Yes — spinach freezes very well and is one of the most useful greens to keep in the freezer. Blanch it briefly, or freeze it raw for smoothies and cooking, then squeeze out the water and freeze it in portions. Cook it straight from frozen. One important caveat runs through this guide: cooked spinach should be cooled quickly, kept chilled and reheated only once until piping hot — and there is specific guidance for babies and young children, which you will find below.
A bag of fresh spinach is a wonderful thing and a fleeting one; it can go from glossy to slimy overnight. The freezer changes that entirely, turning a glut or a half-used bag into a standing supply for curries, soups, pasta and smoothies. Spinach also collapses to a fraction of its volume, so a whole bag freezes down to a neat handful. It is simple to do well — and, because spinach is a leafy green, worth doing safely.
How well does spinach freeze?
Very well, with the understanding that it will never again be a crisp salad leaf. Freezing softens spinach much as cooking does, which is exactly why it shines in any dish where the spinach is wilted or cooked anyway. You can freeze it two ways: raw, which is quickest and ideal for smoothies and for dishes where it will be cooked; or blanched, which sets the colour, slows the enzymes that dull flavour over time and lets it keep for longer.
A whole bag of spinach freezes down to a neat handful — and cooks straight from frozen.
How to freeze spinach
The raw method: wash and thoroughly dry the leaves, pack them into freezer bags, press out the air and freeze. Frozen raw spinach is best used within a few weeks to a couple of months, and crumbles straight into pans and blenders.
The blanched method, for longer storage:
- Blanch. Plunge washed spinach into boiling water for about one minute, until just wilted.
- Refresh. Lift it straight into a bowl of iced water to stop the cooking and keep the colour.
- Squeeze. Drain, then squeeze out as much water as you can with your hands — this is the step that stops a frozen brick.
- Portion. Pack into freezer bags, or press into an ice-cube tray and top up with a little water for ready-measured nuggets.
- Label, date and freeze flat.
How long can you freeze spinach?
Raw frozen spinach is best within about three months; blanched spinach keeps its quality for up to around six months, and stays safe longer if it remains properly frozen. As always, label the bag — frozen greens look much alike.
- Raw: quickest — best within about 3 months; ideal for smoothies
- Blanched (1 minute): keeps colour and flavour up to about 6 months
- The secret: squeeze the water out, freeze in portions or cubes
- Cooking: straight from frozen — no need to defrost
- Safety: cool cooked spinach quickly, keep chilled, reheat once until piping hot
How to use frozen spinach
There is rarely any need to defrost it. Drop frozen spinach straight into curries, dals, soups, pasta sauces, risottos and bakes, or blend the frozen leaves and cubes into smoothies. If a recipe needs drained spinach — for a filo pie or a quiche — defrost it in the fridge and squeeze out the water first.
The shortcut: shop-bought frozen spinach
A confession: I rarely buy fresh spinach any more. The ready-frozen spinach from the supermarket has quietly become one of my favourite freezer staples. It comes in neat little pellets or cubes, so it is easy to take out exactly what a meal needs — defrosted in a couple of minutes in the microwave, or dropped into the steamer alongside the other vegetables. Commercially frozen spinach is typically frozen within hours of being harvested, locking in its freshness and nutrition, and it counts towards your five a day just as fresh spinach does. It saves a remarkable amount of waste — no more guilty bags of slime — and because it is simply always there, it finds its way into far more meals: a handful in a curry, a cube stirred through pasta, a spoonful folded into the morning eggs.
Important: spinach, nitrates and reheating
Spinach is a leafy green, and leafy greens are naturally high in nitrates. According to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the EU’s independent food-science body, nitrate can convert in the body to nitrite, which at high levels interferes with the blood’s ability to carry oxygen — a condition called methaemoglobinaemia. EFSA’s assessment is that the nitrate levels in these vegetables are not a health concern for most people; a few sensible habits still matter, and the advice is firmer where babies and young children are involved.
For everyone: EFSA notes that leaving cooked leafy vegetables standing at room temperature, and puréeing them, can speed the conversion of nitrate to nitrite. So cool cooked spinach quickly, refrigerate it promptly, and — following Food Standards Agency guidance for all food — reheat it only once, until it is piping hot all the way through. Note that freezing itself is not the risk here; quite the opposite — spinach that goes into the freezer promptly never spends time in the warm conditions EFSA warns about.
For babies and young children: two separate pieces of guidance apply here, and it is worth being clear about who says what. The NHS’s general advice for all home-prepared baby food — not spinach specifically — is to cool it quickly, defrost it in the fridge and use it within 24 hours, and reheat it only once until steaming hot, then let it cool before serving. The nitrate point comes from EFSA, whose contaminants panel found that children aged one to three who eat large amounts of high-nitrate spinach (more than 200g) in a day could in some cases be at risk, and that a child with a tummy bug should not be given spinach, as the infection increases the conversion of nitrate to nitrite. Taking the two together, our practical reading for weaning is simple: serve spinach to very young children freshly cooked rather than batch-stored and reheated. If you are weaning, follow the NHS Best Start in Life guidance on storing and reheating baby food. None of this makes spinach a food to avoid — it is a genuinely nutritious vegetable — but it is one to store, reheat and serve with a little care.
More family-friendly cookery
- Can you freeze kale?
- Can you freeze cheese? Which cheeses freeze best
- Can you freeze scones?
- All our family recipes
Sources & further reading
- Food Standards Agency — How to chill, freeze and defrost food safely.
- European Food Safety Authority — Possible health risk for children from nitrate in leafy vegetables.
- NHS Best Start in Life — Storing and reheating baby food.
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