Creamed Spinach

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Creamed spinach is such a classic side dish that everyone should know how to make! It can make your weeknight dinner go from just okay to spectacular. Pair it alongside steak, roast chicken, salmon... really, pretty much anything! A great creamed spinach will be just that, super creamy but light with a balanced ratio of spinach so that it's not a dip but an actual side.

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This recipe calls for frozen spinach and cream cheese instead of heavy cream and can be made in advance for any busy day!

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Ingredients for Creamed Spinach

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Creamed spinach is always a classic and one that requires basic ingredients. Here's what you'll need:

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• Spinach: The best and most consistent spinach to use is store-bought chopped frozen spinach. While I almost always lean towards using the freshest version of an ingredient, the variability and yield of fresh spinach is not reliable. Also, when using fresh spinach, you will find that you need to cook down and chop tons of spinach to get the amount you would need. When spinach cooks, it shrinks substantially because of the evaporation of water within the spinach.
• Dairy: To “cream” the spinach, use a combination of cream cheese, heavy cream, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. While using cream or milk, thickened by a roux (butter/flour mixture) is the most common way of making creamed spinach, I find that the combo gives the spinach the perfect texture and flavor. The cream cheese provides just the right amount of tang to cut through the richness of the other dairy ingredients.
• Complementary Flavors: I cook onions, garlic and Parmigiano-Reggiano into the creamed spinach because all of those ingredients go perfectly with the spinach and, quite frankly, they are pretty good.

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Tips for Making the Perfect Creamed Spinach

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1. Stir the cream chees often: Once you add the cream cheese to the pot, make sure you turn the heat down to a low setting and stir often while melting the cream cheese. When the cream cheese melts, it will be susceptible to burning easily and can happen quickly and without obvious signs.
2. Strain the frozen spinach: Make sure you strain and press the frozen spinach after thawing, to ensure you remove all the excess water from the spinach. If you do not, the end product will be watered down and too thin.

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Add this one your weekly rotation and you won't be disappointed. Cheers and eat well!