Steakhouse Creamed Spinach

If you love the creamed spinach served at great American steakhouses, you will love this recipe! Made with fresh baby spinach, Steakhouse Creamed Spinach is easy to make in around 30 minutes and can be enjoyed right out of the skillet or made ahead of time and baked later! It also makes a great side dish for Maryland-Style Crab Cakes!

Why This Recipe is a Keeper!

Creamed spinach is a classic steakhouse side dish right along with Au Gratin Potatoes, Twice-Baked Potatoes, and Macaroni and Cheese. It’s a great low-carb side dish that’s perfect with almost anything!

This Steakhouse Creamed Spinach recipe is thick, creamy, velvety and absolutely delicious with the addition of Boursin cheese! It’s a luxurious side dish that even spinach skeptics will fall in love with.

This recipe for creamed spinach is:

• Perfect as a weeknight side dish because it comes together in about 30 minutes.
• A luxurious, elegant side dish perfect alongside your lovely roast or beef tenderloin for the holidays or special occasions.
• Perfect for low-carb diets when a low-carb or keto flour is used.
• Adaptable to other greens such as kale or Swiss chard.
• Over-the-top delicious with a lovely fresh taste because of the fresh spinach.
• Easily doubled.

I think it’s the best steakhouse creamed spinach recipe! Let’s make it!

How to Make Steakhouse Creamed Spinach:

Recipe Ingredients:

Here’s everything you’ll need to make this recipe for creamed spinach along with how to prep the ingredients. See the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the exact quantities.

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions:

• Baby Spinach: You’ll need one pound of fresh baby spinach which I highly recommend using instead of frozen chopped spinach. Frozen chopped spinach is a great convenience item that’s less expensive than fresh baby spinach, but sometimes it takes on a “spinachy” taste. If that’s what you prefer to use, be sure to squeeze out all the excess water.
• Butter: I always use unsalted butter in cooking so I can adjust the salt level myself.
• Shallots: Shallots are a member of the onion family and are used extensively in French cooking. They grow in clusters (heads) similar to garlic but without the quantity. I like to use them in this recipe because they have a mild oniony flavor that doesn’t overpower the baby spinach. Regular onion can be used instead if you prefer.
• Flour: Use regular all-purpose flour if you don’t require gluten-free, low-carb or keto. Substitute a gluten-free or keto flour if necessary.
• Nutmeg: Nutmeg and spinach have a natural affinity with each other. A pinch is all you need so don’t skip it!
• Half-and-Half: Half cream and half whole milk. You can substitute all heavy cream but you’ll want to leave out the flour because it will be too thick. You can substitute all whole or 2% milk.
• Boursin Cheese: Boursin is actually the brand name of a soft, spreadable flavored cheese product, developed by a young Normandy cheesemaker named Francois Boursin. He blended gournay cheese which is a soft, spreadable, sweet, mild cheese made of cream with garlic and herbs, introduced it and people fell in love. There are numerous varieties including a dairy-free version. For this creamed spinach recipe, I use Boursin with Garlic and Fine Herbs which you can find in the gourmet cheese section of your grocery store.

Step-By-Step Instructions:

• Gather and prep all the ingredients.
• Place the spinach in a colander and get it wet under cool running tap water.

• Cook the spinach: Working in batches and with only the water on the spinach, place it in a large nonstick skillet and heat the skillet over medium-high heat.
• Cover the skillet to help wilt the spinach. When that batch is wilted, add more spinach and let that wilt until it’s all wilted. Season the spinach with salt and black pepper to taste.

• Transfer the spinach back to the colander. Gently press on the spinach with the bottom of a ladle or 1-cup measuring cup to extract any residual water. Set aside.

• Make the sauce: In the skillet used to wilt the spinach, melt the butter over medium heat.
• Add the shallot, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until the shallot is softened, being careful to not burn it or brown the butter.
• Add the garlic and cook briefly for 10 to 15 seconds or until it’s fragrant.

• Whisk in the flour and cook for 2 minutes or so, being careful to not brown the flour.

• Add the half-and-half. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook for 1 to 2 minutes or so until it has thickened.

• Add the Boursin cheese and break it up to melt it and get it incorporated into the thickened half-and-half.
• Add the cayenne, nutmeg and Parmesan cheese. Stir until the Parmesan cheese melts.

• Finish it up: Add the wilted spinach back into the creamy base and stir until everything is evenly combined. Add salt and black pepper to taste if desired. Serve immediately or cool and transfer to a baking dish to reheat at a later time.

• Delish!!! Sprinkle with a little more Parmesan cheese for a lovely, luxurious steakhouse-inspired creamed spinach side dish!

Chef Tips and Tricks:

• If the creamed spinach sauce seems too thick, remember that spinach has a lot of water in it and it’s very difficult to remove all of it. So, when you add the spinach back into the sauce, chances are very good it’s going to thin out. If not, just add a little more half-and-half or milk.
• Got leftovers? Repurpose the leftovers by serving them over toasted bread, folding them into an omelet, stuffing a chicken breast or tossing them with pasta or rice. So many possibilities!

Frequently Asked Questions:

Storage:

• Refrigerate any leftovers. Consume within 3 to 4 days for the best flavor.

Serve with:

• Pan-Seared Lamb Chops with Anchovy Butter
• Grilled Marinated Skirt Steak with Peperonata
• Buttery Blackened Steak Bites with Gorgonzola
• Beef Tenderloin Fillets (fill the mushrooms with Steakhouse Creamed Spinach instead).
• Parmesan and Herb-Crusted Lamb Chops
• Pecan-Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Bourbon Mustard Sauce
• 40 Clove Garlic Chicken

More great spinach recipes you’ll love!

• Spinach Artichoke Squares
• Chicken Spinach and Artichoke Puff Pastry Parcels
• Chicken Pasta Salad with Spinach Buttermilk Dressing
• Spinach Goat Cheese Bisque with Crispy Lemon Chickpeas

Get all my vegetable side dish recipes at: Vegetable Side Dishes – From A Chef’s Kitchen