Olive Oyl and Popeye's Supper

by Elise Bauer
Easy Sautéed Spinach

Easy sautéed spinach! The best way to cook delicious fresh spinach, with olive oil and garlic.
Sauteed Spinach Recipe
Photography Credit: Elise Bauer
‘Cause I eats me spinach

Popeye was the best thing that ever hit the spinach industry. When I was a kid you couldn’t pay me to eat lima beans or peas, but spinach? I begged for it; we all did.

Especially if it came from a can.

We wanted to be cool like Popeye, who could knock Bluto to Kingdom Come just by downing a can of spinach, which always conveniently found its way to Popeye’s mouth when his situation was most dire.

Our parents worked hard to convince us that cooked fresh spinach was just as good, if not better than the canned stuff.

How To Cook Spinach

My father prepares spinach this way at least once or twice a week, usually made with fresh spinach from the farmer’s market. According to dad he overcooked it for years, until he learned that you shouldn’t cook spinach beyond the point that it just wilts.

Spinach releases a lot of water as it cooks, so my father’s trick is to drain and dry the spinach leaves as well as you can, using a salad spinner if need be, before cooking them.

Then sauté some garlic in olive oil in a large wide pan, and add the cleaned, drained, and dried spinach leaves to the pan. Pack the pan with spinach, cover and cook for only a minute or two tops.