9 Top Swaps for Spinach (and How to Sub Fresh and Frozen)

Arugula, also referred to as rocket, may be spicy or gentle, relying on the variability you employ.

Though arugula has a unique taste profile than spinach, it makes a wonderful spinach substitute in dishes resembling salads, soups, and pastas.

Most arugula bought in grocery shops is sort of gentle, with a slight peppery style. The feel of arugula is just like that of spinach, so you should use it as a spinach substitute in recipes that decision for cooked or recent spinach.

Arugula comprises numerous nutritional vitamins and minerals, in addition to sulfur compounds referred to as glucosinolates (GSLs).

When the arugula is broken, like while you lower or chew it, myrosinase enzymes within the arugula break down GSLs into compounds referred to as isothiocyanates (ITCs), that are launched and activated (1).

These ITCs from arugula have highly effective anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and have been proven to have anticancer results.

GSLs are discovered virtually completely in cruciferous vegetables resembling arugula and broccoli, and diets excessive in these greens have been linked to a decreased danger of illness, together with a decrease danger of sure cancers and coronary heart illness (2).

Strive subbing arugula for spinach in dishes resembling salads, stir-fries, and egg dishes.

In the event you had been planning to make use of spinach in a recent salad, you may need to strive sure sorts of lettuce as a substitute.

Crunchier lettuces like iceberg and romaine received’t have the identical texture as spinach, however softer lettuce varieties resembling butterhead lettuce, also referred to as bibb lettuce, make glorious substitutes for spinach.

Butterhead is a young lettuce that has a fragile texture like that of spinach. Plus, it appears just like bigger leaf spinach varieties.

Butterhead lettuce is an efficient supply of folate and vitamin Ok, offering 10% and 46% of the Every day Worth (DV) for these vitamins per 1 cup (55 grams), respectively (3).

Your physique wants folate for vital features resembling cell division and DNA synthesis. In the meantime, vitamin Ok is important for blood clotting and bone well being (4, 5).

You should use butterhead lettuce the identical approach you’d use spinach in dishes resembling salads and grain bowls.

Watercress is a cruciferous vegetable you should use as a spinach substitute in a pinch.

Uncooked watercress has a barely peppery taste, however cooked watercress is a bit milder. Because of this, watercress could also be a sensible choice for recipes that decision for cooked spinach, like egg dishes, pastas, and soups.

Watercress is a concentrated supply of wholesome plant compounds referred to as polyphenols, together with phenolic acids, flavonoids, carotenoids, and proanthocyanidins. These have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant actions in your physique (6).

Research have proven that consuming watercress might assist cut back irritation and oxidative injury and enhance your physique’s antioxidant defenses, which can assist cut back the chance of illness (7, 8, 9).

You should use kale as an alternative choice to spinach, however you’ll need to select the suitable sort relying on the recipe.

In the event you’re making a salad and plan on utilizing kale as an alternative choice to uncooked spinach, it’s greatest to make use of child kale as a result of it’s extra tender than mature kale. You may also therapeutic massage mature kale with some olive oil to make it extra tender if you happen to’re utilizing it in a uncooked dish.

When utilizing kale as a spinach substitute in cooked dishes, you should use any sort you want, together with lacinato or dinosaur kale, a spread generally bought at grocery shops. As a result of kale is often bigger than spinach, you could possibly strive chopping kale earlier than including it to your dish.

Kale is a extremely nutritious inexperienced, offering folate, provitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin Ok, manganese, potassium, and numerous different nutritional vitamins and minerals, plus fiber (10).

Research present that commonly consuming leafy inexperienced greens resembling kale might assist shield towards numerous well being situations, together with coronary heart illness (11).

Swiss chard is a leafy inexperienced vegetable that belongs to the identical plant household as spinach. Folks typically check with it as spinach beet.

Though Swiss chard has a barely bitter style when eaten uncooked, it takes on a milder taste when cooked, so it’s a wonderful stand-in for spinach in recipes that decision for cooked spinach.

