• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Julia's Album
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Salads
  • Chicken
  • Pasta
  • Seafood
  • Side Dishes
  • Recipe Index
  • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • Salads
    • Chicken
    • Pasta
    • Seafood
    • Side Dishes
    • Recipe Index
    • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • ×

    Sautéed Spinach, mushrooms, and caramelized onions

    Published: Apr 28, 2014 / 67 Comments

    394.5K shares
    • Facebook1.5K
    Recipe Print

    Sautéed Spinach, mushrooms, and caramelized onions - a delicious side dish recipe that will go great with lots of main dishes.

    Sauteed spinach, mushrooms, and onions, side dish, vegetarian recipe, how to cook vegetables

    The flavors of mushrooms, spinach, caramelized onions, garlic, and Parmesan cheese mingle really well in this vegetarian dish. It's quite versatile: you can eat it as-is, especially if you're craving some good-tasting, creamy vegetables.  You can serve it alongside some pasta, ravioli or ready made tortellini. It is also great with grilled steak, pork, or chicken.

    For me, personally, this delicious Sautéed Spinach with Mushrooms and Caramelized Onions is a favorite side dish for grilled meats. The recipe is flexible: you can exclude the creamy sauce and Parmesan cheese, if you're trying to eat a little bit healthier (even though the recipe doesn't use much of either). You can also omit onions if you don't like them, or, if you don't have time to caramelize them, just saute  them.

    Sauteed spinach, mushrooms, and onions, side dish, vegetarian recipe, how to cook vegetables

    4.68 from 40 votes

    Sautéed Spinach, mushrooms, and caramelized onions

    Delicious Sautéed Spinach with Mushrooms and Caramelized Onions is a favorite side dish for grilled meats.  This vegetarian dish is quite versatile: you can eat it as-is, or you can serve it alongside some pasta, ravioli or ready made tortellini. It is also great with grilled steak, pork, or chicken.
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 20 mins
    Cook Time 40 mins
    Total Time 1 hr
    Course Side Dish
    Cuisine American, French
    Servings 4 servings
    Calories per serving 250 kcal
    Author: Julia

    Ingredients

    Caramelized onions

    • 1 tablespoon olive oil
    • 3 onions , medium or large, sliced
    • pinch of salt
    • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

    Cooked mushrooms and spinach:

    • 1 tablespoon olive oil
    • 8 oz mushrooms , sliced (such as button mushrooms, shiitake, etc.)
    • 3 garlic cloves , minced
    • pinch of salt
    • 6 oz spinach , fresh

    Optional cream sauce

    • ⅓ cup heavy cream
    • ¼ cup milk
    • ½ cup Parmesan cheese shredded
    • ¼ teaspoon salt

    Instructions 

    Caramelized onions

    • Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil on high heat in a large skillet, when oil is heated, add sliced onions and cook on high heat for about 10 minutes, constantly stirring with spatula. The onions should start to brown, but without burning (a couple of onions may be burnt here and there, but overall they should not be charred).
    • Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking onions for 10 more minutes, continuing to stir, as onions brown even more without burning. At this point add just a pinch of salt over onions.
    • Continue cooking for 10 more minutes on medium or low heat, stirring occasionally to make sure onions don’t stick to the bottom of the pan or burn. Total you should have cooked onions for 30 minutes.
    • Remove from heat and sprinkle onions with a small amount of balsamic vinegar to deglaze the pan. Using spatula, mix the onions, scraping the bottom of the pan and coating onions with a pinch of balsamic vinegar you just added.

    Cooking mushrooms and spinach

    • After you have started cooking onions, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in another pan, and add sliced mushrooms (I used shiitake with stems removed, you can use any small sized mushrooms) and minced garlic. Add just a pinch of salt. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook mushrooms and garilc covered for about 20 minutes, occasionally stirring.
    • Add cooked mushrooms to the pan with caramelized onions, add 3 cups of spinach and stir on low heat just until spinach wilts. Serve as is as a side dish or proceed to make a creamy sauce as below.

    Optional cream sauce

    • Add heavy cream, milk, Parmesan cheese and ¼ teaspoon salt to the mushroom-onions-spinach mixture on medium-low heat and mix. Stir to coat on low heat for about 5-10 minutes until Parmesan cheese melts and starts to coat the vegetables.
    • Serve as a side dish along grilled meats.

    Nutrition

    Nutrition Information
    Sautéed Spinach, mushrooms, and caramelized onions
    Amount per Serving
    Calories
    250
    % Daily Value*
    Fat
     
    18
    g
    28
    %
    Saturated Fat
     
    7
    g
    44
    %
    Cholesterol
     
    37
    mg
    12
    %
    Sodium
     
    400
    mg
    17
    %
    Potassium
     
    593
    mg
    17
    %
    Carbohydrates
     
    14
    g
    5
    %
    Fiber
     
    2
    g
    8
    %
    Sugar
     
    6
    g
    7
    %
    Protein
     
    9
    g
    18
    %
    Vitamin A
     
    4400
    IU
    88
    %
    Vitamin C
     
    20
    mg
    24
    %
    Calcium
     
    243
    mg
    24
    %
    Iron
     
    1.7
    mg
    9
    %
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

    The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

    Tried this recipe?Be sure to leave a comment and provide a Star Rating below - I love your feedback and try to respond to every comment!
    « How to make caramelized onions
    Pineapple Mango Salsa »
    394.5K shares
    • Facebook1.5K

    Please share your comment and Star Rating in the comments section below.

