August 17, 2026
Garlic Sautéed Spinach with Chilli, Lemon and Toasted Pine Nuts
Dave Moorkens— Stacked Farm Chef
Garlic Sautéed Spinach with Chilli, Lemon and Toasted Pine Nuts.
Serves 2 as a side · 10 minutes · Vegan
Almost everyone has cooked spinach badly at some point and ended up with a grey, watery pile in the bottom of the pan. It's a two minute job done properly, and the difference is mostly about heat, timing and when you add the lemon.
This version keeps things simple. Sliced garlic and chilli in good olive oil, spinach in for barely a minute, then lemon and toasted pine nuts at the end.
Chef's tip on cooking perfect spinach — Use a wide pan and keep the heat at medium, because if the garlic colours it turns bitter and there's nowhere for that to hide in a dish this simple. Add the spinach in handfuls if you need to. It looks like an enormous amount going in and it'll cook down to almost nothing, which surprises people every time. And start with dry leaves. Wet spinach steams instead of sautéing and you end up boiling it in its own water.
Dave Moorkens — Stacked Farm Chef
Ingredients
- 10 oz baby spinach
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
Method
- Heat the olive oil in a wide skillet over medium heat and add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Let them soften and turn fragrant without coloring.
- Add the spinach, a handful at a time if the pan will not take it all at once, and toss it for a minute or two until it is only just wilted.
- Take the pan off the heat, then add the lemon juice and season.
- Scatter over the toasted pine nuts and serve straight away.
Chef's tip: Add the lemon at the very end, off the heat. Acid and heat together will strip the color right out of a green vegetable and turn it a sad olive drab, so if you squeeze it in while the pan's still going you'll wonder why your spinach looks like it's been sitting in a steam tray all afternoon. Off the heat, then lemon. It stays green and it tastes brighter too.
Dave Moorkens — Stacked Farm Chef
Why it works
Spinach on its own is soft and a bit flat, so everything else here is a counterweight. The garlic gives it depth, the chili gives it a bit of heat, the lemon lifts it, and the pine nuts are the only crunch on the plate. Take any one of those out and it stops being interesting.
Make it yours
Toasted almonds or walnuts do the same job as pine nuts for a lot less money. A spoonful of ricotta or a crumble of feta turns it from a side into a light lunch on toast, and a tin of drained cannellini beans warmed through with the garlic makes it a proper dinner.
Dry leaves sauté. Wet leaves steam.
This is a dish where the state of the leaf genuinely matters. Our baby spinach grows indoors with nothing sprayed on it and it is never washed, so it comes out of the pack clean and dry and goes straight into the pan. No rinsing, no salad spinner, and no water clinging to the leaves turning your sauté into a simmer.
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FAQs
Keep the heat at medium, use a wide pan, and take it off after a minute or two, as soon as it's just wilted. Slimy spinach is almost always overcooked spinach.
Spinach is mostly water and it releases a lot of it as it cooks. Starting with dry leaves helps, as does using a wide pan so the water can evaporate rather than pool.
Far more than you would think, because it collapses dramatically. About 5 oz of raw baby spinach per person makes a modest side.
Not really. Frozen spinach is already cooked and holds a lot of water, so you'll get something closer to creamed spinach without the cream. This dish depends on fresh leaves hitting a hot pan.
Not really. Frozen spinach is already cooked and holds a lot of water, so you will get something closer to creamed spinach without the cream. This dish depends on fresh leaves hitting a hot pan.
No. Stacked Farm baby spinach is grown indoors without pesticides and never washed, so it's ready to cook or eat straight from the pack.
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