How to cook spinach | Good Food

Meet Miriam

Miriam Nice is a freelance food and drinks writer, presenter and illustrator. She has written three books. “When I was flat-sharing, one of my favourite quick meals was wilted spinach with couscous, feta, harissa, tahini, lemon and toasted seeds. It was quick to make and used minimal space in an already cosy shared kitchen. I loved the large leafy spinach leaves I could buy by the bunch or bagful from the corner shop downstairs. I have more time and space to cook now, but I still use spinach to add flavour, texture and nourishing greenery.”

Spinach is easy to grow, is a good source of vitamins and minerals and has an earthy bitter flavour that works well in a wide variety of dishes. For these reasons spinach is well-loved all over the world.

Cooking spinach is easy and can be done in minutes but it’s worth noting that the leaves contain a lot of water, which is released rapidly when heated. This causes the volume to decrease dramatically so a large panful of spinach can quickly reduce to a handful once cooked. The water that is released must be properly drained or the leaves will be soggy and unpleasant.

Young spinach leaves, or baby spinach as it’s often called, can be served raw in smoothies or salads, matching well with sharp or citrus-based dressings and ingredients.

As well as the fresh leaves, you can also buy spinach frozen, usually finely chopped and frozen into small blocks. These can be added to smoothies, or to stews, soups, curries and sauces straight from the freezer. If cooking, heat until defrosted and piping hot through.

Check out our best spinach recipes, frozen spinach recipes and spinach pasta recipes for easy ways to cook with spinach, or find out how to cook broccoli, how to cook sugar snap peas and how to cook broad beans,

Can you eat spinach raw

Young spinach leaves, or baby spinach as it’s often called, can be served raw in smoothies or salads, matching well with sharp or citrus-based dressings and ingredients.

How to prepare and cook spinach

Baby spinach leaves need no more than a quick rinse before use. The older leaves might need a more thorough wash in cold water and you may also want to trim or tear off any woodier stems.

What is the best way to cook spinach?

If you want to add spinach to another dish then the wilted method is often the quickest and easiest, it’s best for smaller quantities too so if you’re making a toastie or want to add a bit to a pizza or a tortellini filling then this is great.

The best for flavour is the sautéed spinach with garlic. You can also vary the flavours easily by adding other ingredients to the oil. Try a few chilli flakes or a little lemon zest when you add the garlic. Alternatively you can also add a mix of butter and oil or use a mixture of a neutral oil (like sunflower oil) and sesame oil. You can also fry some pine nuts before adding the garlic for an special twist. Pine nuts are a lovely pairing for spinach in this recipe by Mary Cadogan. If garlic isn’t your thing, try it with some finely chopped shallots (you’ll just need to fry them a little longer than the garlic to soften them) or leave the garlic out completely.

The other great thing about sautéing in this way is that you can prepare it ahead and just quickly finish it in the sauté pan before serving.

Blanching it and then adding a knob of butter or drizzle of oil to serve is a good way to keep things simple and quick. It’s a really good option if the dish you’re serving it with needs a side dish with a bit of subtlety, but if you want a side dish that’s a hero in it’s own right then sautéing it is the way to go.

Blanched spinach – serves 2

• 400g-450g spinach or 250-300g baby spinach
• butter or olive oil
• salt and pepper

1. Half-fill a large pan with water and bring it to the boil. Tip the prepared spinach into the boiling water. It will start to wilt quite quickly, once it has wilted (about 1-2 mins) drain it through a colander and allow all the excess water to run out, pressing it with the back of a spoon or underside of a ladle will help force excess water out of the spinach through the colander.
2. Put the cooked spinach in a serving dish and add butter or olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. A little grating of nutmeg also works well with spinach.
3. If you want to serve the spinach cold (or you want to heat it through later in another recipe) plunge it into a bowl of iced water immediately after it has been wilted. This will preserve it’s vibrant colour and cool it down rapidly. Carefully drain once cooled and pat the spinach dry with kitchen roll.

