Got leftover spinach and not sure what to do with it? Here’s an idea: throw it in the freezer! This leafy green vegetable is actually a breeze to freeze. While many vegetables lose flavor and texture in the freezer, spinach works well to preserve: and you can throw it into soups, stews, and smoothies: a great way to eat your greens! Here’s how to do it.
Can you freeze spinach?
Spinach freezes very well: the flavor of the vegetable is preserved during the process. Frozen spinach can’t be used raw in salads, but it’s ideal for adding to cooked dishes like soups, stews, dips, and casseroles, and blended dishes like smoothies. You can use it right in cooked or blended dishes without thawing it. Spinach is very easy to freeze: you don’t even need to blanch it first, like you do with other vegetables. Keep in mind that in general, this doesn’t work as an easy substitute for the packaged type available in stores. (Keep reading for why.)
How long does spinach last in the refrigerator?
Stored in the produce drawer in the refrigerator, spinach lasts about 1 week. If you’d like to preserve it beyond that point, you can freeze spinach for 3 to 6 months. Spinach doesn’t require blanching like other vegetables, so it makes it quick and easy to pop in the freezer.
How to freeze spinach
Spinach is extremely easy to freeze: you can simply pop the leaves right into the freezer. Many vegetables require blanching first, which helps to lock in their color and helps them last longer in the freezer. But this leafy green works well raw! Here’s how to freeze spinach:
On packaged frozen spinach
Keep in mind that this method for freezing spinach does not work well as a substitute for the packaged type available in stores. Packaged frozen spinach is a common ingredient in something like spinach artichoke dip or spinach quiche. Here’s what’s different:
Packaged spinach is blanched first. To make frozen spinach like the packaged kind at the store, simply place the leaves in boiling water for 30 seconds. Rinse the spinach in cold water, then squeeze out as much water as possible. Then roughly chop the leaves and freeze it in a bag or container. Packaged spinach comes in large quantities. That small block of spinach from the store is 16 ounces of spinach: which is a very large quantity! Unless you have a very large amount of spinach, we recommend skipping the blanching step and using the frozen spinach for smoothies or soups instead.
Tips for how to use frozen spinach
Frozen spinach can be used right from the freezer in cooked or blended dishes: no need to defrost! Use non-blanched frozen spinach in cooked recipes that call for fresh. Here are a few tips:
Use frozen spinach only in cooked or blended dishes, like sautes, soups, stews, and smoothies. Don’t eat it raw in salads because the texture becomes softer after freezing. The frozen leaves can be added right to dishes: no defrosting is required.Use within 3 to 6 months. The flavor and texture can degrade the longer foods are frozen. For best results, use it within 3 months.
Spinach recipes
Here are a few recipe ideas for how to use frozen spinach! (Again, remember that packaged frozen spinach from the store is blanched first, so if you’re trying to approximate this product you’ll need to add the blanching step.) Here are some of our favorite spinach recipes:
Try simple and delicious sauteed spinachMake a meal with creamy spinach pastaMake up a side dish of spinach rice with fetaBlend it up into a spinach smoothieUse it in spinach tortillasAdd it to pasta like mac and cheese with spinachAdd it to hummus to make green hummusMake it into spinach artichoke grilled cheeseThrow it in curries like a chickpea curryAdd it to soups like Italian gnocchi soup or chickpea soup with rice
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