Broccoli, spinach, and lettuce may lose up to 50% or more of their vitamin C when boiled (4, 5). Even though cooked spinach packs in a large volume of leaves, it's still low in calories. University of Illinois Extension. To take advantage of vitamin C and folate, eat the spinach fresh, and as soon as possible. If you're wondering how long to boil spinach, it should only take a few minutes. National Institutes of Health. Colorado spinach. Cooked Spinach Benefits: When you eat spinach that has been heated, you will absorb higher levels of vitamins A and E, protein, fiber, zinc, thiamin, calcium, and iron. The best way to reap the many benefits of this healthy vegetable is to enjoy it both raw and cooked. Updated 2013. Vitamin C has a number of beneficial functions in the human body. Otherwise, the spinach will be greasy and soggy. Iron fact sheet for health professionals. Beta-carotene and lutein are carotenoids, antioxidants that protect the body from free radicals, which are molecules that, over time, can damage the cells and lead to illness. Updated 2020. As a result, cooking ve… But boiled or canned spinach … For maximum vitamin retention, use quick-cooking methods that do not include water, such as sauteing, stir-frying or blanching, to reduce the amount of nutrients lost from cooking. Dyer began her writing career as a staff writer at a community newspaper and is now a full-time commercial writer. © Copyright 2020 Hearst Communications, Inc. Steaming maintains the quality of spinach because the leaves cook in steam and not water. According to the United States Department of Agriculture's Nutrient Database, each cup provides you with supplemental amounts of calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and zinc, as well as a wide array of antioxidant vitamins. Factors that affect nutrient loss in cooking include cook time, temperature and amount of liquid used. Park JN, Lee JS, Noh MY, Sung MK. While beta-carotene and lutein are abundant in spinach and other colorful vegetables, cooking spinach heats the cell walls of the spinach, releasing beta-carotene and lutein and making them more available to the body. Consider spinach. The SF Gate puts it like this, “Because many of spinach’s nutrients, including vitamin C, folate, B vitamins and thiamin, are water soluble, spinach loses a large portion of its nutrients when it is boiled or steamed. Vitamin C: To reduce the loss of water-soluble, oxygen-sensitive vitamin C, cook fruits and vegetables in the least possible amount of water. Harvard Health Publishing. Updated 2020. // Leaf Group Lifestyle, Benefits of Eating All Raw Vegetables & Fruits, University of the District of Columbia Center for Nutrition, Diet and Health: Spinach. Updated December 6, 2019. When using frozen spinach, you can reduce vitamin C losses by cooking it directly from the freezer without thawing it first. Updated 2018. 2013;28(6):934-8. doi: 10.3346/jkms.2013.28.6.934. Vitamin C and many of the B vitamins are the most unstable nutrients when it comes to cooking. Try using boiled spinach in our velvet spinach recipe. To cook fresh spinach in boiling water, place 1 pound washed spinach, covered, in a small amount of boiling salted water. To saute spinach, cook it quickly in a frying pan with a small amount of heart-healthy olive oil or canola oil. How to Keep Iron Nutrients in Spinach When Cooking. 2018;10(11). M.H. Kale, forexample, requires fives minutes of steaming to draw its nutritional potential tothe maximum. Because microwaving generally includes a short cooking time and uses less heat, it retains more nutrients than conventional methods. Saute the spinach, stirring constantly, until the leaves are crisp-tender, which takes about two to three minutes. Important carotenoids, such as beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, also become more absorbable. The benefits of steaming compared to boiling … doi:10.3390/nu10111626, Vaňková K, Marková I, Jašprová J, et al. 2018;2018:4069167. doi:10.1155/2018/4069167, Park SY, Na SY, Kim JH, Cho S, Lee JH. Enzymes in foods are broken down in your body like other proteins and serve no separate use in health. Steaming and boiling caused a 22 percent to 34 percent loss of vitamin C. Microwaved and pressure-cooked vegetables retained 90 percent of their vitamin C. Updated 2020. Nour M, Lutze SA, Grech A, Allman-Farinelli M. The relationship between vegetable intake and weight outcomes: A systematic review of cohort studies. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until tender. Career as a result, cooking ve… Tomatoes: cooked may be better than raw its folic acid yes loses. To get the most out of consuming them, it should only take a few minutes and Naturalist! 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