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Garlic Sautéed Spinach

Garlic Sautéed Spinach has been my go-to method to make a quick and tasty spinach side dish for years, and it’s about time it makes its permanent mark on the blog, because YOU need it as well (trust me).

Ready under 5 minutes, spinach is sautéed on a skillet along with fresh garlic and a touch of chicken bouillon for amazing flavors. So simple yet so delicious! Even if you don’t love spinach, this garlic sautéed spinach may just change your mind.

A plate of spinach sautéed with garlic

Sautéed Spinach with Garlic

I have sautéd my spinach with garlic since the beginning of time since I taught myself how to cook in college.

Growing up, sautéing vegetables is the go-to way of preparing vegetables, so when I was presented with fresh spinach, sautéing them makes the most sense. Because how else would you cook vegetables?

I have obviously expanded my vegetable-cooking-methods (example: Roasted Whole Carrots, Easy Mixed Vegetable Rice, Broccoli au Gratin – which are all delicious!), but I still sauté a lot of my vegetables because sautéed vegetables enable your vegetables to cook quickly without turning soggy. It’s also a great way to maintain its vitamins and nutrients and its original texture.

This garlic sautéed spinach has and probably always will be my favorite way to cook spinach. We always have spinach at hand and make this probably once a week.

Here’s how awesome garlic sautéed spinach is:

  • only 5 minutes: 2 minute prep, 3 minute cook time
  • 3 ingredients
  • healthy and nutritious – spinach is loaded with fiber, vitamin C, vitamin B6, magnesium, iron, and calcium.
  • DELICIOUS – if you think spinach dishes are bland and tasteless, try this and you may just change your mind! 😉

You can argue that this garlic sautéed spinach is an Asian inspired spinach recipe, but we serve it with any chicken dishes, fish dishes, pasta dishes, noodles, rice and much more. It’s very versatile!

Picking up sautéed spinach from a plate with a fork

Ingredients

Here are the ingredients needed to make garlic sautéed spinach:

  • Fresh spinach – avoid using frozen spinach because it will turn very soggy after searing. Also, it may look like we are using a whole lot of spinach, but it will cook down a whole lot.
  • Fresh garlic – avoid using garlic powder as fresh minced garlic brings the best flavor to this garlic sautéed spinach recipe.
  • Chicken bouillon powder – you can use chicken bouillon cubes as well if preferred. This bouillon paste works well too. Do not substitute with chicken stock.
  • vegetable oil – or another neutral oil such as canola oil or olive oil.

How to sauté spinach

Next, I’m going to show you how easy it is to sauté spinach with garlic on a skillet!

We are talking about a quick 5-minute prep and cook time, and you get some yummy garlic sautéed spinach on your dinner table.

Appliance needed: you will need a large skillet or wok. Because there is a lot of spinach at the beginning before it cooks down, you will want something that can hold all of the spinach. Use the largest skillet or wok you have. If you cannot fit all the spinach, add spinach into skillet in batches (see below for more details).

To start sautéing garlic spinach, first heat your skillet or wok with vegetable oil. Once your skillet or wok is heated, add garlic and spinach.

We are using 10oz of spinach so most likely spinach would be towering the skillet. But do not fear, because it will cook down quite a bit before you know it!

Spinach on a large skillet on stovetop

Sprinkle chicken bouillon powder all over spinach.

Spinach topped with chicken bouillon powder on skillet

Then use a spatula to stir and combine spinach, garlic and chicken bouillon powder.

Before you know it, spinach should cook down pretty quickly, and it would look something like this…

Cooked spinach in skillet

Remove spinach from heat promptly once it is cooked down to avoid overcooking spinach and prevent spinach from turning soggy.

Additional Notes

A few tips and tricks when sautéing garlic spinach:

  • the time it takes to sauté garlic spinach is super quick – takes about 1-2 minutes from the time spinach is added to skillet to spinach being completely cooked down.
  • If there is too much spinach to fit into skillet, add spinach in batches. Add as much spinach as you can to heated skillet, add some chicken bouillon powder, stir it around until spinach is cooked down. Then quickly add the rest of the spinach, chicken bouillon and stir to cook it down.

Ways to serve garlic spinach

We serve this as a side to so many different types of meals. Here are some of our favorite dishes we serve with sautéed garlic spinach:

An oval plate of sautéed spinach with fresh garlic

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use frozen spinach?

