How To Remove Excess Water From Spinach Without A Big Mess

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Spinach is a delicious addition to salads, simply sauteed with garlic, or married with cream for the steakhouse favorite side dish. It's a surprisingly protein-rich green veg. However, whether you buy it bagged or in bunches, it never lasts long. There are some solid tricks for freezing spinach without getting everthing soggy. But when it's time to use in a recipe, the greens will thaw to be quite waterlogged because the freezing process breaks the cell walls to release more liuqid. And, depending on how you want to serve it, a similar issue can arise with cooked spinach — there's just too much water.

For help removing the excess liquid from spinach without making a huge mess, we reached out to a couple of experts who shared a few life-changing kitchen hacks. To easily remove the excess moisture from frozen or cooked spinach, Kathleen Boureston, owner of Gonna Want Seconds says, "I prefer using cheesecloth to squeeze and drain my spinach because it is disposable and there's nothing to clean."

Chef Sandra Maestas of Cookin' Kiddos agrees, and notes that, once wrapped in cheesecloth, "You can then use a heavy pan to press down to get the extra water out. This eliminates the need for twisting, and it's relatively mess-free." Maestas adds that you can actually reuse your cheesecloth, if you'd like, and it's a great space-saver to have in the kitchen or pantry. But cheesecloth isn't the only method for extracting water from spinach.

If Kathleen Boureston is out of cheesecloth, she notes that "a fine-mesh strainer and a rubber scraper work just as well and create no mess. You can just rinse and pop it in the dishwasher when you're done." Meanwhile, Sandra Maestas prefers a kitchen gadget that offers a similar effect. She says, "Another option is to put the thawed spinach into a potato ricer and drain it over the sink. This does the job in seconds." Her favorite option is the OXO Good Grips 3-in-1 Adjustable Potato Ricer with modifications like screens that let you press out the moisture without mangling the leafy greens.

However, mistakes are still possible. Boureston warns, "The one I hear about people making the most is using a kitchen towel that's been dried with fabric softener." If you've never accidentally done this, you definitely don't want to go down that road. The spinach will end up tasting like a fabric softener mascot that's been rolling in the grass all day — spinach and hand soap. Boureston says, "If you have to use a dish towel, use a white, cotton towel. White might seem counterintuitive, but it can be bleached, making it the easiest to restore after drying spinach." For her part, Maestas reiterates the importance of thawing your spinach first. "The biggest mistake is to try to squeeze it while it's still frozen. It will spray everywhere if you do this, so the key is to always thaw or lightly warm the spinach before you get the water out."