Sautéed Spinach with Garlic and Lemon

This delicious sautéed spinach recipe is a healthy vegetarian side dish that can quickly be whipped up when you’re short on time (it only takes 15 minutes to make!) or when you’re craving some vegetables in your life (especially of the dark, leafy green kind!). It’s fresh-tasting and light, with caramelized slivers of garlic and pungent strips of lemon zest.

What goes good with spinach?

This healthy side dish makes a perfect pairing with just about any main course, from steak to salmon to chicken. Or, you can turn it into the star of your meal by adding it to your savory brunch menu, or using it top off your latest grain bowl.

How do you sauté spinach?

Sautéing spinach couldn’t be easier. After washing and drying the dark leafy green, you simply add it to a hot skillet alongside garlic- and lemon-infused oil. From there, it should only take a few minutes for the leaves to wilt and the spinach to soak up all the fresh flavor.

Just remember: spinach loses a ton of its volume as it cooks, so even though it may seem like this sautéed spinach recipe calls for a crazy quantity, it will wilt and cook down to the perfect amount.

How do you make sautéed spinach not bitter?

Spinach haters rally behind its bitter taste as the main reason they dislike the leafy green, but lucky for them, sautéing the superfood tends to mellow out its bite. And when it comes to seasoning (like garlic and lemon!) a little goes a long way in helping to cover up any lingering bitterness.

Is sautéed spinach healthy?

Popeye wasn’t crazy: Spinach is good for you, whether you eat it raw (à la a salad!) or cooked. Of course we all know it’s packed with iron, but spinach is also super high in fiber, folate, and phytochemicals, with absolutely zero fat.

But does sautéing spinach destroy nutrients?

There’s plenty of debate about whether cooking vegetables destroys their nutrients. And while folate, vitamin C, niacin, riboflavin, and potassium are more available in raw spinach, cooking the superfood can actually increases your body’s absorption of spinach’s available vitamins A and E, protein, fiber, zinc, thiamin, calcium, and iron. At the end of the day, no matter how you eat it, spinach is a healthy—and delicious—thing to eat.

Can you reheat sautéed spinach?

Short answer: yes! While it might seem like an innocent thing to do, reheating spinach and other leafy green vegetables (looking at you, kale, chard, and arugula) has long been considered a no-no due to the veg’s high level of nitrates. But don’t be scared!

Nitrates themselves are fairly inert, and are acquired from the soil that veggies grow it. But here’s where it gets confusing: In the presence of certain enzymes and bacteria, nitrates can be converted into nitrites. Nitrites, in certain conditions such as high temps and acidic environments, can then react with amino acids to form nitrosamines. Nitrosamines are associated with an increased risk of cancer and other scary-sounding symptoms (especially for infants under 6 months).

But don’t shun veggies all together! Scientists agree that these reactions that form nitrosamines are not actually very likely in leafy greens and that overgeneralizing those conditions is extremely misleading! In fact, the European Food Information Council (EUFIC) recently revised their statement with the caveat that so long as proper cooling, storage, and reheating takes place, it’s 100% fine to reheat spinach.