Spinach

Spinacia oleracea

Spinach is a leafy vegetable. Cooks use its leaves raw.

Plant-based
Gluten-free
No listed allergens

About the plain ingredient, not packaged products; general information, not medical advice. Details

Category: Vegetables
Part used: Leaf
Family: Amaranthaceae
Cooked most in: Asia, Europe, Africa
Top country: Indonesia
Dishes: 14 in the catalogue
Energy: 23 kcal per 100 g

Photo: Scudsvlad · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In the kitchen

How to use spinach

Typical ways to cook or use it

Cooking with it

Blanching can reduce spinach's oxalate content.

Nutrition

What 100 g of spinach holds

Per 100 g, raw. Averages from USDA; real values vary by variety, season and growing conditions.

Protein 42%Fat 6%Carbohydrate 53%of the macronutrients by weight

Nutrition per 100 g of spinach, raw
Energy	23 kcal · 97 kJ
Protein	2.9 g
Fat	0.39 g
of which saturated	0.06 g
Carbohydrate	3.6 g
of which sugars	0.42 g
Fibre	2.2 g
Sodium	79 mg
Cholesterol	0 mg

Nutrition per 100 g of spinach, raw: minerals and vitamins
Potassium	558 mg
Calcium	99 mg
Iron	2.7 mg
Magnesium	79 mg
Zinc	0.53 mg
Vitamin C	28 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)	469 µg
Folate	194 µg

Other forms

Protein 49%Fat 11%Carbohydrate 41%of the macronutrients by weight

Nutrition per 100 g of spinach, other form
Energy	27 kcal
Protein	2.9 g
Fat	0.62 g
Carbohydrate	2.4 g
Fibre	1.6 g
Sodium	111 mg

Nutrition per 100 g of spinach, other form: minerals and vitamins
Potassium	582 mg
Calcium	68 mg
Iron	1.3 mg
Magnesium	93 mg
Zinc	0.45 mg
Vitamin C	27 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)	283 µg
Folate	117 µg

Source: USDA FoodData Central (foods 168462, 1999632), public domain. Minerals and vitamins are listed only where USDA measured a non-zero amount.

Around the world

Where spinach is cooked

14 dishes in the catalogue use spinach. Here is where they come from.

Dishes by continent

Countries whose dishes use it most

Counts are catalogued dishes from each country that list spinach among their ingredients.

Origins

Native to: Central Asia, Western Asia

827 · Italy
Arabs introduced spinach to Sicily.
1390 · United Kingdom
An English cookbook mentioned spinach in 1390.

On the table

Dishes made with spinach

10 of the 14 catalogued dishes that use it, spread across the countries they come from.

Mie ayam
Indonesia
Mesclun
France
Spanakorizo
Greece
Tajine el bey
Tunisia
Urap
Indonesia
Kohu-kohu
Indonesia
Sop senerek
Indonesia
Spinach and artichoke dip
Spinach lasagne
Spinach soup

Dish lists come from Wikidata; a dish counts when its recorded ingredients include spinach.

Good to know

Diet and allergens: spinach in detail

These notes describe the plain ingredient. Packaged and prepared products vary, so read the label; for allergies and medical diets ask a doctor or dietitian.

Allergens: None of the 15 listed allergens foundChecked and not found: soy, eggs, fish, milk, lupin, wheat, celery, sesame, mustard, peanuts, molluscs, sulphites, tree nuts, crustaceans, gluten cereals.
Animal origin: No animal ingredients foundChecked and not found: egg, fish, meat, dairy, honey, insect, gelatin, poultry, bone char, shellfish, other animal, animal fining, animal rennet.
Gluten: None
Alcohol: None
Caffeine: None
Pork: None

Around the world

What spinach is called

Names in 26 languages, from Wikidata.

French
feuilles d'épinard
Italian
spinaci
Portuguese
espinafre
German
Blattspinat · Spinat
Russian
шпинат · листья шпината
Polish
szpinak
Arabic
سبانخ
Chinese
菠菜
Japanese
ほうれん草 · ホウレンソウ · 菠薐草
Korean
시금치
Indonesian
bayam
Burmese
ဟင်းနုနွယ်ရွက်

Show all 26 languages

Catalan
fulles d'espinacs
Cornish
spinach
Czech
špenát · listový špenát
Danish
spinat
Esperanto
legoma spinaco · spinaco
Hungarian
spenótlevél · leveles spenót · spenót
Latvian
spināti
Norwegian Bokmål
spinat
Norwegian Nynorsk
spinatblad · spinat
Shan
ၽၵ်းၶူမ်ၼၢမ်
Slovenian
špinača
Swedish
spenat
Telugu
పాలకూర
Ukrainian
шпинат

Sources and credits

Data

GlobeCooks editorial: descriptions, kitchen notes and classification, written by GlobeCooks from checked sources
USDA FoodData Central (Foundation, SR Legacy): nutrition values (Public domain (US government work, CC0))
Wikidata: names, classification and dishes (CC0 1.0)
Wikimedia Commons: photos
Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Wikidata item: Q36814998

Photos