Easy Creamed Spinach does not get easier! This simple homemade side dish is so much better than store bought!
Wilted spinach is mixed through a silky smooth white sauce, flavoured with sautéed onion and garlic, then served with parmesan cheese. This is the side dish of your dreams!
Creamed spinach can be mistaken for just a bunch of spinach and heavy cream thrown together — like abracadabra — and you have creamed spinach. Well that may be a super easier version. This, however, is worth every minute it takes, standing over the stove and making the best white sauce to coat your wilted spinach leaves. Good luck making it to the table!
Here is your next Thanksgiving side!
Easy Creamed Spinach is delicious!
- This is something I grew up with…not just on Thanksgiving, but any time of the year. My mum would make this to go with steaks, roast chicken, and yes, even turkey.
- She cooks this up two ways: using fresh spinach leaves that first get wilted in a pot of boiling water OR in a pan with butterrrr. You can do either!
- The recipe ALSO includes frozen spinach for even faster creamer spinach!
Easy Creamed Spinach!
Easy Creamed Spinach
Ingredients
- 16 ounces (450 g) baby spinach leaves, washed and dried
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter, divided
- 1 an onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or minced
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup milk, or half and half
- 1 pinch ground nutmeg, optional
- 1 pinch of cayenne pepper, optional
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese, to serve
Instructions
- Melt 1/4 cup of butter in a medium-sized pot over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for a couple of minutes until light golden. Add in the onion and cook until transparent (about 2-3 minutes), then add the garlic and cook until fragrant (about 30 seconds).
- Pour in the milk (or half and half), whisking constantly until the white sauce thickens (about 5 minutes). Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and cayenne (If using). If the sauce is too thick, add another 1/4 cup of milk to the sauce, whisking it through until reaching your desired thickness.
- For the spinach: melt the remaining butter in a separate pan, and add spinach in batches, wilting each batch before adding the next, until all spinach is wilted. (Add a small spoon of water if the pan gets too dry.)Alternatively: Cook the spinach in a pot of boiling water for just one minute; then immerse in a cold water bath to stop the cooking process. Squeeze out any excess water from the leaves and set aside.
- Season the cream sauce with salt, pepper, nutmeg and cayenne. Add wilted spinach to the cream sauce, stirring gently to combine. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve immediately.
Notes
MORE SPINACH RECIPES:
Spinach Artichoke Stuffed Chicken
Skillet Spinach Bacon Artichoke Dip
Spinach and Ricotta Grilled Cheese
Sally Ann Baker says
Excellent my son in law licked out the pot!!
Score Big Time! Easy p easy but ohhh so deelish
Miss Langa says
Oh my God, it turned out perfect! I’m not so good in the kitchen but thanks to you I was able to impress my boyfriend and now it’s his new favorite side 😍
Tee says
Hiya from Cape Town.
This was sooooo… nice! Hubby said he wanted creamed spinach with his steak!
Thankyou for posting 💖
Cletus says
Instead of using another pot just dump the spinach in the same pot with the cream sauce. It will wilt the same way. And for a more concentrated flavor, brown the onions to a dark golden color before adding the rest of the ingredients. I used straight heavy cream in my sauce and didn’t need to add any flour. I just let the pot simmer uncovered to let the sauce reduce. Then turn the heat off and leave the pan uncovered to let it reduce more while stirring occasionally. Used olive oil instead of butter.
Claudia says
Somehow I ended up with a lot of liquid so I threw in two frozen packages (20oz) of spinach and it worked out. I used a heavy hand with the seasoning as it was pretty bland otherwise but remember I also had extra spinach and seasoning is subjected to taste. I recommend throwing in a bit more garlic and cayenne for a touch of spice. Here is the good news, you can make it ahead and it will be better the next day. Thanks for the recipe!!!
Laurie Anne Thompson says
First time making creamed spinach. FANTASTIC…like another reviewer my roux came out very thick so I ended up adding more milk. Next time I will cut the amount of flour by half, but otherwise it may be my husband’s new favorite way to eat spinach. I used 2% milk and it came out silky, flavorful, and decadent.
Pamela J Dale says
Creamy, dreamy, but much too rich if you want to watch calories. The white sauce was too thick so I thinned it with milk. It was so good but I could feel the pounds just latching on to my already too generous thighs. This decadent recipe should only be sparingly. Finally, if done right with the chopping and preparing the spinach, it takes considerably more than 15 minutes to prepare this dish. But we’ll worth it.
Deborah Boyer says
I made this yesterday for our Christmas dinner. I made both ham and turkey so it was perfect. Our son and daughter in law will be here next week for New Years, but we’re combining our Thanksgiving,Christmas and New Year’s Eve meals since I was in the hospital for Thanksgiving and they all had bad colds for Christmas. My son said we’ll call this New Christgiving! LOL He said that should cover them all I know that this will be served again! They Love Spinach! Thank you for posting your super easy recipe. It was AMAZING!
I will say that the next batch I will make the onions much smaller or maybe even use a grater for them so they are super fine. My onions were left more chunkier (not that it was bad, I used sweet onions) but I think if they were much smaller the spinach would shine not the onions! ?
Andrew Johnson says
Excellent! Thank you so much. I am not a very good experienced person in the kitchen but even I could do this dish and it turned out brilliantly.
ADELE says
Just made batch… used heavy whipping cream and milk… also used onion powder instead of onions… added pinch of old bay instead of salt… AMAZING. husband polished it off!
Karen Ostrach says
Really good! We ate every bit. Not hard to make, and looks just like the creamed spinach in the expensive steak houses. Loved the pinch of cayenne to give it some heat.
Carey says
What can I use in place of the flour for gluten free?
Donna says
gluten free flour works great as a sub – get a 1:1 baking flour
Maserole says
Hi!
I added powdered milk its also delicious
Ja. says
This was delicious! I cooked the spinach in the microwave in a bowl full of water. I added a bit more cheese and layered. Incredible recipe and I am not a big spinach fan.
Jennifer says
Just made your easy creamed spinach recipe, it was delicious! I’ve never made creamed spinach before but I have had it before & it’s always been somewhat soupy & not very flavorful- that was NOT the case with this recipe, thank you!!
Pipi says
I made the creamed spinach tonight. It was delicious. Added a bit more nutmeg and cheese. Also used 1/2 milk and 1/2.and 1/2. It was so good. Thank you. ♥️
Patty Gaugler says
Just made this spinach today….Delicious !!
I added a bit more nutmeg and cheese.
Terrific.! Takes a bit of time, but easy and very good. I used a package of frozen spinach as that’s what I had. I’d say GIVE IT A TRY !!
Kristin says
Came out so delicious!!! Yum!
Jen says
I made the creamed spinach . I put a lil more cayenne and used onion powder instead of onions. Came out delicious !
Karina says
That does sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing!