Dandelion Greens vs Collard Greens – Which is Healthier?

Our Verdict

When comparing dandelion greens to collard greens, we picked the dandelion greens.

Why?

Collard greens are great—they even beat kale in one of our previous “This or That” articles!—but dandelion greens simply pack more of a nutritional punch:

In terms of macros, dandelions have slightly more carbs (+3g/100g) for the same protein and fiber, and/but the glycemic index is equal (zero), so those carbs aren’t anything to worry about. Nobody is getting metabolic disease by getting their carbs from dandelion leaves. In short, we’re calling it a tie on macros, though it could nominally swing either way if you have an opinion (one way or the other) about the extra 3g of carbs.

In the category of vitamins, things are more exciting: dandelion greens have more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B6, B7, B9, C, E, and K, while collard greens have more vitamin B5. An easy and clear win for dandelions.

Looking at the minerals tells a similar story; dandelion greens have much more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc, while collard greens have slightly more manganese. Another overwhelming win for dandelions.

One more category, polyphenols. We’d be here until next week if we listed all the polyphenols that dandelion greens have, but suffice it to say, dandelion greens have a total of 385.55mg/100g polyphenols, while collard greens have a total of 0.08mg/100g polyphenols. Grabbing a calculator, we see that this means dandelions have more than 4819x the polyphenol content that collard greens do.

So, “eat leafy greens” is great advice, but they are definitely not all created equal!

Let us take this moment to exhort: if you have any space at home where you can grow dandelions, grow them!

Not only are they great for pollinators, but also they beat the collard greens that beat kale. And you can have as much as you want, for free, right there.

Want to learn more?

You might like to read:

Collard Greens vs Kale – Which is Healthier?

Enjoy!