This creamed spinach recipe is tasty, flavorful, delicious, and better than Boston Market. It’s made with cream cheese and seasoned to perfection. It’s easy to make and takes under 20 minutes. It’s the perfect side vegetable that compliments any main dish.
Hello, pbj here! Im excited to share this creamy tasty delicious and easy creamed spinach recipe with yall. It’s one of my favorite ways to make spinach and it takes less than 20 minutes to make. So try it out, I’m sure you’ll love it.
My first time trying Creamed Spinach
The first time I tried creamed spinach was around 2009-2010. My nana Alice Mae cooked dinner for the two of us, and for a vegetable side, she cooked creamed spinach. It was pre-made and came in a package It came in a package called Bird’s Eye.
I didn’t like it too much but she loved it for some reason. It wasn’t that creamy and kind of bland in my opinion. But this was the first time I remember trying it. Like I said it was pre-made it wasn’t made from scratch.
All you had to do was warm it up in the microwave, or you could place it in a small pot and warm it up over low heat, and boom, it’s all done. It can’t tell you how many packs of Bird’s Eye she had in her freezer.
Boston Market Creamed Spinach
Years later, when Door dash and Ubereats came out… I would order from dinners from Boston Market sometimes a lot when I wanted something more down home and not a sandwich from Mickey’s D’s or something.
One of the sides I’d always get along with the 1/2 dark meat with BBQ sauce and dill potatoes or mixed veggies, was creamed spinach. I loooved their creamed spinach. Unlike Bird’s Eye, the cream was thicker and more tasty. Lol!
I think they used sour cream because it had a sour taste to it. But what I liked about it most was it was creamy and flavorful. Now it’s been a while since I’ve had a dinner from Boston market.
And the other day while I was making some pork chops and rice, I thought, “I got a taste for something different! What vegetable can I make for a side and how can I spice it up!” And that’s when creamed spinach came to mind.
I love Creamy spinach
Im a big fan of creamy spinach. Now I shared with yall years ago about my beef with spinach in my Delicious Frozen Spinach Recipe. You can read all about it by clicking that link. So long story short I never liked spinach.
I realized ithad a lot of health benefits but wasn’t a fan of it so to develop a liking for it I started adding some condiments to it that I liked to make it more enjoyable, like apple cider vinegar. Cream cheese is and parmesan is another.
One of my favorite dips are spinach dip!!! Which, by the way, I will be doing a recipe for that too soon. Nothing more appetizing and delicious with crackers than some cool creamy spinach dip. Let me get into the ingredients.
Ingredients you’ll need:
- Veggies: Spinach, garlic, and onions.
- Seasonings: Ranch seasonings, Garlic powder, Onion powder, Black pepper, and Cayenne pepper.
- Thickener: Flour
- Fat: Butter and oil.
Cream sauce ingredients:
- Liquids: Heavy cream, Sour cream
- Cheese: Cream cheese and parmesan cheese
The Spinach
- Fresh spinach: I like to use baby spinach! You can chop off the stems if you want because some folk don’t like them. You can also chop the spinach to make it easier to stir and eat, quite frankly! Lol!
- Frozen spinach: Now you can definitely use frozen spinach. Just make sure you let it sit and dethaw, and squeeze out the liquid and cook it in a skillet to steam out the liquid to get it dry before adding it to the sauce.
Why cream cheese?
Im in love with cream cheese, and that’s not because I’m from Philadelphia! Lmbbo! Speaking of Philly, I only use Philadelphia cream cheese, it’s the best. But whenever I get the chance to add cream cheese to something, I do!
- Flavor: Ok so the benefits of cream cheese… the FLAVOR! I dont care what nobody says, cream cheese perfect for this dish and makes it what it is. Creamed spinach not creamed spinach without “CREAM” cheese.
- Thickener: Another benefit of adding a little cream cheese is that it thickens the sauce along with the flour and gives it a nice texture and consistency. It’s a great thickener for sauces.
- Emulsifier: Now in this recipe, I use a little parmesan cheese. But parmesan cheese is hard and doesn’t melt as easily as other cheeses. Whenever I use parmesan cheese for a sauce I add cream cheese. For whatever reason, the cream cheese melts the parmesan cheese like nothing else does. Parmesan cheese is a complete HEADACHE; even grated parmesan cheese and cream cheese get rid of all of that.
The garlic
You can use minced garlic, fresh garlic, or garlic paste which is sort of the same as minced garlic. I use a combination of garlic power and minced garlic because I looooove garlic and the flavor of both the powder and fresh varieties.
