The Grocery Chain Canned Spinach Brand You Should Avoid

Canned spinach may not be much to look at, but it's a cheap, shelf-stable veggie that's packed with nutrients. Plus, you'd be surprised at how many uses canned spinach has. Of course, not all canned spinach is created equal, so we sampled 5 canned spinach brands and ranked them on criteria like flavor, texture, quantity, and price.

According to our ranking, Harris Teeter is the grocery chain whose canned spinach you should avoid at all costs. Located in the southeastern U.S., Harris Teeter is a popular grocery chain, and one of the best grocery chains in the U.S.; it's even a trusted shopping spot for celebrity chefs. Considering how much we love Harris Teeter's fresh baked goods, prepared hot food, and prime rib, we had high hopes for the chain's canned spinach. Consequently, we couldn't have been more disappointed by the can of mush we sampled. While we appreciate that the canned spinach had considerably less sodium than competitors, the texture was too egregious to overlook. Not only was the texture essentially like sludge, but this canned spinach was by far the most expensive of the bunch. Harris Teeter is a great option for fresh food, but the canned veggies are too pricey, especially when they deliver subpar taste and texture.

While canned spinach doesn't have as much versatility and flavor as fresh spinach, it's still a valuable staple that you can incorporate into many recipes. As a precooked veggie, canned saves you chopping, cleaning and cooking, which makes it a great addition to dump-it recipes like a spinach and artichoke dip. Blending canned spinach with cream cheese or ricotta to stuff shells, lasagna, or enchiladas is another great way to sneak in some vital nutrients to a casserole dish. You can transform its mushy texture into a smooth, silky, and thick addition to cream of spinach soup and smoothies.

One of the big mistakes everyone makes with canned spinach is eating it straight out of the can. Spinach is packaged with brine, so draining and rinsing off all that sodium is a step you need to take before incorporating it into any recipe. Having drained and rinsed the canned spinach, it becomes a blank canvas for flavor and will need a hearty amount of seasoning to bring out the earthiness that might've been muted by a long stint in the can. If you're using it in a recipe like spanakopita, Irish colcannon, or a spinach frittata, you'll need to extract as much moisture as possible by pressing the spinach into a fine strainer or using cheesecloth.