11 Spinach Recipes So Delicious You’ll Gladly Eat Your Greens

As a kid, I usually didn’t need much convincing to eat my spinach, except when served a pile of limp, tasteless, muddy green stuff at the school cafeteria that looked and smelled nothing like the glistening, bright green stir-fried version with garlic and ginger my mom made at home. Then again, almost all greens look and taste better when thoughtfully prepared, and spinach is certainly one of them. Spinach is an exceptionally versatile leafy green. When raw, it’s clean, crisp, and subtly sweet with mildly earthy and bitter undertones. Cooking, however, amplifies its earthy notes and mellows out some of the bitterness, giving it a more robust flavor profile.

The 11 spinach recipes below take full advantage of this complexity, ranging from a wonderfully simple chilled appetizer to vibrant, aromatic sides, and richly satisfying entrées. With such a variety of options, you won’t have to worry about getting in your daily greens.