This Morton’s Steakhouse Creamed Spinach Copycat recipe is a warm, silky side dish with tender greens swirled into a rich, comforting sauce.
Whether you need a recipe to use up your spinach, or you have picky eaters, or want a crowd-pleasing Side during the holidays, this Creamed Spinach is a winning choice! For more tasty spinach recipes, try my Spinach Gratin and Spinach Parmesan Casserole.
Sabrina’s Steakhouse Creamed Spinach Recipe
Creamed Spinach is the cheesiest, creamiest way to enjoy your vegetables! My easy copycat recipe of this classic side dish is made with simple ingredients but tastes so indulgent, like you’re dining at a five-star steakhouse. This delicious side is a great way to elevate your regular home-cooked meal and is fancy enough to add to your holiday spread!
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 medium yellow onion , minced
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 4 teaspoons kosher salt , divided
- 1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3 1/2 cups half and half
- 2 1/4 pounds fresh spinach , or one pound frozen
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese , shredded
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese , grated
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil with two teaspoons of salt.
- Add the spinach and cook just until wilted, about 1 minute.
- Drain the spinach in a strainer or colander.
- Rinse with cold water until cool and squeeze the water out of each fistful of spinach.
- Chop the spinach bundles into a ¾-inch width.
- In a large skillet, melt the butter with the garlic and onions.
- Cook on medium-low for 8-10 minutes or until the onions are translucent.
- Add in the remaining kosher salt, black pepper, and nutmeg.
- Add in the flour and mix with a wooden spoon over low and cook for 2-3 minutes until the aroma is a bit nutty.
- Add the half an half and cook until boiling.
- Add in the mozzarella cheese and cream cheese.
- Cook for 6-8 minutes or until the mixture has thickened.
- Add in the spinach and the Parmesan cheese, and stir to combine.
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Nutrition
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Table of Contents
Chef’s Note: Whole Milk or Heavy Cream
While yes, you can use whole milk instead of half-and-half for this particular spinach recipe, I don’t recommend it. It will still be pretty tasty, but it won’t taste as creamy and rich as the Morton’s Steakhouse version. Trust me, your taste buds and guests will love it, and hey, it is the holidays
Can This Be Made Ahead of Time?
Yes, creamed spinach is a make-ahead dream. Prep it the day before, store it in the fridge, and reheat gently on the stovetop with a splash of milk or cream to loosen it up. It tastes even better as the flavors meld overnight, which makes it a perfect no-stress side dish for busy holiday meals or parties.
Recipe Tips and Tricks
- Serve Hot or Cold: This can actually be served either hot or cold! If it’s hot, serve with a juicy steak meal. If it’s cold, use it as a tasty appetizer!
- Frozen Spinach Option: If you’d prefer to use frozen spinach, just defrost and squeeze out as much excess water as you can from 1 pound of frozen spinach.
- Don’t Skip the Squeezing: Whether you’re using fresh or frozen spinach, squeezing out as much liquid as possible is crucial, as extra water will thin the sauce and dilute the flavor.
- Nutmeg’s Role: Nutmeg may seem like a dessert spice, but you’ll love its flavor in this recipe. Its warmth and spiced flavor pair well with the dish’s creaminess.
- Extra Cheesy Upgrade: Aside from the classic Morton’s recipe, this recipe also adds cream cheese and Parmesan cheese for extra flavor. Removing them gives the original recipe!
- Add a Crunchy Topping: If you want a texture contrast, sprinkle the finished dish with breadcrumbs or crunchy fried onions and pop it under the broiler for a minute or two to give it a nice toast.
- Double It for a Crowd: This recipe doubles (or even triples) easily, making it perfect for holiday gatherings or potlucks.
How to Store
- Store: Serve warm, but don’t leave it at room temperature for more than 2 hours. Cover the Creamed Spinach in an airtight container, and it will keep up to 4 days in the refrigerator.
- Reheat: Reheat Creamed Spinach on medium heat, stirring often. If it’s too thick just add a splash of milk or cream. The microwave works too, in 30-second bursts. Stir in between bursts. Keep the heat on medium to avoid causing the sauce to separate.
- Freeze: You can keep Creamed Spinach in the freezer for up to four months. Just defrost in the refrigerator overnight before reheating and serving.
Ideas to Serve
This spinach side dish is perfect for a special occasion meal like Christmas, Easter, or even a romantic date night at home. Serve it alongside a perfectly cooked Steak with other cheesy sides like Skillet Creamy Mac & Cheese or Potatoes Au Gratin. You could also serve it with freshly sliced carrot sticks or celery sticks as a fun veggie dip, or even put a teaspoon’s worth on some butter crackers along with a garnish of cherry tomato halves or fresh sprouts for a fancy appetizer.
