Creamed Spinach

Prep 35 min
Total 35 min
Servings 6

This classic dish, a staple of high-end steakhouses and humble tables alike, is one that every cook should learn to make. We’ve carefully crafted this recipe to capture the ultimate classic creamed-spinach characteristics so that it can be your textbook version and an heirloom to pass down. Once you’ve made it and seen how easy it is, there’s a good chance it’ll be on your table more often than for just special-occasion feasts. It’s creamy and satisfying even though it takes just 35 minutes to make. The ingredients are all easily accessible staples, but the inclusion of nutmeg might surprise you. If you associate that spice more with cookies than vegetables, you’re in for a pleasant surprise. Rather than dominating the dish, or even standing out on its own, nutmeg in this application serves to elevate the flavors of the key ingredients—cream and spinach—and bring them into harmony. As a finishing touch, we’ve added butter-toasted panko bread crumbs for a pleasant little crunch that we think you’ll find very satisfying. MORE+ LESS-

By Betty Crocker Kitchens

Updated December 9, 2019

Make with

Gold Medal Flour

Ingredients

tablespoons butter

1/2

cup Progresso™ plain panko crispy bread crumbs

1/2

cup finely chopped onion

tablespoons Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour

3/4

teaspoon salt

1/4

teaspoon pepper

1/8

teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 1/3

cups half-and-half

packages (5 oz each) baby spinach leaves

Steps

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1

In 8-inch skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium heat. Stir in bread crumbs. Cook and stir 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown. Place crumbs in small bowl; set aside.
2

In 1-quart saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat. Add onion; cook, stirring frequently, 4 to 5 minutes, or until tender. Stir in flour salt, pepper and nutmeg. Cook and stir until mixture is bubbly. Gradually stir in half-and-half. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly; boil and stir 1 minute. Remove from heat; set aside.
3

In 12-inch skillet, heat remaining 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat. Gradually add spinach. Cook, stirring, just until spinach is wilted. Stir in half-and-half mixture. Cook and stir 1 to 2 minutes or just until heated. Spoon mixture into serving bowl; top with toasted bread crumbs.

Expert Tips

Baby spinach is our preferred green for this dish and it’s what we suggest using to get the same results that we did in our test kitchens. Because it’s younger, the leaves are more tender, and you don’t need to worry about taking off the stems, as you would with more mature plants. Baby spinach wilts quickly into a silky texture—part of what makes this recipe so quick to prepare!
We believe that while, of course, food should be judged by its flavor, there are other factors that make it truly good rather than just OK. One of those factors is texture, which is why we opted to add panko as a finishing touch to this dish. Though they’re not exactly traditional, the buttery crumbs make a perfect textural contrast against the silkiness of the spinach and cream and make this version stand above the rest (and believe us, we tested for it!).