Southern Creamed Spinach

I’m going to share my favorite way to eat all of my veggies with you all. A pretty simple, but insanely comforting side dish that goes with just about everything.

Southern-style Creamed Spinach is where it’s at.

Creamed spinach is pretty much THE side dish of the South. Having steak and potatoes for dinner? You can pretty much assume creamed spinach will be part of it. Grilling some burgers? Creamed spinach. Baking a lasagna? …OK. Almost everything.

I’m sure you will all be incredibly shocked to find out that plain spinach just…well… isn’t my favorite menu item. I’m all about throwin’ a couple leaves in a salad so I can tell mama that I’m eating healthily. Moderation, right? Aside from that, this has to be my preferred method of climbing over the veggie section of the food pyramid. (Is that still a thing? Or was it just around during the President’s Physical Fitness Challenge days of my youth??)

Speaking of sides– I’ve mentioned Green BEAN Delivery to y’all before (in the Blood Orange Biscuits post). It’s a home delivery product and grocery company that I use here in Nashville. They offer service in many different cities. You login each week and select what product, meats, groceries, and even local goods that you want and add them all to a cart. Later in the week, an insulted crate full of fresh, local, organic food arrives at your doorstep. All for about the same price that you would pay at a local organic grocery. It’s a super-convenient way to plan out meals and ensure you have great ingredients in your kitchen each week (or every other, etc.).

If you jump in quickly, you have time to enter the #PlateProud recipe contest and win some sweeeeet kitchen prizes! You can check that info out HERE. Deadline for entry is May 22nd, so start cookin’.

You can check out Green BEAN Delivery by signing up to check out what your local area has to offer. (You’ll even get a nice little discount if you follow my link here.)

Now… Back to the food. — The secret to a good creamed spinach has to be in how you develop the cream. You have a… bunch (get it?) of options with regard to how you decide to enrobe those soon-to-be-irresistible leaves. You could make a béchamel like we did for another insanely good side, made from scratch broccoli casserole. If I’m honest, I just didn’t want to put in the effort. I had one of those loooong days at work (read: day-dreamed of cookies and cake and didn’t get anything done) and just wanted to get the side on the table. Not having to make the béchamel just adds to the glamour of this dish. It’s quick, delicious, and did I say quick? Winner, winner creamed spinach dinner.

Just take a moment and look. at. that. Beautifully bright spinach dancing around in a cheesy cream sauce. Sure… It has a couple calories. But, the ingredients are all fresh and delicious. And spinach makes everything healthy. Treat yo-self.

Finish it off with a bit of paprika & kick of cayenne, and then mostly likely you’ll finish it off for good straight from the pan. It’s that good.

Enjoy your veggies, y’all.

What’s your favorite comfort side? Comment below!

Disclosure: This post contains referral links that may provide a commission to me for your purchase. Green BEAN did not ask me to write this post. They have, however, provided commission to me in the past for posting my experience with their service. The thoughts are mine alone.