Dairy-free creamed spinach made with caramelized onions, garlic, and coconut milk makes for a nutritious side dish that happens to be paleo, vegan, low-carb, and keto.
Is creamed spinach a part of your holiday feasts?
While my family hasn’t habitually included creamed spinach to our repertoire, I do enjoy a good cooked green.
This dairy-free creamed spinach recipe replaces heavy cream and parmesan cheese with full-fat coconut milk and some lemon zest. The result is a rich, tasty, nutritious side dish that goes along with just about any main entree!
If you don’t do fresh dairy, such as milk or cream but you do consume fermented dairy, such as cheese, you can absolutely add grated cheese to this dish for an even tastier result! My recommendations for cheese selection are parmesan, gouda, or gruyere.
Make it for your Thanksgiving or Christmas gatherings!
How to Make Dairy-Free Creamed Spinach:
Heat the avocado oil in a Dutch oven or large pot. Add the onion and saute, stirring occasionally, until onion begins turning brown, about 8 to 10 minutes.
Add the garlic and continue sauteeing another 2 minutes
Reduce the heat to low and add the flour, lemon zest, nutmeg and sea salt and stir well to combine.
Slowly pour in the coconut milk, stirring constantly.
Continue cooking and stirring until mixture is very thick (if adding cheese, do so now).
Add the baby spinach to the pot and stir it into the thick sauce as best you can.
Cover and cook 3 to 5 minutes to allow spinach to wilt. Remove the cover and stir well until spinach is completely wilted and is well-integrated into the sauce.
Taste the creamed spinach for flavor and add more sea salt to taste.
Serve with your main entree and enjoy!
Recipe Adaptations:
- Use collard greens instead of spinach.
- Add 1 cup grated parmesan, gouda, or gruyere cheese.
- If you’re a garlic lover, consider adding more garlic or even a bulb of roasted garlic.
More Healthy Side Dishes:
- Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Spinach and Grapes
- Crowd-Pleasing Roasted Vegetables
- Orange Ginger Roasted Carrots
- Creamy Mashed Rutabaga with Caramelized Onions
- Kabocha Squash Casserole
- Roasted Winter Vegetable Quinoa Salad with Cider Vinaigrette
- The Best Vegan Kale Caesar Salad
- Maple Cinnamon Glazed Acorn Squash with Brussels Sprouts and Bacon
- Shaved Brussel Sprout Salad with Roasted Butterut Squash
Cream thy spinach!
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If you make this Dairy-Free Creamed Spinach, please feel free to share a photo and tag me at @The.Roasted.Root on Instagram!
Dairy-Free Creamed Spinach
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp avocado oil
- 1 medium yellow onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 Tbsp gluten-free all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp sea salt to taste
- 1 1/4 cups full-fat coconut milk
- 5 ounces baby spinach
Instructions
- Heat the avocado oil in a Dutch oven or large pot. Add the onion and saute, stirring occasionally, until onion begins turning brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and continue sauteing another 2 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to low and add the flour, lemon zest, nutmeg and sea salt and stir well to combine.
- Slowly pour in the coconut milk, stirring constantly. Continue cooking and stirring until mixture is very thick (if adding cheese, do so now).
- Add the baby spinach to the pot and stir it into the thick sauce as best you can. Cover and cook 3 to 5 minutes to allow spinach to wilt. Remove the cover and stir well until spinach is completely wilted and is well-integrated into the sauce.
- Taste the creamed spinach for flavor and add more sea salt to taste. Serve with your main entree and enjoy!
can anyone tell me if this will taste like coconut?
Hi there! You will be able to taste the coconut milk, but it is very subtle 🙂 If you’ve tried coconut milk in coconut curry recipes, the concept is similar here – the flavor is there but it isn’t overwhelming. I hope that helps!
The meatloaf was amazing but the spinach was meh🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🤣🤣🤣😛
Just made this tonight for dinner. This is the best cream spinach. We had it with meatloaf. It’s amazing. My husband and kids love it. This will definitely be on our dinner menu
Ooh, I bet creamed spinach is so great alongside meatloaf! Thanks so much for sharing, Holly! xo
This was SO good! Thank you! I used a paleo flour, and frozen spinach that I cooked and drained first. I also used coconut cream rather than coconut milk, because that’s what I had. Turned out awesome!! Even the kids loved it!
I’m so thrilled to hear it, Natalie! Thanks so much for sharing!! xo
Um, where do you incorporate the flour?
Has anyone tried to double triple recipe. Or using a 40 oz bag of spinach from Costco. Just wondering how the measurements increase.
I used to love creamed spinach, but hadn’t thought of it for years. My mom made it for us every once in a while. I am sure we put up a fight at first, until it became a favorite. Thank you for the recipe. This will have to be back on the menu!