Spinach tastes 'fresh and vibrant' not 'lifeless' with this 5-minute recipe

Spinach is an extremely healthy vegetable jam-pakced with a load of benefits. The superfood provides essential vitamins and minerals, fibre, and antioxidants. It is also great for supporting various organs such as the eyes, the heart, and the skin.

However, many don't see spinach as the most 'exciting' vegetable when it comes to flavour, and so despite its nutritional benefits, the vegetable is often overlooked. But spinach has a lot of potential, it all comes down the way you cook it, and this one simple method will give the vegetable a fresh and new delicious taste.

The 5-minute method for "the very best sauteed spinach" was shared on Sonja and Alex Overhiser's food blog A Couple Cooks, and it couldn't be any easier to follow.

Sonja Overhiser, co-founder of the blog, wrote: "Alex and I both loved cooked spinach in recipes. But we didn't think we liked straight-up sauteed spinach...until now.

"This spinach is scented with garlic, wilted until it's bright green in a bit of olive oil. It's finished off with lemon juice to give it a brightness. The flavour is fresh and vibrant, not lifeless and mushy as you would expect."

According to Mrs Overhiser, there are four secrets to making the best sauteed spinach and that's cooking it with whole garlic cloves, cooking it until its wilted, adding a squeeze of lemon at the end, and salting it perfectly.

Following these golden rules is key to making your the ultimate spinach side dish that will go with numerous of meals.

For those who would like to try out the recipe, you can find it below:

Ingredients:

• 3 bunches of spinach
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 large gloves, peel and smashed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt plus two pinches
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Method:

Step 1

If your spinach is in a bunch, chop off the stems and chop the leaves roughly

Step 2

Heat the olive oil over a medium high heat in a large skillet. Add the whole garlic cloves for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Then carefully add spinach leaves and immediately cover the pan (any water on the spinach may cause the oil to spit momentarily). The mound of leaves will seem like a lot of volume, but it will quickly wilt down to be very small. Cook covered for 1 minute, quickly uncover and stir for a few seconds to integrate cooked spinach with raw, then cooked covered with 1 minute.

Step 3

Remove the lid. Stir and cook about 30 seconds more, until the spinach is fully wilted but still bright green. Stir in the kosher salt and fresh lemon juice, then remove from the heat.

Step 4

Taste and add a few more pinches of salt. (Spinach is very susceptible to salt, so use only small bits at a time! The flavour should pop but not be salty.) Immediately remove to a bowl; the spinach will brown if you leave it any longer in the pan. Serve warm.