Servings: 6 Prep: 15 mins Cook: 10 mins Total: 25 mins
There are several recipes on my site which are here, in large part, simply because I feel I should offer a full and well rounded website complete with new things, but also some old classics. There are very few quick and simple side dishes are as classic as “creamed spinach”.
Creamed spinach, at its core, is little more than “cream” and “spinach”. A large bag of spinach is mostly air, followed by a lot of water and then … the rest of it. 2 full lbs of spinach will LOOK like a lot, but when it’s cooked and the air is removed and all the water evaporates, it shrivels into a small creamy mound of yum! One COULD just take a large pot full of cream, add the spinach with a bit of salt and pepper, then cook it until it’s reduced, the cream thick and the entire concoction is coated with a viscous cream. This is quick, easy and delicious, while also being somewhat one dimensional and a little lacking in vibrancy.
I’m going to suggest a few extra steps, but these will give us a slightly sweeter taste, with more developed flavors and a MUCH brighter green color … creating a far more attractive side dish!
Random Note: I SO badly wanted to add bacon bits to this, but … I decided to go minimalist. I also was feeling a bit bacon’ed out, if you can believe it! If you happen to trip, while walking through the kitchen carrying bacon bits, and a few are flung into the mix while it cooks … go ahead and leave them there. They’d be delicious!
Creamed Spinach
Print RateIngredients
- 2 lb fresh spinach leaves washed and stems removed
- 2 tbsp fat (olive oil butter ... or even bacon fat!)
- 1/2 small onion sliced
- 3 each garlic cloves minced
- 1 1/4 cups cream heavy whipping
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg ground
- salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring a medium sized pot of water to a boil, over high heat.
- Gather a bowl with ice cubes and water, as well as a colander or straining device, of some kind. Once the water boils, add a nice amount of salt. Place your spinach into the boiling water and allow to swirl around for about 30 seconds. Remove the spinach with the strainer and immediately plunge it into the ice water. When it is thoroughly cooled, remove the spinach and squeeze it, by clinching it in your fists (or with a cloth), until all the water has been squeezed out. You should have a sizeable lump of bright green cooked spinach.
- Coarsely chop the spinach and set aside.
- Place a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add oil, fat or butter. When the oil ripples, add the garlic and onions with a little bit of salt and pepper. Cook until translucent, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the spinach, cream, nutmeg and a bit more salt and pepper. Turn the heat up to high (the liquid will evaporate more quickly). Cook, while stirring, until the cream thickens and clings to the spinach. (about 4 to 5 minutes)
- Taste, adjust seasoning and serve! (optionally garnish with bacon bits)
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* Learn More: More about this recipe and nutrition …
This sounds delicious, DJ Foodie! How much cream is used? It’s not listed or else I’ve read over it several times!
Thank you,
Alice
—Reply posted by Gail Harris on 5/20/2015
Sorry!! 1 1/4 cups cream.,
—Reply posted by Gail Harria on 5/20/2015
1 1/2 cups cream
Oh Fiddlesticks, Alice! I’m sorry! I even remember the moment where I meant to add it, but … didn’t! It’s what I like to call a "heaping cup" of cream. A cup, plus … a little more. Thank you for pointing it out! 🙂
I love your recipes b/c they use ingredients I have on hand. But my dietician has suggested I eat 48 grams of fat or less in a day. Is there any decent low carb lower-fat substitution for heavy cream in sauces?
Julia … WOW! That’s quite low! The problem is … there are only 3 macro nutrients. If you take from one, another needs to go up. If you want to eat low-carb AND low-fat, then really all that’s left is protein. I don’t want to cause troubles and I don’t know WHY your doctor has suggested you cut your fats so low, but I do know that many doctors come from very outdated nutritional information. They’re there to fix the problem, but have very little training in preventative measures … like diet and nutrition. I might suggest talking to another doctor, or finding a support group to wrap your head fully around the topics. I can’t imagine a low-fat cream as being anything other than a Frankenfood. My mind goes to alternatives like cream cheese or coconut milk, but both are filled with fats. Usually low to no fat products are high in carbs. I really wish I had a better answer for you!
Could this be done with frozen spinach? Maybe even some cream cheese? 😉
Thanks!
Hi Mindy. I haven’t tried it, but … I honestly see no reason why not! I’d say go a bit light on the cream cheese to start. My concern is that it’s so fatty that it might break, resulting in a broken mess of protein globules floating in a sea of fat. It’ll still taste good, but … it may look a bit weird. If you just add a bit at a time and keep it moving while the cheese melts into it, it should stay nice and creamy. I hope this helps! 🙂
I tried this this weekend for my granddaughter who loves creamed spinach! It was really good, even my husband who doesn’t like greens at all loved it. I think I had a little too much spinach, I used two bags of frozen spinach, so I didn’t have a lot of cream in relation to the amount of spinach, but it was delicious.
Glad to hear it, Norma! Yep, frozen spinach is pretty compact. A little goes a long way. Next time just splash a bit more cream in there! 😉
Just starting on a ketogenic lifestyle. Made this tonight to pair with a steak.OMG, it’s heavenly. I added a little grated parmesan on top.
I halved the recipe, and I wish I didn’t! Thanks!
—Reply posted by DJ on 1/28/2015
Oh, I like the parmesan idea! Thanks for the thought! 🙂
Does this reheat well? Best way to do it? Thanks Linda
—Reply posted by DJ on 3/16/2015
Hi Linda, I don’t know. Probably not. I think what you COULD do is blanch the spinach in salt water, then shock it in ice water. Squeeze out the water. From there, you can probably store the spinach for a few days, and probably even freeze it (something like vacuum pack would work well, I think). Then, if you want to re-heat it, just get a hot pan, add some cream and onion and when it’s getting thick, add your spinach and warm it up, season and eat. I think this is your best bet. Literally refrigerating and reheating this “may” work within a 24 hour period, but I think the spinach will turn brown and the cream may “break” when being reheated. All in all, it’s a pretty quick thing to throw together, but … you could process a lot of the spinach and just have it lying around, ready to go. I think that’s a good “middle ground’. I hope this helps! 🙂
Before I saw this one I used the one on all recipe for frozen spinach. Only had one box. Cut ingredients in half. It was awesome. Yours is very much the same. Held up well and even better leftovers. Served two/twice.