Stewed Spinach (African Style)
Stewed Spinach – Super simple way of enjoy spinach African style – bursting with a good amount of greens and delivers the perfect amount of spice. A quick and easy way of putting greens on the table.
If at times you get caught in a rut doing the same recipes over and over again, here is an African spinach dish that is easy to make any time of the week with minimal prep work.
All you need is spinach, tomatoes, onions, shrimp and smoked turkey and you are on your way to a tasty dish. And for added flavor you may use garlic and thyme.
This side dish of spinach is one I’ve been making for as long as I can remember, it’s one of my absolute favorite ways of eating spinach (other than eating it raw in a salad) – simple, rustic, quick and easy, but the taste is remarkably good.
Oh yes! My cousin called that he was coming over for a lunch break and that he was SUPER hungry. I get that a lot, from him. This is when he wants me to whip up something fast . And I always fall for it. Luckily for me, or should I say him, I had some thawed spinach already in the fridge. I got out the rest of the ingredients, grabbed some plantains and within 50 minutes I had finished cooking and had taken a few pictures for the blog. Doesn’t work like this always but today it just did! I gave myself 10 minutes tops for the pictures.
Now can you believe I didn’t have a plate of this deliciousness? My cousin and hubby wiped the plate cleaned!
No leftovers for the cook😮
For the health conscious, you may boil the plantains – Mine was far past the boiling stage – Okay who am I kidding? I love fried plantains and was hoping to have some leftovers.
Any starchy meal works – plantains (roasted or fried), corn fufu, or yam.
You may leave out the shrimp but the smoked turkey adds a smoky flavor to the dish. 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 may throw it in as well.
Enjoy it.
Watch How To Make It
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African Stewed Spinach
Ingredients
- ½ pound shrimp peeled and deveined
- 1/2- 1 teaspoon creole seasoning (or your favorite spice mix) Adjust to taste
- ½ pound chopped smoked turkey
- 1 medium onion sliced
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 -2 teaspoons thyme optional
- 4-5 fresh tomatoes chopped
- ½-1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, whole scotch bonnet pepper works too!
- 1- teaspoon paprika
- 3 pounds spinach frozen thawed and drained
- ½ -1 cup canola oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1- teaspoon bouillon powder or Maggie cube optional
Instructions
- Heat canola oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat until hot.Season shrimp with salt and creole seasoning(salt free) or use favorite seasoning .
- Lightly sauté the shrimp in about 2 tablespoons oil ,until turns pink about 4-5 minutes. Remove and set aside.
- Add the smoked turkey sauté with onions in the oil for 3-4 minutes, stirring often and scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pot.
- Add minced garlic , thyme , cayenne or whole pepper, paprika, chicken (bouillon) and cook stirring for about a minute, then add tomatoes . cook for about 10 minutes. Salt lightly
- Through in the spinach, and let it simmer, for about 3-5 minutes.
- You may add saute shrimp at the point or serve with shrimp on top of the spinach , adjust for seasonings
Nutrition Information:
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. May 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.
Mine didn’t have a lot of flavor. Maybe because I didn’t make a full recipe. I only had a pound of frozen spinach, so I adjusted the recipe accordingly. It came out really dry and not much flavor. I wound up having to sprinkle a lot of extra seasoning on it (cajun). Maybe I also shouldn’t have squeezed all of the water out of the spinach. Or should have added another tomato. I’ll definitely try again, though.
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!
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 . The 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!!
The measurements seem strange. Why no use 1/2 or 1 teaspoon or tablespoon? How can you use .08 of an onion?
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 cooked turkey. Or you can buy smoked turkey legs or wings and cut into bite size pieces.
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. Thanks for sharing.