel or chopped veggies.

1. Collard Greens
2. Gluey Filling like Hummus, Bean Spread, Taziki, Baba Ganush
3. Veggies, Falafel, Cheese, Protein etc.

How to Make…

Step 1: If you want to keep the collard completely raw, slice stem off as depicted in picture 1. If you steam the leaf it will be easier to to wrap. The easiest way to steam the leaf is to hold it over boiling water for 1 minute until the collard turns bright green. Then proceed to trim the stem.

Step 2: Flip the leaf over so that stem side is facing down. Load with hummus and veggies.

Step 3: Take one side of the collard and roll It over the filling. Tuck the edge of the leaf under the filling while simultaneously tucking in the sides as you roll. Slice through the middle and enjoy!

Tips and Tricks

Making collard green wraps isn’t brain science but these tips will help ensure that you’re first wrap will turn out just as well as your one hundredth.

1. Lightly steam the collards by holding them over boiling water. Instead of boiling a whole pot. You can hold the collard over a tea kettle or instant hot water heater instead!
2. Trim the stem. Trim away as much of the thick woody stem as possible to make the wrap easier to roll.
3. If you aren’t confident cutting the stem, you can crush it by pressing the back of the stem with a cup, plate or the back of your knife.

I hope you give these wraps a try! Don’t forget to join our community on facebook! Like our Eating Works Facebook Page and follow us on instagram @eatingworks!