Creamed Spinach
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Made with frozen spinach and heavy cream, this easy yet elegant side dish can be made ahead of time and reheated in the microwave.
I first learned to appreciate a good creamed spinach while working at Sam & Harry’s, a fine dining steakhouse in Washington, DC that was “the place to be” back in the 90s (yes, I realize I’m dating myself). This classic steakhouse side dish of bright green spinach leaves in a rich, cheesy cream sauce might be retro, but it’s one of those dishes that’s so good, it never goes out of style. Making steakhouse-style creamed spinach at home is quick and easy. This version calls for frozen spinach and can be prepared entirely ahead of time, making it perfect for the busy holidays. Pair it with pan-seared steaks, roast beef tenderloin with red wine sauce, roast chicken, or pan-seared salmon.
What You’ll Need To Make Creamed Spinach
Note that the recipe calls for thawed frozen cut leaf spinach, which is not the same as chopped spinach. If your market doesn’t carry cut leaf spinach, look for frozen whole leaf spinach. (Chopped spinach will work but the texture won’t be as appealing.) If you’d like to start with fresh spinach, you’ll need about 2 pounds baby spinach leaves. Steam and drain the baby spinach, then roughly chop and measure out 2 packed cups.
For the cheese, it’s important to use authentic Parmigiano Reggiano. You can always tell if it’s the real deal by looking at the rind, which is embossed with the name over and over. (If the cheese is already grated, it should be labeled “Parmigiano Reggiano,” not “Parmesan.”)
How To Make Creamed Spinach
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat and then add the shallots.
Cook the shallots, stirring frequently, until soft and translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute more. Do not brown.
Add the heavy cream, salt, pepper, and nutmeg
Bring to a gentle boil.
Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the cream is thick enough to coat a wooden spoon, about 10 minutes.
Add the cheese.
Stir until melted.
Add the spinach to the sauce.
Stir until evenly combined with the cream sauce.
Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. (If the spinach seems a little watery, cook over medium-low heat until any excess liquid evaporates.) Serve warm.
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Creamed Spinach
Made with frozen spinach and heavy cream, this easy yet elegant side dish can be made ahead of time and reheated in the microwave.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup finely chopped shallots, from 1 to 2 shallots
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 pint (2 cups) heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Pinch freshly grated nutmeg, or use ground nutmeg
- ½ cup finely shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 2 pounds frozen cut leaf spinach, thawed and squeezed very dry (see note)
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the shallots and cook, stirring frequently, until soft and translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute more. Do not brown. Add the heavy cream, salt, pepper, and nutmeg and bring to a gentle boil. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the cream is thick enough to coat a wooden spoon, about 10 minutes. Add the cheese and stir until melted. Add the spinach and stir until evenly combined with the cream sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. (If the spinach seems a little watery, cook over medium-low heat until any excess liquid evaporates.) Serve warm.
- Note: Cut leaf spinach is not the same as chopped spinach. If your market doesn't carry cut leaf spinach, look for frozen whole leaf spinach. (Chopped spinach will work but the texture won't be as appealing.) Some markets carry 1-lb bags and some carry 10-oz boxes; if you can only find the 10-oz boxes, you'll need three of them. If you'd like to start with fresh spinach, you'll need about 2 pounds baby spinach leaves. Steam and drain the baby spinach, then roughly chop and measure out 2 packed cups.
- Make-Ahead Instructions: This dish can be made and refrigerated a day ahead of time. Reheat in the microwave, uncovered, stirring every 30 seconds or so, until hot, a few minutes. When reheated, the spinach won't be quite as creamy-looking as it was originally (though the taste will be the same); you can add a bit of cream when reheating to get a creamier consistency, if you'd like.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (8 servings)
- Calories: 306
- Fat: 29 g
- Saturated fat: 18 g
- Carbohydrates: 8 g
- Sugar: 3 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 7 g
- Sodium: 357 mg
- Cholesterol: 98 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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If the creamed spinach is made ahead of time, what size dish would you suggest for serving?
Hi Madelyn, I’d go with a medium-sized serving dish. Enjoy!
I love your recipes and they are always a hit. I will be making this for Thanksgiving. We are fans of the creamed spinach au gratin from Ruth’s Chris. How can I make this one au gratin?
So glad you like the recipes! I just took a look at some images of Ruth’s Chris’ creamed spinach, and they look fairly similar to mine. Do they also have one that has some sort of topping?
Excited to try this as it looks fabulous! Can it be frozen?
Hi Jen, this recipe isn’t the best candidate for freezing — sorry!
The recipe is absolutely amazing and delicious as written – I prefer it to any fancy steakhouse creamed spinach I’ve had, and the two of us could finish it in one meal. In order to enjoy it more frequently with a bit less guilt, I’ve tried subbing heavy cream with half milk and half chicken broth, and that came out nicely, too.
Mmmm mmmm mmmm!!!!! This recipe is absolutely delicious!! I used a yellow onion since I didn’t have shallots on hand and it came out just as great! I also used fresh spinach because I adore how spinach withers 😆. The creamy texture was perfect for the mashed potatoes I paired it with. My bf enjoyed it very very much!! Keeping this one in my recipe book😋
Lovely stuff that I could make from things I already had on hand. Trivial changes – halved the recipe, more or less (it takes about 2/3 of the original recipe of sauce to properly coat a 450g bag of frozen spinach once squeezed dry). I ran a little short of cream so I stirred in some crème fraiche to make up the volume. I only had a dry end of Parmesan so in addition to the scrapings of that, I took advantage of a little Gouda that needed to get used. And since this was intended to be served with simply grilled chicken breast and crushed baby potatoes, and a thick gravy would have just been too much, I added a spoonful of homemade glace de volaille to the sauce (chicken stock reduced until thick). Less fussy cooks than me could just use a good quality stock cube, and if this was being served with beef, I would leave it out.