It’s additionally fairly nutritious, packing excessive quantities of vitamin C, vitamin Ok, vitamin A, folate, magnesium, iron, and extra. What’s extra, Swiss chard is wealthy in protecting plant compounds resembling carotenoids and flavonoids.

For instance, a flavonoid referred to as vitexin, which is present in Swiss chard, might assist shield towards coronary heart illness (12, 13).

Strive utilizing Swiss chard instead of spinach in casseroles, stews, and frittatas.

Beet greens have an earthy taste and a fragile texture. You should use them instead of spinach in most any cooked dish, together with sautes, soups, and pastas.

Beet greens are nutrient-dense, offering greater than 30% of the DV for vitamin C, copper, vitamin A, and vitamin Ok per cooked cup, in addition to 28% of the DV for potassium (14).

Moreover, beet greens are wealthy in antioxidant compounds resembling betalains and flavonoids, which can assist shield towards mobile injury (15).

Bok choy, also referred to as pak choy, buk choy, and Chinese language white cabbage, is an Asian inexperienced that has a light taste and tender texture.

It’s scrumptious each when uncooked and when cooked and can be utilized in the identical approach as spinach in lots of recipes, resembling soups and stir-fries.

You’ll be able to depart bok choy complete or lower the leaves off the stem earlier than cooking it. Reducing the leaves off the stem will make it look extra like spinach.

This cruciferous vegetable is an efficient supply of numerous nutritional vitamins and minerals, resembling calcium, iron, folate, and potassium, in addition to useful compounds like glucosinolates and flavonoids (16, 17).

Mustard greens can add a flavorful kick to recipes while you’re operating low on spinach.

When eaten uncooked, they’ve a spicy, peppery style. Nonetheless, when cooked, mustard greens tackle a milder taste.

Needless to say, even when cooked, mustard greens are rather more flavorful than spinach, so they could change the style of your dish.

Like different cruciferous greens, mustard greens are a very good supply of vitamins resembling nutritional vitamins C and Ok, in addition to useful plant compounds, together with the carotenoids beta carotene and lutein (18, 19).

Consuming a food regimen wealthy in carotenoids has been linked to numerous well being advantages, together with a decreased danger of sure cancers and a decreased danger of age-related macular degeneration (20, 21).

Though it’s not as nicely often known as the opposite greens on this checklist, purslane is simply as nutritious.

It grows wild as a weed in lots of areas of the world and is a well-liked vegetable amongst foragers — individuals who make wild, edible vegetation part of their food regimen. It’s a staple of the Mediterranean diet, and other people typically take pleasure in it uncooked in salads.

It has a light, barely salty style, which some say is just like that of spinach.

Purslane is excessive in minerals resembling calcium, potassium, and phosphorus, in addition to nutritional vitamins C and A.

It additionally comprises numerous plant compounds which have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, such because the flavonoids quercetin and kaempferol (22, 23, 24).

If a recipe requires recent spinach however you might have solely frozen, or vice versa, it’s completely OK to sub one for the opposite — no less than in most recipes.

You won’t need to use frozen spinach in dishes that depend on the feel of recent spinach, resembling spinach salads, however you should use it instead of recent spinach in dishes like soups and baked items.

Frozen spinach shrinks loads lower than recent spinach when cooked, so you’ll be able to usually use a smaller quantity of frozen spinach than you’d recent spinach.

Needless to say frozen spinach comprises loads of water and should be thawed and drained earlier than you employ it in most recipes. Recent spinach additionally retains fairly a little bit of liquid when cooked down, so chances are you’ll want to empty it earlier than you add it to dishes.

Recent and frozen spinach are scrumptious in recipes resembling egg dishes, soups, pastas, stir-fries, smoothies, and baked items.

Spinach is a mild-tasting inexperienced that’s a staple in lots of kitchens around the globe.

If a recipe requires spinach however you understand you’ve run out, you should use many different greens as a substitute.

Arugula, kale, butterhead lettuce, and Swiss chard are just a few examples of nutritious and scrumptious greens you should use as spinach substitutes.