Cooking with Spinach Powder

There is a reason Popeye always ate his spinach. Spinach provides plenty of iron, folate, vitamin A, vitamin K, vitamin C, calcium and many other vitamins and minerals. Spinach powder provides all these nutrients, too. You can use spinach powder to add flavor, color and nutrients to all sorts of foods.

Spinach Cupcakes?

Yep. Replace up to ¼ cup of flour with spinach powder in baked goods, including cupcakes and breads, as recommended by the Mountain Rose Herbs website. Remember this will affect both the color and flavor of your baked goods. Depending on your recipe, the effect may be very small or it may be more significant. Experiment to figure out what works best with your favorite recipes.

Green Noodles

You've probably seen green pasta in the store, made with spinach in addition to wheat flour and the other typical ingredients. You can make your own fresh pasta with spinach powder. Just replace some of the flour in your favorite homemade pasta recipe with spinach powder. The resulting pasta will be green in color and have more vitamins and minerals than regular pasta.

Power-Packed Smoothies

Some people enjoy green smoothies, which combine ingredients like milk or soymilk, yogurt and fruit with leafy greens like spinach. The leafy greens add additional nutrients not found in the other ingredients. You can get the same nutrients by adding spinach powder to your smoothies.

Green Eggs and Ham

You can add spinach powder to many other dishes, including dips, casseroles, scrambled eggs, quiche, mashed potatoes, hummus, soups and stews. One benefit to using spinach powder is the fact that you can easily hide it in many foods, so it provides a way to get some vitamins and minerals into picky eaters that they might not get otherwise. For instance, kids might be reluctant to eat cooked spinach but they will probably enjoy eating green scrambled eggs. You don't have to tell them spinach powder makes them green!

When to Be Wary

Spinach contains oxalic acid, so of course spinach powder contains oxalic acid, as well. Some people should limit the amount of oxalic acid they consume, such as those with gout or a history of kidney stones, according to the Mountain Rose Herbs website. Cooking spinach reduces the amount of oxalic acid in it but some people may still need to limit the amount they eat. Talk to your doctor if you have questions about whether or not you can safely cook with spinach powder.