Sautéed spinach and garlic is wonderful side dish that goes with almost anything. All you need is spinach, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. There’s some finessing required to bring out the best from these simple ingredients – a few tricks to ensure that the garlic melts slowly and get’s soft, sweet and mellow, with the spinach resting on top, absorbing the delicious garlicky flavors, as it cooks.
Start with olive oil and lots of thickly sliced garlic in your skillet, letting the garlic melt and soften for a few minutes, over low heat.
Then pile on the spinach.
You’ll need a pot with a lid so the spinach and garlic can steam for a few minutes, undisturbed. When you remove the lid you’ll have tender spinach, infused with the mellow nutty flavors of gently-cooked garlic.
Just add a sprinkle of salt and some fresh ground pepper, and you’ve got a healthy and totally delicious side dish.
If you’re a vegetable lover, visit and follow my Exceptional Vegetables Pinterest Board. It’s filled with tempting vegetable-centric recipes that I collect from blogs and culinary sites across the word-wide web.
MORE DELICIOUS VEGETABLE SIDE DISHES FROM PANNING THE GLOBE
Here’s the recipe for Sautéed Spinach and Garlic. If you try this recipe I hope you’ll come back to leave a rating and a comment. I’d love to know what you think!
PrintSautéed Spinach and Garlic
A very simple, delicious and healthy side dish of tender spinach sautéed with garlic.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 20 mins
- Yield: 4-5
- Category: Side Dish
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons good quality olive oil
- 8-10 garlic cloves, peeled and thickly sliced, crosswise
- 16 ounces baby spinach, washed (you can substitute 2 10-ounces packs of frozen whole-leaf spinach – defrost and squeeze by the handful to remove all the liquid)
- Coarse salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- You’ll need a large skillet with a lid. Spread the oil out to coat the bottom of the skillet (I use cast iron). Place the garlic in the skillet, spreading it into an even layer. Turn the heat up to medium and as soon as the oil starts to sizzle, turn it down to medium-low and let the garlic soften for 5 minutes or so, turning the heat down further if it looks like it starts to brown.
- Add the spinach in a big heap. Pour in 1 tablespoon of water and cover the pot. Turn the heat up to medium and let the spinach steam for about 5 minutes, undisturbed. Remove the cover and gently stir the leaves, pressing down on any that aren’t wilted. Don’t toss the leaves because you want the garlic to remain in contact with the oil on the bottom of the pan so it will soften and get sweet and mellow.
- Continue to cook the spinach, uncovered, for another few minutes, until the spinach is completely soft and wilted. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
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Can’t believe I didn’t know about your Pinterest Vegetable Board. WOW! Heaven.
Hi Jen – I’m so glad you have it now – there are so many amazing ways to cook with vegetables and I’m always on the hunt for great inspiring recipes!
Tasty! I’m a cast iron fan, but I avoid steaming my veggies in cast iron on the grounds that it’s hard on the seasoning. Maybe it’s ok in this recipe, though, because you’ve got a decent amount of oil that you’re not stirring, so that’s protecting the bottom of the pot.
That’s a really interesting point Jane. I haven’t had any problems with my cast iron skillet and I make garlicky vegetables with this method often, so I think it’s fine. But if you make it, please let me know if your pot’s seasoning holds up.
LOVE, LOVE spinach and adore it done this way – big favourite in this house:-)
Love this simple spinach – often get it as a side in Italian restaurants where the garlic can usually send you through the roof. But IMHO, fresh spinach always in this type of recipe. (The frozen stuff is fine when it’s in soup or a casserole, but as the star of the show – never!:)
Happy November! Just letting you know that I featured this recipe in my October 2015 round-up of Deliciously Healthy Low-Carb Recipes. Hope a lot of my readers will click over here and try it!
I just checked out your roundup – such great recipes Kalyn. Gotta health-it-up before the holidays so we can totally indulge! Thanks so much for including my sautéed spinach recipe!
I LOVE this recipe. So simple yet so delicious. Thank you!!
★★★★★