Sometimes you just want comfort food—something warm and rich and delicious that tastes like being hugged feels.
For me, however, that craving usually comes when I have the least time to cook.
Case in point: Last week, I was surfing through the freezer for something—anything!—to make for dinner, and spied a bag of plain spinach. Now, back in my (ahem) less healthy days, pre-fab creamed spinach was a weeknight staple in my freezer. Sure, I knew it was loaded with fat and fillers, but it sure was fast—and tasty. Needless to say, since transitioning to a whole-food, plant-based lifestyle, said spinach hasn’t exactly been part of my repertoire.
Staring into that freezer, though, I was suddenly overcome with a visceral longing for old-school creamed spinach. (Please tell me I’m not alone in this.)
So, right then and there, I vowed to create a low-fat vegan creamed spinach every bit as good as the spinach of yore, but that loved me back as much as I loved it. A recipe that I could throw together on a busy weeknight and still have time to do the dishes.
Well, a week and four pounds of spinach later, I’ve finally come up with a recipe that’s a keeper.
It’s got everything I could want from creamed spinach, from the velvety texture to the hint of nutmeg. Better yet, it’s busting its buttons with awesome nutrition: A single serving packs 6 grams of protein, 20% of your daily fiber, 232% of your daily vitamin A, and whopping 642% of your daily vitamin K. Heck, it’s even got omega-3 fats. (Did I mention I love vegetables?)
Best of all, it’s weeknight fast, coming together in 20 minutes.
Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
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- 1 Tbsp cornstarch + 1 Tbsp water
- 1 lb fresh spinach* (you can also use 1 lb frozen spinach—see note)
- 1 c unsweetened almond milk
- 1½ tsp onion powder
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp almond butter (optional)
- pinch of salt (optional)
- Mix cornstarch and water with a fork until uniformly combined. Set aside.
- Line the bottom of a large pot with water, bring to a boil, and add spinach. Reduce heat to medium and steam-sauté, stirring frequently, until spinach is wilted. (Add small splashes of water if needed to prevent sticking.) Remove from heat and drain spinach in a colander, pressing to remove excess water.
- In a small pot, wisk together almond milk, onion powder, and garlic powder. Bring to a boil. Wisking continuously, add cornstarch/water mixture in a thin stream; sauce should begin thickening immediately. Reduce heat and simmer sauce for 1–2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
- Wisk in nutritional yeast, nutmeg, black pepper, and almond butter (if using).
- Gently stir in spinach and serve with freshly ground black pepper. Bon appetit!
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I'm Lee, an RD thriving on a healthy plant based diet.
Sounds great!!
Can't wait to try this…..but one question. My husband doesn't eat spinach. Can I use kale, collards, or chard in place of the spinach? If not, I'll be eating all this myself. 🙂
Chard is a great replacement for spinach in this recipe. Just cook it a little longer than you would spinach, and omit the stems. (The stems are a great addition to vegetable stock, though, if you make that at home.) Let me know how it turns out!
Wonderful saucy, creamy, very good tasting pair with spinach. I mixed up a batch and combined with whole wheat noodles for a complete meal. Thank you
Hi Colleen, I love the idea of mixing in pasta! Like a spinach-rich alfredo, yum. 🙂 I’m going to try that this week; thanks for the suggestion!