Raw Spinach Nutrition Facts and Calories per Cup

Spinach is sold two main ways: as bunches of mature leaves, either flat-leaf or crinkly savoy types, and as baby spinach, the same plant harvested young, when the leaves are small, tender and mild. Baby spinach is usually sold washed in bags or clamshells, while bunched spinach often carries grit and needs a thorough rinse.

The numbers here come from USDA's general record for raw spinach leaves. It is the record most nutrition databases use for both bunched and baby spinach, since the two are the same vegetable at different ages.

Spinach shrinks dramatically when cooked. Heat collapses the leaves and drives out water, so a full 284 g package of raw spinach cooks down to a cup or two. Per 100 g, raw and cooked spinach are close in calories, but a cup of cooked spinach contains several cups' worth of raw leaves, and with them several times the calories, iron, vitamin K and folate.

Spinach also contains oxalic acid, which binds part of its calcium and iron into forms the body absorbs poorly. Boiling and draining removes some of the oxalate along with the water, but it also washes out part of the folate and vitamin C. Quick wilting in a pan with little or no added water keeps more of those.

• Raw: baby spinach in salads and sandwiches, or blended into smoothies, where its mild flavor hides behind fruit.
• Wilted or sauteed: with garlic and olive oil as a side, or stirred into pasta, soups and curries such as saag at the end of cooking.
• Baked: in lasagna, quiche, stuffed shells and Greek spanakopita.
• Creamy dishes: creamed spinach and warm spinach dip.

In food manufacturing, frozen chopped spinach is the usual form for dips, fillings and prepared meals, and dried spinach powder colors green pasta and wraps.

• Creamed spinach. Cooked spinach in a sauce of butter, cream and garlic. Butter · Heavy Whipping Cream · Garlic
• Spinach and artichoke dip. Chopped spinach baked with cream cheese, sour cream and mozzarella. Cream Cheese · Sour Cream · Mozzarella
• Spinach omelet. Eggs folded around wilted spinach, often with cheese. Egg · Cheddar Cheese
• Spinach strawberry salad. Baby spinach with sliced strawberries, walnuts and goat cheese. Strawberry · Walnuts · Goat Cheese
• Green smoothie. A handful of spinach blended with banana and yogurt or almond milk. Banana · Greek Yogurt · Almond Milk

Moisture is what turns spinach slimy. Store it in the refrigerator dry, in its bag or in a container lined with a paper towel to absorb condensation, and wash it just before use. Remove any wet or darkened leaves as soon as you see them, because they spoil the leaves around them. For longer storage, blanch and freeze it; frozen spinach is best for cooked dishes, not salads.

Raw and cooked spinach weigh so differently that the state you weigh it in matters more than for most vegetables. If fresh spinach goes into a dish that is then cooked, enter the raw weight in the label generator and set the final batch weight so the water loss is counted. Frozen spinach is packed with water; weigh it the way you use it, and if you squeeze it dry, weigh it after squeezing and use a cooked spinach value. The recipe nutrition calculator handles batch yields, and the RACC lookup gives the FDA reference amount for your product category.