Frequent Questions
This can happen if the flour isn’t cooked long enough to fully develop its thickening power or if too much liquid is added. Let the sauce simmer a bit longer to thicken.
Yes, it’s a subtle flavor, but it is a very specific taste that adds a layer of flavor that makes the dish a winner. If you’re out, you can skip it, but the final result might feel less rounded.
Variations
- Creamed Spinach Pasta Bake: A great thing to do with the leftovers, if there are any, is toss some cooked pasta in with it, add a bit of mozzarella and cream cheese for an easy spinach pasta bake. Cook at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. No recipe here, it is usually just whatever is left over.
- Kale: Swap out half the fresh spinach with kale leaves to balance all that richness and extra nutrients. You’ll want to remove the kale stems because they are very bitter. You’ll also need to cook the kale for a few extra minutes to get it to wilt and soften.
Related Recipes
More Delicious Spinach Recipes
Photos used in a previous version of this post:
This is a delicious recipe that my family requests a lot. It’s especially good with salmon and other fish or steak. I usually half it because there are only 3 of us and it makes a lot. I will say that if I make an entire batch I find it takes much longer than 35 minutes. I grate my own cheese so maybe that adds some time. Definitely worth it!
Grating your own cheese is a must!! So much creamier and without all of the extra chemical and additives. So glad you all enjoy it so much, Julia.
I was a but disappointed in this, overall. The flavor of the sauce is great but waaay too much fir the amount of spinach. I added more but it was still too much sauce. Then at the very end of the recipe, buried in ads, I see that the mozzarella and cream cheese are not part of the original Morton’s recipe. I don’t read all the story stuff before recipes so maybe it is there but I think those are too much. Is this awful, no. I also won’t make it again or, if I do, it will be without the mozzarella and cream cheese.
Same with me. Way too much sauce, not enough spinach. I just made this. It was ok. I wonder if I could use egg noodle for the rest of the sauce. Disappointed to say the least.
I’m going to try a couple of these. Sounds delicious.
Followed your recipe to a T and made creamed spinach for the first time in my life. The nutmeg is a must in my opinion. Used fresh spinach which, from reading through the comments, also seems like a must. Not sure if skillet type matters but I used a cast iron. It was the perfect spinach to cream ratio. My husband loved it and we have a ton left over. Wondering if we could place the rest in a freezer bag and thaw when needed?
Thank you for sharing this gem! My only suggestion to others is maybe pair with a leaner cut of meat. I had a ribeye and it was too filling lol
This dish is definitely freezable. I’m so glad you enjoy it so much.
I just made this and it is delish!!! I used 4 boxes of frozen spinach and it was perfect ratio of cream and spinach. Will definitely make again…yummy!!
Can this be used for meal prep?
If you want to make this ahead of time, follow everything through step 9 as prep. Then 10 minutes before serving, add the spinach to the mixture, warm gently and then follow the rest of the directions. Enjoy!
Great recipe thanks.
I didn’t have the nutmeg. I used brown curry instead and dehydrated ginger and a twist of lemon. No salt and pepper either used “Slap ya’ mama”, its a staple on the pipeline. Saute carrots and added strained Ro*el at the end… OMG. Had to use Saltines, no flour either, and used smoked Gouda. Chicken broth instead of water. I did use spinach and the cream cheese. FYI the is no such thing as too much cream. I’m putting over Arborio rice.
This is my go to receive at every family gathering. My kids love it too which is awesome. I agree that it is more ‘spinached cream’ versus creamed spinach but I love it that way. It is really rich. If it’s too much use less half and half.
We made this with a garlic prime rib, horseradish mashed potatoes and corn bread for NY day. It was the best we’ve had! As the glutton I am, I even poured some over a piece of corn bread. It was too good that it was hard to stop eating. Thank you for the fantastic recipe!
Sounds amazing, Melissa!
I followed the recipe as is. I used a pound of frozen spinach. Then I had to add the other 8 oz from the bag. There is WAYYYYYYYY too much cream in this recipe. Even after adding the rest of the spinach I had, I wound up with “spinached cream” and not creamed spinach. I’d use maybe 2 cups of half and half, definitely not 3.5 cups!! Other than that, it’s pretty tasty.
Made this as a side with prime rib. Too heavy, too cheesy. Love creamed spinach, but this was over powering. The ratio of cheese/cream to spinach was way off. Much prefer lighter cream with the spinach.
