Creamed Spinach
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This rich and creamy creamed spinach recipe is easy enough for a weeknight but special enough for the holiday table.
I 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—guess that dates me a bit, doesn’t it? This creamed spinach recipe is my take on that classic steakhouse side dish, with bright green spinach in a rich, cheesy cream sauce. It may be old-school, but it’s so good it never goes out of style.
I start frozen spinach, so no washing, blanching, or chopping pounds of fresh spinach. And instead of making a flour-thickened sauce, I simply simmer heavy cream until it reduces and thickens, then add Parmigiano-Reggiano, a touch of nutmeg, and the spinach. The whole thing takes about 30 minutes and can be made entirely ahead of time. Serve it alongside steak, beef tenderloin, roast chicken, or pan-seared salmon.
“Loved this…Tastes just like a good steakhouse side.”
What You’ll Need To Make Creamed Spinach
- Frozen cut-leaf spinach: A great shortcut here—look for cut-leaf rather than chopped spinach, which has a better texture. Be sure to squeeze it very dry so excess water doesn’t thin the cream sauce.
- Butter, shallots & garlic: Create the savory base of the dish. Shallots are milder and slightly sweeter than onions, which works especially well with the cream.
- Heavy cream & nutmeg: The cream is simmered until reduced and thickened, so there’s no need for flour. A touch of nutmeg is a classic pairing with spinach and cream.
- Parmigiano-Reggiano: Adds salty, nutty flavor and helps give the sauce a rich, silky consistency. For the best flavor, use freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano rather than pre-grated Parmesan cheese.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
How To Make Creamed Spinach
Cook the aromatics: Melt the butter and cook the shallots until soft and translucent, then add the garlic and cook briefly. Keep the heat gentle so the garlic doesn’t brown.
Make the cream sauce: Add the cream, salt, pepper, and nutmeg and simmer until noticeably reduced and thickened. You’ll know it’s ready when the cream coats a wooden spoon. Reducing the cream this way creates a rich, velvety sauce without the need for flour. Stir in the Parmigiano-Reggiano until smooth.
Add the spinach: Stir in the well-drained spinach until evenly coated in the sauce and heated through. If the creamed spinach seems a little loose, let it cook briefly to evaporate any excess moisture. Serve right away, or let cool and refrigerate until ready to reheat and serve.
More Veggie Side Dishes You’ll Love
Creamed Spinach
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup finely chopped shallots, from 1 to 2 shallots
- 2 cloves garlic, 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.
Notes
- 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 (454-g) bags, and some carry 10-oz (283-g) 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 lbs (907 g) 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
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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Excellant easy to put together. I used fresh spinach….otherwise as written.
Thank you
Awesome! Bookmarked. Will never use another recipe.
Found it under seasoned but once I tripled the salt and added a splash of lemon juice the flavor really opened up.
We had guests coming over and my husband wanted to make creamed spinach. We weren’t thrilled about the thought of making something new for guests but when I saw you had a recipe for it I knew we were good. It was amazing. Thank you.
I made this and I used fresh baby spinach and I actually just cut it with kitchen shears and left the stems on but just cut them along with all the rest I cut each into Apx 2-3 clips per handful. It turned out perfect! It was super simple and very delicious! Thank you! Blessings!
Great recipe. I bought chopped spinach not knowing I should have gotten the leaf version, but it turned out great. I actually like the idea of not having to chew up long stems. I also used half and half because I did not have heavy cream, and it was still thick and creamy. I just added about 1-2 TBSP of cornstarch whisked with some half and half and added it after the cream started bubbling. I’d imake it again.
Not my favorite, a lil dated.
So a classic recipe is dated? Wow, great troll observation. Well, we loved it thank YOU, chef.
Yes, perhaps only “modern” recipes are tasty!
Yummy!! Used chopped spinach instead of cut leaf so I was nervous about texture, but it was a hit. Even the kids loved it! Thank you for such a great recipe. New go to side for sure!!
Made this last night and as we were cleaning up the family asked if I would make it again tonight. So easy and the flavor is off the chart. I made it with fresh spinach, stirring the fresh spinach during the 10 minute sauce thickening phase. This might have been more work, but still extremely easy.
Another winner from OUAC! This is so delicious and everyone absolutely LOVED it.
This is super easy to make. I do, however, strongly recommend 1) allowing enough time (a few hours!) for the frozen chopped spinach to thaw out and to ensure that as much moisture as possible has been drained/wrung from it (I ultimately had it resting on paper towels up until I added it to the cream) and 2) having the rest of the ingredients prepped ahead of time (except I like to press the garlic shortly before I need to add it so it doesn’t dry out). This comes together relatively quickly and I found I definitely needed the 10 minutes that the cream was simmering to focus on my other dishes.
Here are a couple of things I discovered while making this.
Since there are only three of us I halved this recipe, which it does beautifully. However, I forgot to reduce the garlic cloves from 2 to 1, but in doing so found that the halved recipe can easily handle the extra clove without the flavor of the garlic tasting disproportionate or overpowering (I’m actually considering increasing it to 3 cloves next time I make this).
I didn’t have Parmesan Reggiano so I grated the Pecorino Romano I had instead. I believe this ended up working out quite well because Pecorino naturally has a higher salt content than Parmesan and, because of this, I found the salt level of the dish was very nicely balanced and therefor felt there was no need whatsoever to add any additional salt on the back end.
Lastly, I ended up needing a few extra minutes to plate my entre and because of this, I kept the spinach on low to keep it warm. However, the cream continued to reduce so I added a splash of half and half a couple of times to keep the spinach from drying out while it was being kept warm, which worked out great. (The next day I reheated the leftover spinach in a 250 degree oven, covered in an oven-safe nonstick pan and didn’t need to add a single thing).
This is a great “secret weapon” to have tucked in your back pocket and I can not recommend this enough.
Thank you for another great recipe, Jenn!