If you’re looking to find out how to freeze spinach, you’ve come to the right place… Yes, that’s right, you CAN freeze spinach leaves! Whether you freeze spinach cubes or whole leaves, this is an excellent method for minimizing your produce waste…
I’m not sure who coined the term sneaky nutrition, but I’m a BIG fan. Sneaky nutrition is an essential tool in the arsenal of any mom who is waging war on picky eating — a battle that I fight with several of my kids every day.
Just to be clear, I’m not advocating for being deceptive about boosting the nutrients in my kids’ meals. My kind of sneaky nutrition is more about making smart ingredient swaps and less about trying to “hide” extra nutrients in foods via purees and such. I’ve discovered that by simply including ingredients they might normally turn down in our regular recipes, they’re much more open to at least giving them a try.
One of my favorite nutrition boosters is fresh spinach. I add it liberally to taco meat, meat sauces for pasta, pasta salads, and more. And yes, I’ve been known to toss a handful into my kids’ smoothies, but they’re completely aware that it’s in them. So far, the complaints have been minimal…
How To Freeze Spinach
We typically pick up at least one extra large tub of organic spinach at Costco every week. At $4.49 for a pound of fresh spinach, it’s an excellent value — if you can use that much spinach in a week. Which we do most weeks, but every so often we get a batch that’s going bad quickly or just don’t use it at our normal pace…
After tossing more than a few tubs of wilted, slimey, past-its-prime spinach over the years, I decided there had to be a better way. So I typed “Can you freeze spinach leaves?” into the Pinterest search bar, and discovered that, yes, you CAN freeze spinach! Who knew?!? I mean I didn’t… And I figured that maybe there are a few of you that might like to know how to freeze spinach, as well. So here’s how you do it!
Freezing Whole Spinach Leaves
Freezing whole spinach leaves is a total breeze. If you know you’ll use your frozen spinach within six months, there’s no need to blanch it. Just pick out any icky leaves, place the fresh spinach leaves in a Ziploc freezer bag, squeeze out as much air as possible, and place it in the freezer. It doesn’t get much easier!
Freezing Pureed Spinach
You can also puree and freeze your spinach. I almost always use the whole leaf method, but this is a great option if you’re certain you’ll be using it in smoothies. Just add all of the spinach to a blender and add just enough water to get the blender going. Freeze the puree in Ziploc freezer bags (again, squeeze the air out), ice cubes trays, or baby food containers.
How To Use Frozen Spinach
Aside from eating it in a salad, you use your frozen spinach in almost any manner you’d normally use fresh spinach. Consistency and texture matter less in cooked or blended recipes, so it’s best to stick with smoothies and such. Just grab the amount you need straight from the freezer and add it to soup or stock, casseroles, and stir-fry recipes. Frozen spinach also works well in dips, quiche, and pasta dishes.
Have you ever frozen spinach? If so, what are your favorite ways to use it?
Cindy Burr says
Do you wash the spinach leaves before freezing?
Tara @ Unsophisticook says
If I haven’t already washed them or if there are a lot of yucky, wilted leaves, then yes, I would recommend washing them. Just make sure to dry them as thoroughly as possible before freezing.