Have you ever cooked with collard greens? They make a delightful, low-carb wrap for a yummy filling! In this vegan collard green wraps recipe, they're stuffed with loads of veggies and healthy plant-based protein.
Updated: This post was originally published in July 2019 and has been updated with new photos and additional content.
Who says you need a tortilla to make a delicious wrap! These collard wraps are a healthy alternative to eating more veggies, cutting back on carbs, or if you're following a gluten-free diet.
Interested in trying other types of easy vegan sandwiches? Try this vegan shiitake BLT or a vegan tuna salad sandwich!
Jump to:
💚 Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Easy to make!
- Collard greens make a healthy alternative for wrapping!
- Great for taking on the go!
- Vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free, so it's suitable for all types of eaters.
🛒 Ingredients
These are some essential ingredients to add to your vegan collard green wraps, but you can get as creative as you want with some of your favorite vegetables or condiments.
- Hummus: I love to make this with homemade roasted red pepper & garlic hummus. But if you're short on time, there are many great brands of hummus sold in the market. My "go-to" brands are usually Whole Foods or Cava hummus. Both are made with quality ingredients and have a decent creamy texture and a variety of flavors.
- Veggies: For the best crunch that will hold up over time, we're using carrots, cucumber, red and yellow bell pepper, microgreens, and fresh cilantro.
- Collard greens: These large leaf greens are available in most large grocery stores in the produce section. If you can't find them, you could swap them with cabbage leaves, kale, or butter lettuce. These options will not need to be softened, but they also may not wrap as neatly as the collards.
🤔 What are Collard Greens?
Collard greens are a variety of cabbage but grow in a loose bunch rather than a tight head like other cabbages. It has a flavor that's a bit of a blend between kale and cabbage.
It's most commonly associated with southern cooking, where the leaves are boiled with pork until soft and tender.
Choose greens with firm, vibrant green leaves for maximum freshness and the highest-quality nutrients. If they're wilted, that means they aren't fresh!
Wondering how to store collard greens? Collards can keep for up to five days when wrapped in a paper towel and stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. They tend to hold longer if you clean them just before use.
Collards taste delicious raw in a salad or slaw and are also great cooked - roasted, sautéed, or braised with a little garlic and olive oil.
🌿 Variations
Here are a few quick changes you can make to change up the ingredients in your healthy vegan wraps! Feel free to experiment with others as well.
- Change the flavor of hummus. This might be the easiest way to change up this recipe. Experiment with all different flavors to create different combinations.
- Use other types of bean spreads. White bean dip, black bean dip, or even refried beans all work great.
- Add some roasted tempeh! This easy baked tempeh in an easy marinade works great rolled up in collard greens! You can use it to replace the hummus or in addition!
- Change up the veggies. I like the colorful blend used in the recipe, but you swap them with any of your favorite raw or roasted vegetables.
✅ How to Make Collard Green Wraps
Before we can get started making these vegan collard green wraps, get all the veggies prepped. Start by rinsing, peeling, and cutting the carrot, bell pepper, and cucumber into thin strips. Rinse and dry the microgreens.
First, we're going to start by showing you how to soften collard greens for wraps. The leaves are a bit tougher than cabbage, kale, and other greens that work well for wrapping.
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and reduce the heat.
- Submerge the leaves, one at a time, into the simmering water for 20-30 seconds.
- Remove from the water with tongs and place the collard greens in a clean dish cloth (or between 2 paper towels) and pat dry gently until completely dry.
- Trim the stem and spine of the collard green leaves.
- Measure hummus into a small bowl. Place all the ingredients on a cutting board. You are now ready to wrap!
- Lay out collard greens with de-stemmed sections overlapping each other (with no openings).
- Layer the veggies in order starting with the hummus, carrots, cucumbers, peppers, and microgreens.
- Once it's filled, you can start rolling and tucking in the sides to close the end openings.
- Slice each collard wrap in half or eat it whole. Enjoy!
👩🏻🍳 Expert Tips and FAQs
- Make sure to clean the collard greens well. They tend to have a lot of grit which won't feel good if you bite into it!
- For a heartier vegan collard wrap, add some roasted tempeh! Be sure to set aside some tempeh marinade and drizzle it as a topping.
- Storage: After wrapping, store the collard green rolls in a single layer in a container in the fridge. These wraps don't work well to freeze.
Collard greens give you get an extra burst of nutrition because they’re extremely low in calories (just 49 calories in 1 cup of blanched collard greens) and they are rich in folate, calcium, dietary fiber, and vitamins E, A, K, and C.
Thanks to its many nutrients, collard greens have been associated with cancer prevention, detox support, anti-inflammatory properties, heart health, bone health, and digestive support.
Both are great, but collard greens have 18% more calcium than the same size serving of kale and double the amount of protein and iron!
Yes, they work great to make the night before and carry for a packed lunch kept cool! The vegetables will release water as they sit, so I don't recommend making them too far ahead of time.
Clean collard greens leaf individually by submerging it in water to remove any grit. After washing each one, dump out the water and replace it with fresh and repeat again just to be sure they're completely clean.
♻️️ Zero Waste Tip!
Not sure what to do with all your leftover collard green stems? Luckily there are many ways to keep them from ending up in the trash!
Many of the nutrients and vitamins found in collard greens are found in the stems, too, so chop them up and save them for stock, a smoothie, or stir fry.
If the idea of eating the stems is not for you, they are great for composting. Find more tips for zero waste and composting under the Resources section.
➕ More Easy Lunch Recipes
If you made this recipe, please leave a star 🌟 rating on the recipe card right below! You can also drop a review in the comment section. Your feedback is appreciated! And don’t forget to tag @themindfulfork so we can see your creations.
📖 Recipe
Vegan Collard Greens Wraps
Ingredients
- ½ large carrot
- ½ medium seedless cucumber
- ½ red pepper
- ½ yellow pepper
- ½ cup microgreens
- 4 collard greens
- 4 tablespoon hummus
Instructions
- Rinse, peel & cut the carrot and cucumber into thin strips.
- Clean, half & seed the peppers. Cut into thin strips.
- Rinse & dry microgreens.
- Trim the stem and spine of the collard green leaves.
- Bring a quart of salted water to a boil and lower flame. Submerge the leaves (one at a time) into the simmering water for 20-30 seconds. Place the collard greens in a clean dish cloth (or between 2 paper towels) and pat dry gently and completely.
- Measure hummus into a small bowl. Place all the ingredients on a cutting board. You are now ready to wrap!
- Lay out collard greens with de-stemmed section overlapping each other (with no openings). Stack in order - hummus, carrots, cucumbers, peppers, microgreens & cilantro. Now start rolling tightly and tuck in the sides to close the end openings.
- Either slice in half or eat whole. Enjoy!
Leave a Reply