We made this creamed spinach to the recipe requirements (cream cheese and mozzarella too) for Christmas with prime rib, creamed corn and potatoes au gratin. The creamed spinach was delicious but super think – so we added room temperature beef broth to thin it out. Highly recommend having a carton of beef broth handy and slowly mix into completed dish until the thickness preferred. We also cleaned the spinach stems and tore the spinach leaves prior to cooking.
Great recipe!
I omitted the mozzarella but couldn’t pass up the cream cheese. I used half and half.
Did steps 1 through 9 and set aside waiting for the prime rib to catch up. 3 hours later added the spinach and followed the rest of the recipe. Worked to perfection!
Read a lot of comments about being too creamy. I squeezed the excess water from the spinach until my hands ached. Think that is the trick to eliminating the excess sauce.
This was the first time I had attempted creamed spinach. I halved the entire recipe and used frozen spinach. It was delicious but I did remove at least a third of the sauce before I added the spinach. It would have been all sauce with a little spinach otherwise. I will make it with fresh spinach next time to see if the sauce to spinach ratio is correct.
I agree with other comment about using frozen spinach, I used 1 pound, but had enough cream sauce for at least 2 pounds. It is tasty but definitely need to adjust the recipe.
I made this without the cream cheese and mozzarella – I’m old school – and it is fantastic!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Karen.
I was not sure how to rate this recipe. Executing the recipe as written yields something that isn’t really creamed spinach. I’ve made it twice in the past month. The first time I made it with the mozzarella and cream cheese as recommended. It had way too much sauce for the recommended amount of spinach. I wound up adding pasta to it, and it was delicious.
I made this recipe a second time using the recommended amount of frozen spinach. I omitted the cream cheese and mozzarella. There was still too much sauce!! I then removed 50-60% rue/sauce prior to adding the spinach and Parmesan. I placed the extra in the freezer. It came out well with the alterations.
The mozzarella and cream cheese are unnecessary if you’re making a creamed spinach. This recipe as written would be great for a pasta dish or perhaps as a dip if you add artichoke and additional mozzarella.
Yum! Can’t wait to try this!
I omitted cream cheese, mozzarella and Parmesan and I still thought it was wonderfully rich. I did add extra butter and reduce the flour until they were about equal in order to make a proper roux. I also microwaved the half and half until warm before mixing it in slowly. Finally, I added generous amounts of paprika, Urfa chili, and black lime powder because steakhouse creamed spinach is just too rich and one-note for my tastes in general. It was the best creamed spinach I have ever made by far.
I’m glad you were able to customize it more to your liking, Marie.
Was delicious! After reading reviews, used 2 pounds of frozen spinach. We enjoyed it as a Thanksgiving side dish this year. Also ate leftovers as dip.
I’m thinking of preparing this for Christmas dinner with prime rib. Can it be made ahead of time? Thanks for your help.
If you want to make this ahead of time, follow everything through step 9 as prep. Then 10 minutes before serving, add the spinach to the mixture, warm gently and then follow the rest of the directions. Enjoy!
I used frozen spinach, and instead of the pound I ended up using 24 oz. There seemed to be too much sauce for just one pound of frozen. Otherwise the recipe was wonderful!
This is a very creamy cheesy spinach dish, glad you enjoyed it! I will recipe test again with 24 ounces vs 16 ounces and see how it goes next week. Happy Thanksgiving!
Wonderful recipe! Made it exactly as written and was perfect! Thank you for such a recipe for spinach perfection,…
Thanks for the 5 stars, Diane. I’m so glad you enjoyed it.
Ugh -this was awful The mozzarella wouldn’t really melt (like most mozzarella) and it was all stringy and not very creamy
Not sure what I did wrong but it was gross.
I put the spinach in ice water and hand squeezed in until not so watery .
It is a great recipe
Much too much liquid/cream for the amount of spinach. I put it in a blender, and turned it into spinach soup- added mint leaves. The taste was delicious. Next time I will double the amount of spinach and cut down the cream to 3 cups.
Absolutely delicious!
Way too much sauce for the amount of spinach. Absolutely delicious though!
Used 2 boxes of frozen spinach, and had about twice the sauce needed. No worries, saved the extra sauce to use for another dish, as it is delicious!
thank you for the recipe, what am I missing about frozen spinach? Why would you defrost and squeeze out excess water if you’re about to cook it until wilted? is frozen spinach usually precooked or something?
You don’t want the extra liquid in the dish.
Tried this recipe for the first time 2 weeks ago – it is a fabulous recipe! So easy, tasty and creamy… mmm,. Everyone loved it and we’re looking forward to making it again tomorrow for family. Thank you for sharing it with us!
You’re welcome, Helen.
Hello! I was curious can you make this a day ahead?
If you want to make this ahead of time, follow everything through step 9 as prep. Then 10 minutes before serving, add the spinach to the mixture, warm gently and then follow the rest of the directions. Enjoy!