Wilted spinach recipe – serves 1-2

• 250-300g bag baby spinach

This is a really quick and easy method.

1. Simply fill a colander with your washed baby spinach and set it over the sink. Boil a full kettle.
2. As soon as the water has boiled carefully pour the contents of the kettle over the spinach so the water wilts the leaves then runs through the colander down the drain.
3. Force the excess water away from the spinach by pressing it down in the colander with the back of a spoon or ladle then season and serve or use in your chosen recipe.

Sautéed spinach – serves 6

• 1kg spinach
• ice cubes
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2-3 garlic cloves, crushed

For this method you’re blanching and refreshing it, then when you’re ready to serve heating it through in a large pan with oil or butter and in this version, some garlic too.

1. Half-fill a large pan with water and bring it to the boil. Half fill a large bowl with cold water and a couple of handfuls of ice cubes.
2. To blanch the spinach tip it into the boiling water. It will start to wilt down quite quickly, once it has wilted (about 1-2 mins) use a large slotted spoon or tongs to transfer it to your bowl of iced water, to refresh. Stir it around a few times gently, so it can chill down quickly. Once cooled, drain it through a colander and allow all the excess water to run out, pressing it with the back of a spoon or underside of a ladle will help force excess water out of the spinach through the colander. You can also squeeze the water out with your hands.
3. Once drained you can pat the spinach dry with a tea towel. At this stage you can cover it and place it in the fridge until you’re ready to serve. It will keep chilled for up to a day.
4. When you’re ready to serve, heat the oil in a large sauté pan and then add the garlic, stir briefly then add the cold blanched spinach. Stir until coated in the garlicky oil and heated through.
5. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a serving dish.

Can you freeze spinach?

Yes you can, in fact it’s a really versatile ingredient. You can buy spinach already frozen but if you have a lot of spinach either shop-bought or homegrown and you want to prolong it’s life then freezing is a great option.

First you will need to blanch and refresh your spinach then freeze it in to blocks. Freezing it in chunks like this makes it easy to defrost and use later.

1. Half-fill a large pan with water and bring it to the boil. Half fill a large bowl with cold water and a couple of handfuls of ice cubes.
2. Add your spinach into the boiling water. It will start to wilt down quite quickly, once it has wilted (about 1-2 mins) use a large slotted spoon or tongs to transfer it to your bowl of iced water, stir it around gently a couple of times. Once cooled, drain it through a colander and allow all the water to run off. Press it with the back of a spoon or squeeze it with your hands to force excess water out of the spinach.
3. Once drained, you can pat the spinach dry with a tea towel and then start shaping it into freezable portions. You can either shape it into small pellets with your hands and place on a baking tray or spoon it into the holes of a large silicon ice cube mould or silicone cupcake tray. Put the tray of spinach into your freezer for a few hours to open freeze. Once frozen, solid take them off the tray or pop them out of their moulds and place in a freezer safe container. Should keep in the freezer for around six months.

If you want finely chopped frozen spinach, just chop the spinach up before you shape it or place it into the moulds.

Recipe ideas with spinach

Spinach, sweet potato & lentil dhal

This comforting vegan one-pot recipe is one of our most popular curry recipes on the site. It also counts for three of your five-a-day.

Creamed spinach

This side of creamy, nutmeg-infused spinach makes the perfect accompaniment to any roast.

Creamy spinach chicken

Enjoy our creamy spinach chicken with plenty of sauce and rice or potatoes on the side. Serving four, it’s an ideal midweek dinner for a family that also happens to be gluten free.

Creamy mushroom & spinach pasta

Toss together spinach, tagliatelle and mushrooms in a parmesan and crème fraîche sauce to make a quick and low-calorie dinner that takes under half an hour.

Lean green smoothie

Use either a handful of fresh spinach in this recipe or 3 blocks of frozen chopped spinach.

Find more super spinach recipes…

Spinach recipe collection
3 quick dinner ideas with spinach
Pump up the iron
Spinach salad recipe collection
Spinach smoothie recipe collection

What dishes do you like to cook with spinach? Leave a comment below…