And to me as I talked about before, think using both just make for better results but using both aren’t necessary. So if you dont have any minced garlic on deck, that’s just fine, the garlic powder will get the job done.
Garlic is a must in vegetables. It just has a way of bringing out the best in vegetables. Sort of like what lemon does to juice. No matter the flavor, you got to add a few squirts of lemon. Btw, a squirt or two of lemon in this wont hurt.
Ranch seasoning or Salt to taste
Ok so salt to taste, for those of you who dont know just means, season to your liking. You dont want to use too much salt here. I use Ranch seasoning! Why? Because I do everything different! Lol!
No I thought the taste of ranch would taste good with spinach and it did. The ranch seasoning doesn’t taste exactly like Ranch dressing… so dont worry! It has more of an artificial ranch flavor if that makes sense.
Adobo, seasoning salt, Sazon complete seasoning are just a few of my favorites that I’d use in replace of Ranch. Or as you know, you can keep it simple add just use salt. But you wanna get fancy and add some flavor to a dish like this.
How to make Creamed Spinach
- often onions with butter and minced garlic.
- Melt cheese and add seasonings.
- Stir in spinach, flour, and cook until tender.
What to serve with it:
- Fried chicken: Fried chicken and food in general is probably my favorite thing to eat with creamed spinach. I love taking crispy fried chicken skin and spooning the spinach like a dip. Yum! Lol!
- Seared steak: Spinach is one of my favorite veggies to eat with steak, especially seared steak. I can have any steak with it, personally, but you can’t go wrong with the flavor of a savory seared steak with spinach. It’s a good combo.
- Pork chops: Any meat you think of tastes great with spinach. Certain combos just hit different for me! Example: While broccoli is good for example, pork chops taste better with corn and spinach iny my opinion.
Storage and reheating
- If you have leftover creamed spinach, place it in a bowl or Tupperware bowl, preferably glass. Make sure it’s tightly sealed and stored in a very cool area of the refrigerator. You can also store it in the freezer to preserve it for months.
- To reheat the spinach you can simply microwave it. If you froze it, place it in a pot with a little water and cook it over low heat until warm. If the sauce aka cream, breaks by any chance, just stir in a lil milk and it’ll come together.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you use milk instead of heavy cream? Absolutely!
- How to add the spinach if it doesn’t fit at once? Wait until some wilts, then add another bag and so forth. I don’t add it all at once but be mindful that spinach shrinks a lot, so what looks like a lot really isn’t much at all.
Other vegetable recipes you might like
- Delicious Sweet Buttery Corn Recipe
- Easy Frozen Mixed Vegetables Recipe
- Easy Delicious Sauteed Asparagus Recipe
- The Best Southern Stove Top Cabbage
- Southern-Style Green Beans Recipe
Okay, guys, that’s it for now. I hope you enjoy this creamed spinach! If you do, please give me 5 stars, share this recipe with your friends and family, and leave a review below to encourage readers to try it.
Also, don’t forget to subscribe to receive notifications via email every time I post a new delicious recipe. And for updates on everything Philly Jay Cooking, follow me on social media. Im on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
Enjoy, later!
PBJ~
Boston Market Copycat Creamed Spinach Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 Mins
- Cook Time: 20 Mins
- Total Time: 30 Mins
- Yield: 8
- Category: Vegetable Sides
- Method: American
- Cuisine: American
Description
Tasty, flavorful, delicious creamed spinach, so good it tastes like it’s bought from Boston Market. It’s easy to make and takes under 20 minutes. The perfect side vegetable to compliment and great main dish.
Ingredients
- 3 (6oz) Bagged Baby Spinach
- 1/4 Cup Onions, chopped
- 1 Tbs Minced Garlic
- 1 Tbs All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
- 1/2 Cup Cream Cheese
- 1/2 Cup Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 Cup Sour Cream
- 1 Tbs Butter
- 1 Tbs Vegetable Oil
- 2 Tsps Ranch Seasoning
- 1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/2 Tsp Onion Powder
- 1/4 Tsp Black Pepper
- 1/4 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
Instructions
- Chop up the onions and spinach.
- Place a pot over medium-high heat.
- Add in the butter and oil.
- After 2 minutes, add the chopped onions and garlic.
- After 3 more minutes, reduce to medium heat, then add in the milk, cheese, sour cream, and flour, and stir well.
- Once it thickens or after minutes, add in the spinach and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.
