Spinach wasn’t made just to be a side dish.

Spinach grows well in cold weather and arrives in the box fresh, in a quantity meant for cooking, not just for decorating plates. Still, it often ends up being used in the background, in small amounts, as if its role were merely complementary.

The problem isn’t spinach itself, but the way we’ve learned to use it. When treated as a main ingredient, it behaves very differently: it withstands heat, develops flavour, and fits naturally into warm, comforting, seasonal dishes.

When spinach is limp (and why that’s not a problem)

Limp spinach is not a sign of failure; it’s simply leaves that have lost their rigidity. The common mistake is trying to use it the same way we would crisp, fresh spinach.

Once the leaves lose structure, raw is no longer the right path, and cooking is the solution. Heat restores purpose to the ingredient, concentrates flavour, and removes that “tired leaf” feeling no one wants on the plate. Soups, one-pot dishes, quick sautés, or creamy bases are the natural territory for this spinach.

Treating spinach as a main dish doesn’t mean eating a pile of leaves on their own. It means building a structure around them that makes sense. Fat to carry flavour, carbohydrates for comfort, plant protein or eggs for satiety. Spinach works particularly well:

• As the base of oven dishes, with eggs, potatoes, rice, or legumes,
  
• In gentle stews, where it cooks slowly and gains depth,
  
• Blended into thicker soups, where it stops being “greens” and becomes body,
• Sautéed with garlic and olive oil, but in a quantity large enough to be the centre of the dish.

Cooked this way, spinach stops being a sad side and becomes proper food.

The most common mistake with spinach isn’t having too much of it; it’s not deciding what it’s going to be. Green leaves without a clear purpose always lose priority in the fridge. One day passes, then another, and when we finally look at them, they no longer seem appealing. Deciding early changes everything: if you know you won’t use spinach raw within the first 24 hours, cook it straight away. Even a simple sauté extends its life by several days and makes it much easier to integrate into other meals.

How to store spinach so it lasts longer

Storage makes all the difference to the final experience. Raw spinach should be kept dry, unwashed, in a reusable bag or container with absorbent paper, in the vegetable drawer. Excess moisture is what speeds up leaf collapse.

If it has already started to wilt, cooking is the best way to extend its use. Once sautéed or stewed, it keeps for several days in the fridge and can be used gradually, without rush. It can also be frozen after a quick sauté or brief blanching. It won’t be suitable for dishes where texture matters, but it works perfectly in soups, fillings, rice dishes, or green sauces.

Cooking spinach is about aligning expectations

Spinach doesn’t fail; what fails is the expectation that all leafy greens should be crunchy, fresh, and eaten raw. In winter, that rarely matches reality.

When you accept that spinach changes over time and adapt how you use it, it stops being a recurring problem in the fridge. It becomes a versatile, affordable, seasonal, and surprisingly comforting ingredient. Spinach wasn’t made just to be a side dish. It was made to be cooked with intention.