Can you substitute frozen spinach for fresh?

Yes — You won't get the delicate leafy texture with frozen spinach that you get with fresh, but you'll still get a delicious healthy dish. See the recipe card for all the details on to thaw and sauté frozen spinach.

Is frozen spinach as healthy as fresh?

Interestingly, frozen spinach is often just as nutritious — sometimes even more so than fresh spinach. Frozen spinach is flash frozen right after harvest, which preserves all of its nutrients whereas fresh spinach is harvested and then transported to the grocery stores which can sometimes take weeks or more.

How do you keep the garlic from getting brown and bitter?

You need to "melt" the garlic in olive oil over low heat until it's tender and translucent. When you add the spinach and a bit of water on top, you can raise the heat a bit and the garlic will continue to cook gently under the canopy of spinach, without burning or turning bitter.

How much does spinach shrink when it's cooked?

Spinach is 90% water. As it cooks, it collapses as it releases most of that water and reduces its volume by almost 90%. In other words, if you start with 10 cups of spinach, you will likely end up with about 1 cup.

Sautéed Spinach with Garlic and Olive Oil (Simple and Delicious!)

Description

A simple, delicious and healthy side dish of tender spinach sautéed with garlic.

Ingredients

Units Scale

Equipment: You'll need a large skillet with a lid.

4 tablespoons good quality olive oil that you like the flavor of
8-10 garlic cloves, peeled and thickly sliced, crosswise
16 ounces baby spinach, washed (see notes if using frozen spinach)
Morton's kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

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Instructions

Spread the oil out to coat the bottom of the skillet. 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 heat down to medium-low and let the garlic melt and soften for 5 minutes or so, turning the heat down further if it looks like it's starting to brown.
Add the spinach in a big heap on top of the garlic and add 1 tablespoon of water. 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 with a wooden spoon and press down the leaves that aren't yet wilted, so they have contact with the hot pan. Avoid tossing 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, stirring gently from time to time, for another few minutes, until the spinach is completely soft and wilted. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper, and serve.

Notes

To make this with frozen spinach, you can substitute one 10-ounce pack of frozen whole-leaf spinach in place 16 ounces fresh. First, defrost the spinach in a mesh colander by running warm water over it. Then squeeze the spinach by the handful, to remove all the liquid, before cooking. Proceed with the recipe, as written, omitting the tablespoon of water in step #2. Although the spinach will already be tender, it will still need to sauté in the skillet with the oil and garlic, to heat up and become infused with flavor.
Nutrition Information: We do our best to provide accurate nutrition values using an online nutrition calculator; however our nutrition information should be used only as an approximation.

Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 15 mins
Category: Side Dish
Method: Sautéing
Cuisine: Italian