Stewed Spinach (African Style)
Stewed spinach African style is a super simple and tasty way of enjoying spinach, bursting with a good amount of healthy greens and delivering the perfect amount of spice. A quick, delicious way of getting your daily greens on the table.
If at times you get caught in a rut doing the same recipes over and over again, here’s an African spinach dish that is easy to make any time of the week with minimal prep.
All you need is spinach, tomatoes, onions, shrimp, and smoked turkey, and you’re on your way to a mighty tasty dish. And for added flavor, you can add garlic and thyme (traditional African flavors).
This wholesome side dish is one I’ve been making for as long as I can remember, and it’s one of my absolute favorite ways of eating spinach (other than eating it raw in a salad). It’s rustic, quick, and easy without sacrificing flavor.
What Makes Spinach the Ideal Side
Oh yes! My cousin called to say that he was coming over for a lunch break and that he was SUPER hungry. I get that a lot from him. That’s because he knows I can whip up something fast. And I always fall for it.
Luckily for me, or should I say him, I had some spinach already thawing in the fridge. I got out the rest of the ingredients, grabbed some plantains, and in 45 minutes, I had finished cooking and had taken a few pictures for the blog. Doesn’t always work like this, but today I got lucky! It took 10 minutes tops for the photographs.
Now, can you believe I didn’t get a plate of this deliciousness for myself? My cousin and hubby wiped the plate clean! No leftovers for the cook. 😮
How to Stew African Style Spinach
- Season shrimp with salt, pepper, and salt-free Creole seasoning or use your favorite seasoning.
- Sauté the shrimp in a bit of oil until they turn pink. Remove and set aside. (Photo 1)
- Add the smoked turkey sauté with onions to the oil, and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring often and scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pot. (Photo 2)
- Flavor – Add the garlic, thyme, hot pepper, paprika, and bouillon powder, and cook while stirring for about a minute. Then add tomatoes and cook for about 10 minutes. (Photos 3-4)
- Toss in the spinach, and let it simmer for 3-5 minutes. Do a taste test, and adjust seasonings. Serve with the shrimp on top or stir it in. (Photos 5-6)
Notes and Tips
- You can leave out the shrimp, but the smoked turkey adds a smoky flavor to the dish.
- If you want a whole plant-based version, replace the shrimp with oyster mushrooms, add smoked paprika for the smoky flavor, and vegetable bouillon for flavor. It’s that easy.
- Feel free to swap out the spinach for collard greens, add more spices, or play with the spice combination to suit your taste buds.
- If you have crayfish, you can throw them in as well.
- You can easily boil plantains by peeling them first, or not. The green plantains are easier to peel after they’ve cooked. Just slit the peel lengthwise and boil for about 20 minutes. Gently remove the peel and enjoy.
What Pairs Well With African Style Spinach
For the health-conscious, boiled plantains cut out most of the oil. I love fried plantains, and was hoping to have some leftovers. Any starchy dish works: plantains (baked or fried), corn fufu, or yams.
More Healthy African Recipes to Enjoy
By Imma
Watch How to Make It
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”vMXapKiI” upload-date=”2019-08-03T14:08:54.000Z” name=”Stewed Spinach (African Style)” description=”Stewed Spinach – super simple way of enjoy spinach African style -bursting with a good amount of greens and delivers the perfect amount spice. A quick and easy way of putting greens on the table.”]
This blog post was originally published in September 2017 and has been revised with additional tips, new photos, and a video.
African Stewed Spinach
Ingredients
- 1-2 tablespoons (15-30ml) canola oil
- ½ pound (250g) shrimp, peeled and deveined
- salt and pepper to taste (I used ½ a teaspoon of salt to begin with)
- ½-1 teaspoon (2-4g) salt-free Creole seasoning or your favorite spice mix (adjust to taste)
- ½ pound (250g) chopped smoked turkey
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- 2 teaspoons (9-10g) minced garlic
- 1-2 teaspoons (2-4g) thyme (optional)
- ½-1 teaspoon (2-3g) cayenne pepper or a whole scotch bonnet pepper
- 1 teaspoon (3g) paprika
- 1 teaspoon (3-4g) bouillon powder or Maggie (optional)
- 4-5 tomatoes, chopped
- 3 pounds (1.5kg) frozen spinach, thawed and drained
Instructions
- Heat canola oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat until hot. Season shrimp with salt, pepper, and salt-free Creole seasoning, or use your favorite seasoning.
- Lightly sauté the shrimp in a bit of oil until they turn pink, 4-5 minutes. Remove and set aside.
- Add the smoked turkey sauté with onions to the oil, and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring often and scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pot.
- Add minced garlic, thyme, cayenne or a whole pepper, paprika, and bouillon powder, and cook while stirring for about a minute. Then add tomatoes and cook for about 10 minutes.
- Toss in the spinach, and let it simmer for 3-5 minutes. Do a taste test, and adjust seasonings.
