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Home » Recipes » Side Dishes

Vegan Creamed Spinach

Published: Oct 17, 2021 by Lexi

7 shares
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Put a vegan spin on a classic holiday side with our vegan creamed spinach. It's rich, creamy, and delicious, without any of the dairy! Even better, it's super easy to make in about 30 minutes.

Overhead view of creamed spinach in a dutch oven.
We put a vegan twist on a classic holiday side dish!
Jump to:
  • 🥗 Why We Love This Recipe
  • 🥬 Ingredients
  • 📋 Ingredient Notes
  • 🔪 Step-by-step Instructions
  • 💭 Expert Tips and FAQs
  • 🍽 Related Recipes
  • 📖 Recipe

🥗 Why We Love This Recipe

  • Super creamy with none of the dairy: We used vegan cheese and milk products to recreate the creamy texture of a normal creamed spinach. It has all of the same delicious flavor and works for those with allergies!
  • One pot preparation: This recipe comes together almost entirely in one pot, which helps cut down on dishes and prep time during the stressful holiday season.
  • Classic holiday side dish: just because you're vegan doesn't mean you can't serve up a traditional holiday spread. This vegan creamed spinach is great alongside other holiday classics like mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce, glazed carrots and more.

🥬 Ingredients

Here are the key ingredients you'll need to make our vegan creamed spinach:

Overhead shot of creamed spinach ingredients, including shallots, spinach, garlic, and spices.
Of course, you can also opt for regular dairy, keeping all quantities the same.

📋 Ingredient Notes

  • Spinach: We used frozen spinach since it keeps much longer and reduces in volume much less than fresh spinach. We think it's a lot less of a hassle to work with and makes stressful holiday prep much easier.
  • Vegan cheese: two of our favorite brands for vegan cheeses that actually melt (and taste great!) include Miyokos and Violife. We also love using Miyokos butter in this recipe.
  • Nondairy milk: we prefer oat milk in this vegan creamed spinach for its creamy texture and neutral flavor. You can also use another plain, unsweetened/unflavored nondairy milk of choice, including almond, cashew or soy.
  • Shallots: you can also sub with an equal amount of yellow onion.
  • Flour: feel free to use gluten free all purpose flour if needed.
  • Seasonings: salt and pepper are essential, but a small pinch of nutmeg and cayenne really take this vegan creamed spinach to the next level. Nutmeg is a common ingredient in creamy sauces (like bechamel) to add a note of sweetness, warmth and complexity.
  • Lemon juice: freshly squeezed is always best!

🔪 Step-by-step Instructions

(1) Melt butter in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium low heat. 

(2) Add shallots and garlic and sauté for 5-6 minutes over medium heat, then add spinach and stir well to combine. Continue cooking spinach for another 5 minutes.

On the left: shallots cooking in butter. On the right: spinach after being added t.o the pot

(3) While spinach is cooking, in a separate bowl, whisk together 1 cup of milk with ¼ cup of flour until there are no lumps left. 

(4) Add in remaining milk, milk/flour mixture from the previous step, lemon juice, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cayenne to the spinach and stir to combine.

On the left: roux being whisked together. On the right: dry ingredients and roux added to spinach.

(5) Increase heat to medium high. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. 

(6) Add in the mozzarella and half of the parmesan and continue cooking until the cheese is melted and well incorporated.

(7) Remove from the stovetop and top with remaining parmesan.

On the left: spinach after ingredients are stirred in. In the middle: adding nondairy cheese to spinach. On the right: spinach after cheese is melted in.

💭 Expert Tips and FAQs

  • We like to partially thaw the frozen spinach in a colander before cooking. This helps to remove a bit of excess moisture from chunks of ice that may cling to the spinach. It helps to prevent the final dish from ending up too watery.
  • Vegan cheese can take a bit longer to melt than regular cheese. If you'd like to speed up this process, you can chop up your nondairy mozzarella into smaller pieces. Otherwise, just be patient! It may take a little while, but we promise it'll melt just fine.
  • Whisk the flour and milk well before adding to the pot: if you don't mix them well enough, you may end up with big clumps of flour.
  • Gluten free? Simply use gluten free all purpose in place of regular AP flour.
  • Variation: try this vegan creamed spinach recipe with another leafy green like kale or swiss chard. (I honestly prefer it with kale – I think the texture is much better!)
  • Storage: store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat on the stovetop or in microwave.
Why is my vegan creamed spinach watery?


