I have a div like this
<div id="asdf">
<div>
<p>ASDF IS AWESOME</p>
</div>
<h1>Just another Headline</h1>
<nav>
<ul>
<li class="listitem">Hey</li>
</ul>
</nav>
</div>
jQuery
vanilla JavaScript
<div id="asdf"
<div>
<p>ASDF IS AWESOME</p>
</div>
<h1>Just another Headline</h1>
<nav>
<ul>
<li class="listitem"Hey</li>
</ul>
</nav>
</div>
<
>
.replace
.text()
Try that
var html = $('#asdf').html();
var escaped=$('<div/>').text(html).html();
console.log(escaped);
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div id="asdf">
<div>
<p>ASDF IS AWESOME</p>
</div>
<h1>Just another Headline</h1>
<nav>
<ul>
<li class="listitem">Hey</li>
</ul>
</nav>
</div>