    I appreciate your feedback!

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Shirley

      April 06, 2022 at 12:50 pm

      This was a wonderful recipe! I made it just like you said and it turned out perfectly. We are mostly vegan, so I didn't add the cream sauce and it certainly didn't need anything else. Thank you!

      Reply
      • Julia

        April 24, 2022 at 8:23 pm

        Shirley, I am so glad the recipe was a success! This tastes delicious even without the cream, for sure!

        Reply
    2. Amber

      October 16, 2021 at 2:25 pm

      This recipe is insanely good! I make it regularly. I made a vegan version where I used oat milk and vegan parmesan, it's not quite as good as the original (sorry vegans) but still really good! I always have it with tagliatelle - sometimes homemade which is the best! People always ask me for this recipe and my family and friends all make it on the regs. Thanks Julia

      Reply
      • Julia

        October 23, 2021 at 3:18 pm

        Amber, your comment made my day! So happy to hear you make this recipe regularly and enjoy it! Love that you serve this over pasta - sounds delish!

        Reply
    3. Christina Sparks

      September 27, 2021 at 1:56 pm

      This was really good, both my husband and I enjoyed and looking forward to adding this to many more dinners to come.

      Reply
    4. Keith

      April 27, 2021 at 7:55 pm

      AMAZING!!! Prepared tonight with the cream sauce and it was layered with flavor and devoured.

      Reply
    5. Barb

      January 26, 2021 at 2:08 pm

      I stuffed spaghetti squash with this.. I also added turkey bacon in mixture. Baked in over with shredded motzerella cheese and Monterey jack. Was so delicious.

      Reply
    6. Daffodilmini

      January 16, 2021 at 1:21 am

      Never cut the stem off from a shiitake! According to recent valid researsch, it has more beta-glucan than other parts!!! I buy a lot of shiitake with big stems only because of the beta-glucan content.

      Reply
    7. Susan

      October 24, 2020 at 9:21 pm

      loved it, I added white wine and shredded carrots, really fantastic

      Reply
    8. Christian

      June 29, 2020 at 8:06 pm

      I tossed this with fettuccine for a meatless main dish. It was delicious! The only drawback was the time involved. Next time, I’m going to try starting the mushrooms first so that they can cook while I caramelize the onions.

      Reply
      • Green Bean

        January 24, 2021 at 5:19 pm

        I used the Mom U Instant Pot method for carmelizing the onions and I was gobsmacked by how good and easy they were!
        https://youtu.be/rmFchbicyHk

        Reply
      • Jan Kc

        March 05, 2022 at 11:07 am

        I'm making this today. Make your carmalized onions ahead and freeze. I buy a bag off onions and carmalize, cool and put in sandwich bags 1/2 cup each and freeze. It takes a few minutes to thaw the onions and speeds up making any recipe calling for carmalized onions

        Reply
        • Julia

          March 22, 2022 at 12:16 am

          Jan, this is such a great time-saving tip - thank you! 🙂

          Reply
    9. Gina

      June 05, 2020 at 5:20 pm

      Delicious! Wouldn’t change a thing. Family loved it!

      Reply
    10. Lisa

      April 14, 2020 at 2:17 pm

      Can I use half and half? I don't have any heavy cream.

      Reply
      • Erica

        April 25, 2020 at 3:57 pm

        I did and then I added a little cream cheese to help thicken it.

        Reply
    « Older Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    Hi, I'm Julia! / Welcome to my recipe blog where I share easy-to-make weeknight dinners and other recipes using simple ingredients!

    The recipes presented on this site are everyday, familiar foods, cooked from scratch.

    More about me →

    Popular Autumn Recipes

    • Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Pecans, and Cranberries
    • Creamy Butternut Squash Pasta with Sausage and Spinach
    • Butternut Squash and Spinach Salad with Pecans, Cranberries, Pomegranate
    • Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna
    • Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Cinnamon Butternut Squash with Pecans and Cranberries
    • Garlic and Bacon Green Beans

    JOIN ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

    • Facebook
    • Pinterest
    • Instagram

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    Privacy and Disclosure

    • Privacy Policy
    • Disclaimer
    • Terms & Conditions

    About

    • About
    • Featured On
    • Contact Me

    Connect on Social Media

    • Pinterest
    • Facebook
    • Instagram

    Copyright © 2021 JuliasAlbum.com

    Site Design: Foodie Pro Theme by Feast Design Co.