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Creamed Spinach Recipe

This easy creamed spinach recipe is delicious served with roasted chicken, roast beef, or under a fried egg.

By chow · From Open Recipes · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Spinach and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 3,400 recipes mention both. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

The recipe

10 servings
Cook20 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Place the baby spinach in a large pot with only the water clinging to the leaves after washing. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until wilted, about 4 minutes.

  2. Tip the wilted spinach into a colander and press out as much liquid as you can with a spoon or your hands. Chop it roughly.

  3. Return the pot to medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook, stirring, until softened, about 4 minutes.

  4. Pour in the heavy cream and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for about 5 minutes until slightly thickened.

  5. Stir in the spinach and simmer for 3 minutes so it absorbs the cream.

  6. Season with kosher salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper to taste. Serve hot.

By chow. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Spinach + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together3,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  2. Onion + spinachtop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together3,335 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Onion + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together68,463 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Cream + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together10,826 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Cream + spinachtop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together1,129 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

Cream and onion share little aroma chemistry, yet 10,826 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, spinach, pepper):

  1. Potatobetter flavor fit
  2. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  3. Lettucebetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, spinach, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).