Grant Crilly is the Executive Director and cofounder of ChefSteps. Grant is a classically trained chef and, prior to ChefSteps, he worked on the award-winning cookbook series Modernist Cuisine and cooked at various restaurants, including L’Astrance in Paris, Busaba in Mumbai, and Mistral Kitchen in Seattle.

Grant Crilly

Classic creamed spinach is heavy, sludgy, and mushy. This creamed spinach? It’s light and bright, the spinach is tender-crisp, the sauce is super velvety smooth, and it comes together in 5 minutes. In the traditional version, spinach is just an afterthought—it’s more of an excuse to eat cheesy béchamel with a little vegetable matter mixed in than anything else. Here, the spinach is barely cooked, just enough to wilt it without obliterating it completely, and the flavor comes through clearly. The key is using <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/guides-tools/roux-vs-slurry">cornstarch rather than roux to thicken the sauce</a>—and dialing in the right slurry proportions. The sauce out of the pan is just a tad too thick, which accounts for the liquid the spinach will exude as it sits. It’s the classic steakhouse side, all lightened up!

Light and Bright Creamed Spinach