This is so easy and amazing!! Thank you for sharing. Used fresh spinach from the garden; steamed and cooled..so good!!!
This was wonderful! I’m a big fan of creamed spinach and prior to making this recipe tonight, I had always opted for the frozen stuff from Green Giant. Well, I became rather disappointed with that because they totally shrinkflated the package! After making this recipe tonight, I can safely say I won’t buy the frozen stuff anymore.
I did not have enough fresh spinach on hand for this recipe, and could not for the life of me find any frozen leaf spinach, so I did do the frozen chopped spinach – 12 ounces per bag. I bought two bags because using three would be soooo much leftover. I don’t know how, but it worked perfectly! I know Ms. Segal warned us about the texture of the chopped, but since I didn’t know any better, it turned out great, texture & all! I followed the rest of the recipe to a T, and it was fabulous! Thank you for this, it was so delicious!
Very forgiving recipe! I just used what I had—dried minced onion, jarred minced garlic, fresh baby spinach and shaved Parmesan cheese. I did not blanch my fresh baby spinach, I just added it to the sauce and cooked it for a few minutes. My husband who “does not like spinach” ate more than I did. I did not even measure anything out so mine was probably had a bit more cream sauce. We ended up eating the leftovers over chicken breast. Try the recipe even if you think you don’t like creamed spinach. It was FABULOUS!! Very low carb (keto friendly) use the heavy cream, you’ll be glad you did. Did I sat it was FABULOUS?
Thank you for sharing your wonderful, easy to follow recipe. This was the first time I had ever made creamed spinach and it was an outstanding hit. The spinach paired well with both the steak and potatoes.
This recipie was perfectly delicious and will definitely be on my go to list for memorable meals. Thankyou for sharing it…..so simple yet so outstanding!
I have never made (or eaten) creamed spinach, but it’s my dad’s favorite side when we go to fancy steakhouses, so I decided to give this recipe a try for his birthday this week. I followed the recipe exactly and it came out AMAZZZZING!! Very flavorful and super easy to make. My mom didn’t even finish her filet mignon (also cooked per your recipe, which turned out fantastic) because she filled up on eating so much creamed spinach! I will definitely make this again!
I made a roux and used full fat milk . Very easy and delicious
Just tried it using fresh spinach from my garden and half n half to cut the calories a bit..also added 1/4 tsp of baking soda to the blanching of the spinach..it was delicious and so pretty.
What a great recipe!
Everyone loved it.
Will make again for sure.
How much is a serving? A cup? A half cup?
Hi Alexandra, I’d estimate it’s about 1/2 cup.
Stunningly delicious! This is truly 5 stars. I used fresh spinach and it was so good, I immediately downloaded the recipe into my Paprika app. This is one I’ll be making often.
This recipe is delicious. I had to thaw out my spinach in a pinch so I microwaved it and then was able to squeeze out the excess water. My husband loved this recipe and I would definitely make it again! I always add extra garlic to my food and this recipe makes it easy to make small changes. I didn’t add the nutmeg but it was still very flavorful.
Thank you for this recipe I wasn’t sure what the nutmeg was going to do, but everything balanced out well very delicious like a lot of the recipes I’ve tried of yours.
I love this site and recipes. Probably the most complete, well-thought recipes I’ve ever followed. Thank you for sharing. This dish is very rich- might try to lighten on future attempts. We had leftovers so I mixed in some caramelized onions, topped with grated Parmesan, and baked at 350F for 20 minutes for a spinach-onion dip with bread. Delish!
Everyone loved the recipe! I added the leftovers to freshly cooked ziti, diced ham, a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and black pepper. It was a huge hit.
Loved this. Made for Thanksgiving dinner with my in laws — was super easy and got rave reviews. Tastes just like a good steakhouse side. Will be making this for Christmas as well when we host my family.
Thank you for this delicious recipe! What is your preferred way to thaw your spinach?
Glad you like it! I use the microwave the thaw spinach.
Thank you! I am changing up the typical thanksgiving meal and adding this to the feast. LOVE all the true and time tested recipes! The cheese is the make or break deal:)
I love this because it’s flavorful and really easy to make.
Hi Jenn, your recipes never disappoint and this is another keeper! Thanks for adding so much joy to our Canadian Thanksgiving dinner. Even the pickiest of kids raved about the spinach and took seconds. I was able to make this recipe work with frozen chopped spinach as that is all I had on hand. Can’t wait to continue exploring your other recipes. Your biggest fan!
Absolutely delicious! I didn’t change a thing and it turned out just like my favorite steak house creamed spinach. Highly recommend!
FA-BU-LOUS! Absolutely delicious and so easy to make. Another winner of a recipe! My picky 10 year old nephew said ‘I don’t like spinach …but I LOOOOVE this!’ …it’s better than grandma’s! (Thankfully grandma was not there!) Thanks for all your recipes Jenn, the books AND the blog.