Sautéed Spinach With Garlic is one of the quickest, easiest, and tastiest vegetable side dishes that you’ll ever make (and it’s good for you too)!
In just 10 minutes (or less), you can make this tender, garlicky, mildly spicy, delicious sautéed fresh spinach that goes great with just about anything: steak, chicken, pork, fish, seafood, and more!
Spinach sometimes gets a bad rap, and I’m not sure why. It’s actually one of my favorite veggies. And what’s not to love?
This dark leafy green – often referred to as a superfood – is low in calories and loaded with nutritious stuff, including vitamins A, K, and C, folate, iron, magnesium, potassium, calcium, antioxidants, protein, and fiber.
It’s very versatile. You can eat it raw or cooked (both ways have their own unique nutritional benefits), and it can be part of breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even a snack or appetizer.
All that, and it’s delicious too!
If you don’t agree, maybe you’ve just never had it prepared the right way. So often it is overcooked, soggy, under-seasoned, and bland with all of the color sucked right out of it.
But not with this recipe!
We give it a quick sauté – which means frying it in a small amount of fat – just until it wilts. This keeps it wonderfully tender, fresh-tasting, and vibrantly green.
And adding garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper gives it tons of flavor and a hint of spicy heat. Now that’s some spinach you will want to eat again and again!
Ingredients you need:
- Olive oil
- Butter
- Garlic
- Crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- Fresh spinach
- Salt
- Pepper
Here’s a look at how to make Sautéed Spinach With Garlic:
Tips & Tidbits:
- Make sure the garlic doesn’t brown (or, worse, burn), because it will turn bitter.
- The crushed red pepper flakes give the spinach just a mild bit of heat. Feel free to adjust the amount to suit your own personal tastes (or you can leave it out if you’d rather no heat at all).
- Fresh spinach is a must for this recipe! Although I am a big fan of frozen spinach and use it in a lot of recipes, this is not one of them.
- Use any kind of fresh spinach you like, either from your garden, the farmer’s market, or the grocery store. And it can be full-grown or baby spinach.
- Whichever one you choose, make sure you clean it to remove any dirt, dry it very well so that it sautés rather than steams (a salad spinner is the perfect tool for this), and remove any large, tough stems.
- The spinach will cook down a lot, so even though it looks like way too much when it’s raw, it’s not!
- I like to use the pre-packaged younger or baby spinach because all it needs is a quick rinse and dry, and the stems are usually so small and tender you don’t need to remove them.
- Sauté the spinach just until it wilts. This way, it won’t be overcooked.
- If you have any leftovers, keep it in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 2 to 3 days (don’t freeze it; the spinach will end up mushy).
If you’re a cheese lover, a little sprinkle of freshly shredded or grated parmesan cheese on top of this spinach would also be awesome.
And if you do have any leftovers, try adding them to an omelet, frittata or egg scramble the next morning. YUM!
I hope you try this Sautéed Spinach With Garlic recipe and love it as much as I do. Thanks for visiting today!
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Sautéed Spinach With Garlic
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional (add more or less to taste)
- 1 pound fresh spinach, washed, dried, and any large stems removed
- salt, to taste
- pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil and butter in a large, deep skillet over medium-low heat until the butter is melted (I use a 12" skillet with 2" sides).
- Add the garlic and crushed red pepper flakes; sauté, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds. Don't let the garlic brown or burn, as it will turn bitter.
- Add half of the spinach; sauté, tossing constantly (I use tongs or two wooden spoons for this), just until it has wilted enough to fit the rest of the spinach in the skillet, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the rest of the spinach; continue to sauté, tossing constantly, just until all of the spinach is wilted, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Serve immediately (use a slotted spoon if there is any liquid in the pan).
Notes
- I like to use the pre-packaged younger or baby spinach because all it needs is a quick rinse and dry (a salad spinner works great for this!), and the stems are usually so small and tender you don’t need to remove them.
- The crushed red pepper flakes give the spinach just a mild bit of heat. Feel free to adjust the amount to suit your own personal tastes (or you can leave it out if you’d rather no heat at all).
- If you have any leftovers, keep it in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 2 to 3 days (don’t freeze it; the spinach will end up mushy).
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