I actually made this with broccoli rabe and it came out amazing. I did put the rabe through a food processor but that chopped a bit too much so I would hand chop it next time.
Very creamy and delicious. If you are buying bagged spinach, you’ll need 4 (6 oz) bags. Make sure you get as much water out of it after you cook it. This recipe would be great to make a spinach artichoke dip out of. To do this, I’d reduce the spinach to 12 oz and add a jar of heated, chopped artichoke hearts.
Thanks for the 5 stars, Diana.
I’m dying to make this for an event I’m having soon. I need 12 pounds of frozen spinach (I know seems excessive lol) but I can’t see multiplying every ingredient by 12, that seems like way to much of everything. Would 3x or 4x the recipe suffice or is that still to much? Looks absolutely delicious I can’t wait to make it!
You’ll be ok with multiplying as needed. If you’re afraid that it’ll be too creamy or cheesy, hold back a quarter when it comes to the half and half and mozzarella cheese. You can always add it in later if you still want it. Good luck!
It was good but something is wrong with the list of ingredients. I used 2 boxes of 10 oz frozen spinach. Your recipe calls for 3.5 cups of half and half. There was way to much liquid. After putting the spinach in the pan, I had to remove it and scooped up about 1/4 of the half and half and put it in a smaller saucepan. Maybe I did something wrong. It was delicious though. Thank you!
Did you defrost and squeeze out as much water as possible from the frozen spinach before using? That might have led to more liquid being produced. Hopefully this helps.
WAYYYYY too much Cream sauce and not nearly enough spinach. We doubled the frozen spinach to 2 lbs and still had so much cream sauce.
Tasted delish though!!!
I CAN NOT WAIT TO TRY YOUR CREAMED SPINACH. EVERY TIME WE EAT AT A CHINES BUFFET THEY HAVE CREAMED SPINACH, BUT I THINK THIS WILL BE BETTER WITH THE GARLIC.
Amazing!
Delicious thanks for sharing.. big hit for dinner.. I used heavy whipping cream. I didn’t use the mozzarella nor cream cheese
I halved the recipe cause I only had one bag of spinach. I had heavy whipping cream so I split it with 2% milk. Delicious!
This creamed spinach is ridiculously delicious. And bonus for giving me a reasonto use up half the spinach growing in our garden right now. You can only take spinach salad for so long. We paired with thick, juicy Prime Ribeye and a nice red wine and I was literally in heaven. The recipe is also very easy, and pretty quick prep time. I am a fan!!
DELICIOUS! Will be adding artichoke hearts next time for a dip, but it was perfect as a side dish.
Woohoo! Thanks for the 5 stars, Kristina.
I made this recipe tonight and it was absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing!
I didn’t rate it because I have not made it yet but it sounds really good. My question is can this be made with canned spinach? That is all I have right now. Seems like if I treated it like the frozen, drain it, then it would work as well. What do you think??
Yes, make sure to fully drain it and it should work fine. Enjoy!
Wow this was amazing!
Fabulous!
My husband adores this recipe and gets creamed spinach at Morton’s every time we go. I cook it in a cast iron skillet because it turns out so well.
My husband hemorrhaged after surgery once and needed to increase his iron levels but was having a hard time getting enough. So I cooked all his meals in cast iron. The doctor was amazed at how quickly his levels came back to normal. So we’re big fans of cast iron cooking. I also love how cast iron sears meat, so I wind up roasting more steaks in the oven and then searing them in a rocket hot cast iron pan than I do grilling them. I love basting with the pan fond and some butter and thyme then serving with roasted shallots, sauteed mushrooms, and the creamed spinach.
This is the best creamed spinach I’ve ever had. I made it for a dinner party with friends, and it was the hit. I will be making this one for years to come. Followed the recipe exactly, wouldn’t change a thing.
I made it for dinner yesterday and it was delicious! Would definitely make it again. As another reviewer mentioned it does make a lot of sauce, so what I did was take about half of the sauce out of the pot and saved it for the next day.
Also I used heavy whipping cream instead of half & half.
I made this last night for Valentine’s Day dinner with a few modifications since I did not have all the ingredients at home. I chopped up some bacon and added it when sautéing the onions, decreased the salt to 1/2 tsp. total, used 1 C. whipping cream and 1 C. milk and omitted the mozzarella cheese because I did not have any. I used fresh “steamed” spinach (no salt) only using the water from the spinach leaves in a large pot , draining it a colander and pressing out excess water with a flexible silicone spatula and did squeeze out as much water as with boiling it. It came out beautiful and delicious and will be a regular in my cooking menu now.