Creamed Spinach

Looking for a delicious and easy-to-make Creamed Spinach recipe? Look no further! This tasty side dish features a creamy Parmesan cheese sauce that will have you coming back for seconds.

Ingredients to Make Creamed Spinach Recipe

Creamed spinach is one of my favorite side dishes to enjoy alongside a steak and baked potato when dining out. As you may note, I don’t dine out very often preferring to cook the best tasting food for us at home. Just like you, I do enjoy a break from time to time, and look forward to visiting one of our favorite restaurants for a night out. With just a little preplanning, and a few easy to find ingredients, it’s not difficult to recreate those moments at home with this steakhouse creamed spinach. It’s the perfect side dish for any meal. It’s easy to make with just a few ingredients. Ingredients to make easy Creamed Spinach: (Scroll down for the full printable recipe card.)

• Fresh Spinach: Fresh baby spinach or regular spinach depending on your preference.
• Butter: Melted unsalted butter to sauté the shallots and garlic.
• Shallots: Finely chopped shallots will add texture and flavor to the sauce.
• Garlic: Fresh medium-large garlic cloves, finely minced.
• Cream: Heavy cream is imperative for the creamy rich sauce.
• Salt: One half teaspoon of plain table salt or garlic salt. The amount can be adjusted to suit your taste.
• Pepper: Black pepper adds just a hint of spice to balance the flavors.
• Nutmeg: Ground nutmeg enhances the flavor of the cream sauce.
• Parmesan Cheese: Freshly grated Parmesan cheese will give you the creamiest sauce and won’t be grainy.

How to Make the BEST Creamed Spinach Recipe

• Spinach Leaves: Clean and dry the spinach leaves and dry completely.
• Sauté Shallots and Garlic: In a large pot, cook shallots in melted butter until softened over medium-heat. Add garlic, cook for 1 minute longer.
• Spinach: Add 1/2 of the spinach leaves to the pot. Cook over medium-high stirring constantly until the spinach wilts, then add the remaining spinach. Cook just until the liquid evaporates.
• Sauce: To the pot add the heavy cream.
• Seasonings: Stir in the salt, black pepper and ground nutmeg. Simmer over medium-low per the cook time in the recipe.
• Add Cheese: Stir in the Parmesan cheese.
• Simmer: Cook just until the sauce has reduced and thickened.
• Serve: Garnish with additional Parmesan cheese.

Tips for Making Creamed Spinach

• Kitchen Tools You’ll Need: Large pot or Dutch oven, sharp knife and cutting board, measuring cups and measuring spoons, cheese grater and large spoon.
• Fresh Spinach: You can use either baby spinach or classic spinach in this recipe. Baby spinach is more tender and mild in flavor. Obviously, the leaves are smaller, but the texture is similar as is the nutritional value and the prep time would be the same.
• Heavy Cream: This is one time you need to go for the gold. Heavy cream gives the sauce a rich and decadent flavor.
• Choose a Large Pot: You’ll note that two pounds of fresh spinach looks like a mountain of spinach. If you’ve worked with spinach you know that once it’s cooked it reduces and wilts down to a tiny amount, so it’s important to begin with two pounds. I find it’s best to add half to the pot and let it wilt then add the rest. Cook it just until the liquid evaporates before adding the cream.
• Use Fresh Parmesan Cheese: Pre-shredded Parmesan cheese is a great timesaver and it has its place in the kitchen. Just like those handy packages of pre-shredded cheddar cheese and mozzarella cheese, it has anticaking ingredients to keep it from sticking together in the can. This can cause the sauce to become grainy, so in this instance it’s best to use fresh.
• How to Serve Creamed Spinach: Serve this Creamed Spinach alongside a steak, baked salmon, holiday ham, Thanksgiving turkey, baked pork chops, roast chicken or Italian meatloaf.