A few potential issues:

1. Your frozen spinach had a lot of ice. In this case, there's not a whole lot you can do, so just continue to cook down the spinach until more liquid evaporates.

2. You haven't simmered the creamed spinach for long enough (or at a high enough heat).

3. You forgot to add in the flour. The flour and milk form a thick sauce that coats the spinach. Without the flour, the milk won't thicken up on its own.

Can I make this recipe without flour?


Technically, yes, but with very different results. Flour, when combined with milk, forms a thick white sauce similar to a roux. Without flour, the sauce will not thicken up, so the resulting creamed spinach will not be very...well...creamy!

If for some reason you do want to/need to leave out the flour, try cutting down the amount of milk.

Can you freeze vegan creamed spinach?


Yes! Transfer the cooled spinach to a freezer safe container and store for up to 6 months. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator, then reheat.

What goes well with creamed spinach?

Creamed spinach is often served alongside classic dishes like steak, poultry or fish. For a few vegan alternatives, try our roasted cauliflower steaks or vegan meatloaf.

It's also a great dish to add to your vegan holiday spread, alongside classics like scalloped potatoes, stuffed mushrooms, green beans with "bacon" and stuffing.

Close up of a spoonful of creamed spinach being scooped out of a bowl.
Packed with (vegan) cheese and super creamy.

🍽 Related Recipes

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    Vegan Mushroom Gravy
  • overhead view of vegan spinach artichoke dip in a skillet.
    Vegan Spinach Artichoke Dip
  • overhead view of cheesy vegan broccoli casserole topped with breadcrumbs in large skillet.
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Tried this recipe? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. You can also stay in touch with us through social media by following us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or by subscribing to our newsletter.

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📖 Recipe

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Close up of vegan creamed spinach in a bowl.

Vegan Creamed Spinach


  • Author: Lexi
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 4-6 servings 1x
  • Diet: Vegan
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Description

Put a vegan spin on a classic holiday side with our vegan creamed spinach. It's rich, creamy, and delicious, without any of the dairy!


Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 4 tablespoons vegan butter
  • 1 cup diced shallot or yellow onion
  • 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
  • 2 pounds frozen spinach, partially thawed*
  • 2 cups nondairy milk, divided (we used oat)
  • ¼ cup all purpose flour (can use gluten free if needed)
  • 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ⅛ teaspoon cayenne
  • 1 cup shredded vegan mozzarella cheese
  • ⅓ cup grated vegan parmesan, divided

Instructions

  1. Melt butter in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium low heat. 
  2. Add shallots and garlic and sauté for 5-6 minutes over medium heat, then add spinach and stir well. Continue cooking spinach for another 5 minutes.
  3. While spinach is cooking, in a separate bowl, whisk together 1 cup of milk with ¼ cup of flour until there are no lumps left. 
  4. Pour in remaining milk, milk/flour mixture from the previous step, lemon juice, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cayenne to the spinach and stir to combine.
  5. Increase temperature to medium high and bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium and stir occasionally for 5 minutes. 
  6. Add in the mozzarella and half of the parmesan and continue cooking, stirring well, until the cheese is melted.
  7. Remove from heat and top with remaining parmesan before serving. 

Notes

*We like to partially thaw the frozen spinach in a colander before cooking. This helps to remove a bit of excess moisture from chunks of ice that may cling to the spinach. It helps to prevent the final dish from ending up too watery.

Vegan cheese can take a bit longer to melt than regular cheese. If you'd like to speed up this process, you can chop up your nondairy mozzarella into smaller pieces. Otherwise, just be patient! It may take a little while, but we promise it'll melt just fine.

Nondairy milk: we prefer oat milk in this vegan creamed spinach for its creamy texture and neutral flavor. You can also use another plain, unsweetened/unflavored nondairy milk of choice, including almond, cashew or soy. 

Shallots: you can also sub with an equal amount of yellow onion. 

Flour: feel free to use gluten free all purpose flour if needed. 

Storage: store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat on the stovetop or in microwave. You can also freeze for up to 6 months. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator. 

  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Category: Side Dishes
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: American

Nutrition

  • Serving Size:
  • Calories: 206
  • Sugar: 3.2 g
  • Sodium: 557.4 mg
  • Fat: 11.2 g
  • Carbohydrates: 15.5 g
  • Fiber: 5.2 g
  • Protein: 14.1 g

Keywords: Vegan creamed spinach

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Hi, we're Lexi and Beth, a mother-daughter team from Michigan. The recipes you'll find here are a reflection of how we bring our family together around the dinner table despite various dietary differences.

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