Fresh spinach is better suited for sautéing on a skillet because frozen spinach is already soft and will wilt and turn mushy very easily when sautéed.

That’s a lot of fresh spinach! My skillet isn’t big enough! What should I do?

Add your spinach in batches, but you gotta act fast! 😉 First, add as much spinach you can fit into the heated skillet (if it piles high it’s ok!), sprinkle some of the chicken bouillon powder, stir until spinach is cooked down. Once there’s room, quickly add the rest of the spinach, chicken bouillon and stir again to cook it all down.

What should I do if I don’t want to use chicken bouillon powder?

I highly recommend chicken bouillon because that’s where all the delicious flavors come from! If you prefer to not use it though, you can substitute chicken bouillon powder for 1 tsp of salt. It wouldn’t be as flavorful if you ask me, but that’s a good way to make this dish vegetarian if needed.

DID YOU ENJOY THIS RECIPE? Please comment below and give us a 5-star rating! This will help others find this recipe on Google and Pinterest. We very much appreciate your help! 🤍

More Yummy Vegetable Side Dishes

Picking up pan seared spinach with a fork

Garlic Sautéed Spinach

Easy 5-minute sautéed spinach with garlic is a simple yet flavorful vegetable dish that will make a healthy and yummy side to any meal!
5 from 9 votes
Print Pin
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American, asian
Prep Time: 2 minutes
Cook Time: 3 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 23kcal
Author: MinShien

Ingredients

  • 10 oz fresh spinach
  • 5-6 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 tsp chicken bouillon powder
  • vegetable oil

Instructions

  • Heat skillet or wok on medium heat. Add vegetable oil.
  • Once skillet is heated, add minced garlic and spinach. Sprinkle chicken bouillon powder all over spinach.
  • Stir to combine spinach with chicken bouillon powder and garlic.
  • Once spinach is cooked down, remove from heat promptly.
  • Serve and enjoy!

Notes

  • Spinach will cook down so it’s okay if it overflows the skillet at the beginning. If spinach really doesn’t fit into the skillet or wok at the beginning, consider adding spinach onto skillet in batches. Start by adding as much spinach as you can to fit into the heated skillet, sprinkle some of the chicken bouillon powder, stir until spinach is cooked down. Once there’s room, quickly add the rest of the spinach, chicken bouillon and stir again to cook it all down. 
  • The entire stir fry process goes fast! It should take no more than 1-2 minutes for spinach to completely cook down. Avoid overcooking spinach to avoid sogginess.

Nutrition

Calories: 23kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 0.1mg | Sodium: 197mg | Potassium: 276mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 0.3g | Vitamin A: 4431IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 53mg | Iron: 1mg
Did you make this recipe?Take a pic and tag me at @joyous.apron, or hashtag #joyousapron on Instagram!

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Recipe Rating




12 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    So far I have decided to try the skillet chicken Parm. The grilled chicken lemon balsamic and the spinach and garlic recipes. They all sound delish. Thanks for the recipes.

    1. Joyous Apron says:

      Thank you Beth! Please let me know how you like them!

  2. 5 stars
    Made this simple garlic spinach dish and we absolutely love it. I thought it was a lot of spinach but spinach shrink a lot after cooking. Love the garlic flavor. Great easy recipe.

    1. Joyous Apron says:

      Thank you so much, Erik! So glad you enjoyed it.

  3. 5 stars
    So simple, yet so flavorful! Great side dish, we loved it!

    1. Joyous Apron says:

      Yay! So glad!

  4. Tiffany H says:

    5 stars
    This has quickly become one of my favorite side dishes. Chicken bouillon brings out this dish, do not skip it!! It’s easy to make and so full of flavor!

    1. Joyous Apron says:

      Happy to hear that this recipe is a favorite of yours!

  5. 5 stars
    A quick, easy, nutritious and fabulous side dish. My new favorite way to make spinach. I served it with roasted pork tenderloins for a low carb meal as we are trying to cut down on carbs. Great recipe. Glad to find it.

    1. Joyous Apron says:

      That sounds like a delicious and healthy dinner! YUM!

  6. 5 stars
    Made this over the weekend and the flavor is perfect. So easy and quick. Love it. Thank you for sharing this recipe.

    1. Joyous Apron says:

      Thanks for the kind feedback, Shadi!