What to use instead of spinach
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
Advertisement
Green that wilts down into a soft cooked mass
The leaf is thin with very little structural fibre, so it collapses in about two minutes and breaks down into the sauce rather than sitting in it.
Frozen chopped spinach, thawed and wrung dryRan out
10 oz frozen per 1 lb fresh
Already broken down, so it goes darker and softer and never gets that just-wilted brightness. Squeeze it hard or the dish floods.
Swiss chard leaves, stems removedRan out
1:1 by weight of trimmed leaf
Takes 4 to 5 min instead of 2 and tastes more mineral and beety. Red-stemmed chard bleeds pink into a cream sauce.
Callaloo or amaranth greensRan out
1:1 by weight, 8 to 10 min
Thicker leaf, so it needs longer and holds more texture. Slightly slippery body that thickens a soup.
Mustard greens or collards, shredded fineRan out
1:1 by weight, 20 to 30 min covered with a splash of water
Pungent and bitter next to spinach. Good in a sarson da saag where that is the point, wrong in a creamed side.
What doesn't work: Kale swapped in one-for-one and cooked for the same two minutes. The leaf has far more lignin and a thick midrib, so it stays squeaky and chewy, sits on top of a palak paneer instead of melting into it, and needs a hard blanch plus fifteen minutes to get anywhere close.
Bulk green folded into eggs or rice without watering them down
Spinach is around 91 percent water, so the whole point of the prep is to cook and squeeze that out before it meets the eggs.
Frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezedRan out
10 oz frozen per 1 lb fresh, squeezed until it clumps
The most reliable option because you can see exactly how much water you have removed. Darker and finer in the finished frittata.
Chard, blanched 3 min and wrung outRan out
1:1 by weight of trimmed leaf
Firmer strands that show up as distinct green ribbons in an omelette. More mineral.
Kale, blanched 4 min, chopped and wrung outRan out
1:1 by weight of stripped leaf
Keeps a definite chew where spinach goes silky. Holds its colour better through a long bake.
What doesn't work: Fresh leaf stirred raw into the egg mixture where the recipe called for thawed and squeezed frozen. Each handful gives up a couple of tablespoons of water as it heats, and the frittata sets around a grey wet layer that never firms up.
Green added late for colour and body in a soup or stew
It cooks in the residual heat and keeps its colour, so it reads as fresh against a long-simmered base.
Callaloo or amaranth greensRan out
1:1 by weight, added 10 min from the end
Slightly slippery, which thickens the broth a little. Holds green colour longer than spinach does.
Frozen chopped spinachRan out
10 oz frozen per 1 lb fresh, stirred in frozen at the end
Drops the pot temperature, so give it 5 min back. Duller green, no textural difference by then.
WatercressRan out
1:1 by weight, added off the heat
Peppery and it wilts in seconds. Stalks stay crunchy, which suits a brothy soup.
What doesn't work: Raw spinach added at the start of a long simmer. Forty minutes in the pot and it has dissolved into grey threads with no colour, no texture and a flat metallic taste from the oxalic acid concentrating.