How long does it take to boil fresh spinach?

Question

I am going to cook a cream of spinach soup but I am confused about cooking time:

Starting with the point that I am going to cook fresh, full-grown spinach in broth, that is boiling it in water.

While recipe says I have to cook it for a couple of minutes, the spinach package says much more time: 10 minutes!

How long should I cook it?

Can you share the whole recipe? Is the soup blended after cooking? Is there additional cooking time after the "couple of minutes" you mentioned? — The Photon, Jun 04 '23 at 15:46
You can easily share a non-English recipe; we all have access to google translate. — FuzzyChef, Jun 05 '23 at 21:16

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 05 '23 at 09:56

It depends on what you want for your recipe. Spinach leaves can be eaten raw so they are safe for consumption with any cook time. Short cook times lead to more crunchy leaves and more texture. If you want a smooth mush you need to cook it for longer and blend the soup afterwards.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 06 '23 at 18:21

The recipe is correct, and the package is wrong.

Yes, how long your cook your spinach is a matter of taste, and people do cook spinach for longer in order to break it down further. However, 10 minutes is excessive, particularly for anything that is going to be pureed afterwards. If you do a search on "how to boil spinach" you will find that 90% of recipes recommend cooking it for 3-5 minutes.

The only reason I could see cooking spinach for longer than 5 minutes would be if it's an unusual type of spinach, such as Malabar Spinach or Orach, which need longer cooking times.

How long does it take to boil fresh spinach?

2 Answers2