Sauteed Spinach

This Garlic Sautéed Spinach is our go to for an easy, healthy and delicious side dish.  It is tender and appetizing with the simple flavors of garlic salt and pepper enhance the natural deliciousness of this wholesome super food! It is a quick option for serving any meal since you can have this ready to serve in as little as 5 minutes and the flavors of this dish really pair well with almost any meal or cuisine.

I serve this both on the side of the main dish, or many times put the main dish right on top of of a bed of this spinach like with this Chicken Piccata Casserole. Whether you are looking to round out your meal with a healthy side or need something to accommodate a gluten free, low carb, or low calorie dinner, this Sautéed Spinach fits the bill!

this Recipe

 

Sautéed Spinach Recipe

My friends actually laugh at me sometimes for my love of spinach.  I will eat this stuff with on under any dish almost.  And while I might be a little more into spinach than most, I really think that once you see the combination of how QUICK + EASY + FLAVORFUL + DELICIOUS + HEALTHY this dish is, you might just want to eat it on everything too!

Forget Trifecta!  This Garlic Sautéed Spinach hits all 5 points that any dish could and does it with ease!

If you need more easy and delicious side dish ideas, make sure to check out my Sautéed Green Beans, Smashed Potatoes and Corn Casserole! You can also check out this huge list of side dishes. It was created for Prime Rib ideas, but there are sides that are versatile enough for any meal!

What to Serve Sautéed Spinach with

I mentioned above that this Sautéed Spinach goes well with everything and I really think it does!  I serve it with everything from Italian to Indian dishes and love the flavor and extra boost of healthy it gives the dish. My family really loves when I serve it alongside my Beef Hashbrown Casserole. It’s great next to a comforting main dish!

What I might serve this spinach with most often with though is my basked chicken dishes.  I love to make easy one dish chicken meals in all types of flavors (you can see my baked chicken recipes here) and the ease of doing a one dish chicken dinner and serving it on a bed of this 5 minute Sautéed Spinach is almost too good to be true on a busy week night!

Here are some ideas on meals I think pair exceptionally well with this Sautéed Spinach:

• Baked Tuscan Garlic Chicken
• Baked Green Chile Chicken
• Pesto Baked Chicken
• Chicken Cordon Bleu Bake
• Jalapeño Popper Baked Chicken
• Easy Baked Chicken Marsala
• Mediterranean Chicken Bake
• Baked Buffalo Chicken Casserole
• Spinach and Artichoke Chicken Bake
• Hawaiian Chicken Bake
• Easy Baked Chicken Parmesan
• Ranch Chicken Bites

Any of these will go great on a bed of  Sautéed Spinach. One of the bonuses too is that most all of these dishes are naturally low carb and gluten free and by serving with Sautéed Spinach you add minimal calories, keep it gluten free and low carb, and add tons of nutrients!  Spinach is a superfood after all!

How to Make Sautéed Spinach

This recipe is super simple as promised, and can be made in as little as about 5 minutes on the stove top.  I am going to walk through the recipe in more detail here to hopefully answer any questions that may come up while cooking.  A full, printable, recipe card is available at the bottom of this post.

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Garlic Sautéed Spinach Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil- I use extra virgin olive oil
• 10 oz fresh spinach, washed- This will seem like a TON of spinach when you start, but once it cooks down it will portion out to about 4 very modest servings.  Don’t worry when you first see how much spinach this looks like!
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, pressed- Using fresh garlic in this recipe is important to get the best flavor!
• salt and pepper to taste- You can season the spinach to taste.  I would estimate about 1/8 tsp of each.

Sautéed Spinach Instructions

1. Heat a large skillet with olive oil over medium high heat on the stove. I like to get the skillet hot before adding the spinach to help it cook more quickly.  The more quickly it cooks, the better the flavor!
2. Add the garlic in to the pan and cook stirring for about 30 seconds.  Add spinach covering the garlic and piling it all in the pan. It will look like a lot at this point, but it will start to cook down quickly! Let cook 2-3 minutes, then continue to cook an additional 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently until all spinach leaves have wilted. I like to remove the spinach from the heat as soon as it is all wilted to keep as much of the bold color and healthy nutrients in it as possible.  This also prevents it from over cooking and becoming bitter.
3. Remove from heat and season to taste with salt and pepper, stirring until the seasoning is evenly distributed. Serve hot. Enjoy!

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I really hope you enjoy this Sautéed Spinach as an easy and healthy side dish as much as we do!

If you do get a chance to try it, I would love it if you let me know!  You can leave me a comment below, or if you post a picture on Instagram, make sure to tag me @easyfamilyrecipes so that I can see what you are cooking up! It makes my day to see others enjoying the recipes that I share!