- You can toss the sautéed shrimp with the spinach at this point or serve with shrimp on top.
Tips & Notes:
- I used salt-free Creole seasoning. However, you can use the one that contains salt and reduce the amount of salt.
- Do a taste test after adding the spinach and adjust the seasonings to taste. It will taste bland if you don’t have enough salt, so add a little at a time just until it tastes good, being careful not to oversalt it.
- If you want to use fresh spinach, sauté or blanch 5 pounds of spinach, squeeze out excess liquid, and proceed with the recipe.
- Replace the spinach with collard greens by removing the hard stem, chopping, and blanching them. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add chopped collard greens, and submerge them completely in the boiling water. Let the collard greens cook for about a minute or less. Remove, immerse them in ice water, drain, and add to the pot.
- Please remember that the nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary significantly based on the ingredients used in the recipe.
This is certainly a staple recipe for me in my household! Reminds me of the stewed spinach my Naija parents made growing up. Love the recipe and it tastes just as good every time I make it!
Wonderful! Thank you so much for the feedback Chika :)!
May I omit the turkey
Yes, you may. If you want a smokier flavor, you can add a dash of smoked paprika. Let me know how you like it without the turkey.
Can I use chopped frozen spinach?
Yes you can. Make sure you thoroughly squeeze out all the water from it.
Okay, I just got my 2022 New Year’s Day menu together from the recipes you delivered today. Thanks!
Yaay! That sounds like a wonderful New Year’s Day menu.
Hi Syd! It’s important to properly saute and brown the ingredients especially the shrimp, turkey and spices to infuse all the flavors in the food. Properly saute but don’t overcook the ingredients (just get that lovely golden brown to the food and in the pan) to avoid getting a dry stewed spinach. Taste test the stew after simmering the spinach to ensure that you put enough seasoning to the food. Enjoy!
I love immaculate bites so much every recipe I’ve tried is delicious and this one is no exception!! Thanks again for another win !
This made me smile 🙂 Thank you, Ashley!
Amazing recipe!
Thank you, Michaela! 🙂
I’m my own personal chef now ❤️ Love this website
Thanks.
Can olive oil be substituted?
Yes it can.
I’m Pescatarian so I substituted the meat with cauliflower… Truly great meal!!
Great choice! Thanks for sharing your tweaks.
I added garbanzo beans to give it a more complete profile, Great ………..
Can this be made with fresh spinach? If so will I need to change anything?
Hi. Yes, you may use fresh spinach. Blanch the fresh spinach first for a couple of minutes, let it cool. Then squeeze out the water and you are all set to start cooking. Happy cooking!
I am very interested in trying this recipe, it looks amazing!! While I LOVE spinach, by boyfriend can’t have it due to a stomach disorder. But somehow he can tolerate collard greens just fine. I saw you had mentioned using collard greens instead. If I were to use fresh collards instead, do you have any advice on how to prepare them instead of frozen spinach? Thank you!
Hi Dani,
Blanch the collard greens before using. Do this by bringing a large pot of water to a boil. Add chopped collard greens, submerge them completely in the boiling water. Let the collard greens cook for about a minute or less. Remove, submerge in ice water, drain and add to the pot.
Well done dear
Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Made the stewed spinach yesterday with baked chicken thighs and fresh corn. I love it……I could just eat the spinach by itself. Thanks for the recipe.
I could just eat the spinach by itself too: ) I am glad you loved it. Thanks for stopping by Leslie.
In my home we eat the spinach over rice by its self it’s so fulfilling!!
Where did you see 0.8 of an onion?
Right before Thanksgiving I ran across your page using the search feature on instagram, that page is so informative. I just want to say thanks for sharing, your recipes are so full of flavor, I have prepared the Sancocho recipe,sofrito,trinidad corn pie,jellof rice and african stewed spinach and i eat spinach all the time just not like this recipe, which is the best that i have tasted all of my life (for real). I do a lot of yard work, walking my dogs, stationary bike, so I’ve incorporated spinach, rice, chicken, in my diet for a while with no special time of day to eat it, your spinach recipe has a special place in my diet, even though i love shrimp i only used the smoke turkey and coconut oil, the oil being the only change. I will continue to use your recipes.
Looks delicious! Where do you get the chopped smoked turkey from? Do they sell this in stores already chopped, or would you have to buy turkey, cook it and cut it up yourself?
Hi Cathy, I use left over smoked turkey. But you can buy smoked turkey at Walmart, then chop it. They sell whole turkeys, breasts, and legs, so you can get just what you need.
This was really good, thanks for sharing your recipe!
So happy to hear it worked out well for you .
1/2 to 1 cup of oil is too much oil to cook with. To make this more healthier I used 1 to 2 tablespoon. that is more than enough oil. That’s my opinion..
Yes, adjust oil to your needs. Start with a small quantity and add as you go if needed. In fact, I’ve reduced the oil considerably when I make this recipe.