The Big Mistake You're Making Immediately After Opening Canned Spinach

It seems like every bag of spinach is destined to develop that ungodly slime before someone has a chance to finish it. Rather than continuously wasting money by throwing away a half-eaten bag of the leafy greens, stock your pantry with cans of it. Canned spinach certainly comes in handy, but you'd be remiss to eat it straight from the container.

Compared to the fresh version, canned spinach is far more convenient. Cooking with spinach is a seemingly easy way to get in your nutrients; after all, you can fold it into an omelet or toss it into pasta without the greens skewing the taste completely. However, canned spinach already comes chopped and ready to eat, making it the superior option when it comes to efficiency. Still, you shouldn't eat it straight away — that's a mistake everyone makes with canned spinach. Though we love its simplicity, like many canned goods, the taste leaves a little to be desired.

Instead, you should drain the liquid, give the spinach a good rinse, and spruce it up with some spices. The murky water doesn't help out the taste, so make sure the spinach is completely rid of it. Press out the liquid in a sieve then heat it up a little as you season it. You can add soy sauce and sesame seeds to pair it with a stir-fry, or saute it with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder before placing it on a burger.

The convenience of canned spinach is what makes it a hit, especially since it fits a plethora of recipes. However, the flavor isn't one-size-fits-all. Depending on what you add it to, there are several ways to jazz up canned spinach to better fit a certain dish. For example, old-fashioned beef stew is a hearty, warming dish, so you'll want the spinach to taste a little more cozy. Rather than downgrading the flavor of a beef stew by tossing in the spinach right away, saute the greens with olive oil and rosemary before adding them to the pot of stew.

If you're using canned spinach in hidden vegetable ravioli lasagna, make sure to rinse and drain it properly so the taste indeed stays hidden. The recipe involves cooking and blending the spinach along with the other vegetables, so you can season it during this process. An Italian blend of herbs like oregano, marjoram, thyme, and basil will boost the bland flavor from the can while complementing the hearty and healthy lasagna.

For a miso beef noodle bowl, though, it's best to make the spinach aromatic. The fresh, bold flavors make a nice contrast to the savory beef and mushrooms. After draining, rinsing, and drying the spinach, saute it with sesame oil, salt, pepper, ground lemongrass, and ground ginger before adding it to the noodle bowl.