Recipe Variations

• Spinach: Fresh spinach is superior in flavor and texture, but you could use two pounds of frozen spinach in place of fresh spinach. It will need to be completely thawed and squeezed dry in a lint free kitchen towel to remove any excess moisture. You could cook frozen spinach in a large skillet.
• Spices: You could add a dash of crushed red pepper flakes for spice. 
• Red Onion: You can use 1/2 cup of finely diced red onion in place of shallots. In a pinch, yellow onion will work, but it has a much stronger flavor.
• Sauce: You could add 2 ounces of plain cream cheese to the sauce for extra creaminess.
• Uses: You can serve Creamed Spinach over mashed potatoes and rice or stir it into warm pasta as a quick spinach sauce.

Troubleshooting

• What Do I Do If My Sauce Has Too Much Liquid? Add softened cream cheese two ounces at a time and stir it into the creamy sauce cooking for 1-2 minutes until it melts. Repeat until your desired consistency is reached.
• Thicken With Cornstarch: You can also thicken the creamed spinach with a cornstarch slurry. Dissolve one or two tablespoons of cornstarch in just enough cold cream or milk then add it to the pan, stirring until thickened.

Storage and Leftovers:

• Leftovers: Store Creamed Spinach in an airtight container chilled in the fridge for up to 3 days.
• Reheating: Reheat in a saucepan over medium heat or in the microwave in single servings, stopping to stir periodically.
• Freezer: Freeze Creamed Spinach for up to 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator and reheat just before servings. You may need to add a small amount of cream or milk to thin the sauce.

More Easy Side Dish Recipes to Make

• This Bundt Pan Corn Bread Dressing is a showstopper.
• Easy Mashed Sweet Potatoes with a hint of maple syrup.
• Made from scratch Green Bean Casserole no canned soups allowed.
• Creamed Pearl Onions are a decadent side dish that take minutes to make.
• You can never go wrong with a crunchy Chopped Salad.
• Southern Collard Greens seasoned with bacon, onion and ham hocks.
• Make this Crockpot Macaroni and Cheese to free up oven space.
• Sautéed Sugar Snap Peas from Food Network.

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Helpful Kitchen Items:

• Skillet
• Mixing Bowls
• Silicone Spatulas
• Measuring Set

Print

Creamed Spinach

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American, Southern

Keyword creamed-spinach, easy-creamed-spinach-recipe, southern-creamed-spinach

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 14 minutes minutes

Total Time 24 minutes minutes

Servings 8 servings

Calories 248kcal

Ingredients

• 2 pounds fresh spinach
• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 medium shallots finely chopped (or 1/2 cup red onion)
• 3 medium garlic cloves minced
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper adjust to taste
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for garnishing

Instructions

• Clean spinach leaves and dry completely.
• In a large Dutch oven or pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add shallots. Cook, stirring for 2-3 minutes until softened. Add garlic, cook for 1 minute longer.
• Add 1/2 of the spinach to pot. Cook over medium-high heat stirring constantly until it begins to wilt, then add the remaining spinach. Cook for 2-3 minutes just until the liquid evaporates.
• To the pot add the heavy cream, salt, black pepper and ground nutmeg. Stir to combine. Simmer over medium-low, gently bubbling for 8 minutes.
• Add the grated Parmesan cheese. Mix until the cheese has melted and the sauce has reduced and thickened, stirring occasionally.
• Serve immediately garnished with additional Parmesan cheese.

Notes

• What Do I Do If My Sauce Has Too Much Liquid? Add softened cream cheese two ounces at a time and stir it into the creamy sauce cooking for 1-2 minutes until it melts. Repeat until your desired consistency is reached.
• Thicken With Cornstarch: You can also thicken the creamed spinach with a cornstarch slurry. Dissolve one or two tablespoons of cornstarch in just enough cold cream or milk then add it to the pan, stirring until thickened.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 248kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 67mg | Sodium: 358mg | Potassium: 715mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 11476IU | Vitamin C: 33mg | Calcium: 203mg | Iron: 3mg

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