Frozen spinach can turn out soggy or watery if not prepared correctly, but home cooks on Reddit have shared a simple prep step to avoid this: remove every last drop of moisture before cooking. The advice appeared repeatedly in a thread where users sought help with the messy process of handling defrosted spinach.
Why Moisture Removal Matters
One Reddit user posted: "Some of our favorite holiday foods are spinach artichoke dip and creamed spinach, but I LOATHE the whole deal of messing with wet, slimy defrosted spinach. Squeezing out the water, squeezing out the water again, floating bits of green stuff on everything....any suggestions to make this easier and less messy?"
Fellow home cooks flooded the post with answers, and the most popular suggestion required no additional ingredients. The key is to ensure the spinach is as dry as possible before cooking, which reduces sliminess and improves the overall texture, even when adding it to curries or soups.
Top Methods from Home Cooks
One person said: "I squeeze the water out in my bare hands, one handful at a time until it's all drained and in a bunch of tight little clumps. It is the simplest and most effective method I've found for getting super dry spinach every time."
Another commented: "Allow it to defrost completely still in the bag. Snip off a small corner. Squeeze the bag, allowing the liquid to drain off thru the snipped corner. (Liquid is good for stock.) Voila, dry-ish spinach with clean hands."
Someone else suggested: "I use a large mesh strainer. It's big enough to dump a box of spinach in. I hold it over the sink and use a fork and press to remove the majority of the water. I'm usually just making it as a side dish and adding vinegar to it, so I rarely need it fully dry - but if I do, rolling in paper towels and pressing again gets the job done. Spread it out on more paper towels or a clean tea towel and let it sit for a bit, prepping it ahead will let it air dry well if there's still more moisture left than you prefer."
A Simple Sautéed Spinach Recipe
For those serving spinach as a side dish, a recipe from Scrummy Lane requires just a handful of additional ingredients. To make sautéed frozen spinach, you need two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (plus extra for drizzling), three cloves of garlic (peeled and sliced thinly), 10 ounces (284 grams) of spinach, one lemon, and salt and pepper to taste.
Warm the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat and fry the sliced garlic for approximately 20 to 30 seconds. Add all the spinach to the pan and, using two wooden spoons or kitchen tongs, turn the spinach and garlic until it has wilted down. It is then ready to serve, though if serving directly from the pan, you may want to continue cooking for an additional minute or two to allow any remaining water to evaporate.
Move to a serving dish or plate, season with salt and pepper, squeeze over half of the lemon, and finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Serve alongside the remaining lemon, cut into segments for additional squeezing if desired.
