I am such a sucker for low carb, diabetic friendly cream sauce recipes. That’s me, the cream sauce sucker. (Come to think of it, it sounded better the other way.)
To me cream sauces are the jelly, and all the food in the world is the big peanut butter sandwich. Well, that might be hyperbole speaking (or the cream sauce), but you get the idea.
I wanted something I could serve over everything, from fish to chicken to spaghetti squash, to even our occasional Dreamfields pasta dish (below), and this recipe is an absolute winner.
Who says it’s not easy being green?
Thoughtful and ruminationous things about this recipe:
- You can probably use fresh spinach. It’s really easy to use bagged, frozen, however, especially if you happen to have some on hand.
- You can over-spinach this dish, so if you have an 18 ounce bag of spinach in the freezer, don’t use it all, even if you’re tempted, unless you’re making a larger batch of the dish and adding more of all of the ingredients.
- Want some protein in here? You could add cooked, cubed chicken or mushrooms for a protein mouth feel.
- This dish is probably not induction friendly due to the amount of heavy white cream per serving, but it’s definitely low carb, sugar free, gluten free, and vegetarian-friendly, ringing in at only 2.8 grams of total carbs per serving.
Spinach Cream Sauce
4 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups heavy cream
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1-10 ounce packages frozen, chopped spinach
1 cup Parmesan cheese
In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook until tender and slightly transparent. Stir in heavy cream, basil, pepper and salt, and stir occasionally to bring the cream to a boil. Add in the spinach a bit at a time until all is incorporated without drastically reducing the head of the sauce. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is uniformly hot again. Add Parmesan cheese, and stir until melted. Serve warm.
Makes about 4 cups of yumminess.
Nutritional information per 1/2 cup: Calories: 309, Carbohydrates: 3.6, Fiber: .8 g, Net Carbohydrates: 2.8g, Protein: 5.9g, Fat: 31g
I too love cream sauces. I make a sauce similar to this for creamed spinach and love to mix in grass fed crumbled ground beef. A lovely one bowl meal!
Ooh! With beef! Meatballs would be perfect for this, too. Meatballs and unicorns, because then it gets even more magical. If Richard Simmons was having dinner with you, the house would explode sprinkles from all the magic.
Any plans for a carbonara version?
That sounds delicious! I could make that happen.
Thank you SO MUCH for this recipe!! I am always on the look out for LOW CARB recipes to add to my files.
Thank you so much for writing, Rhonda Sue! I hope you like it as much as I have.
Trying this out for lunch today over rice, sounds yummy. My daughter has recently developed a great love for spinach and I’ve been looking for quick, easy, & new ways to do stuff with it.
Thank you for the recipe but I was wondering why you would serve such low carb goodness with pasta or rice? Diabetics or anyone wanting to lose some fat should be avoiding pasta and rice and eating more real fats like butter or whole cream. All starchy carbs increase blood sugar levels and it is a complete lie that they are somehow necessary. It is also a lie that saturated fats are bad for us (unless they are with heaps of carbs) and there is no evidence that proves that they are (even the Swedish Govt have now admitted this)
Thanks again for the recipe.
I eat low carb and I have this over chicken. It is fantastic. I even made a version with blue cheese and mushrooms instead of spinach and parmesan to eat with steak. So so so good. I share this recipe with all of my fellow low carbies. And while I try to avoid starches, I believe the diabetic diet does allow some whole grains. Everything in moderation.
I am looking for low carb pasta substitues and found Chow Mein . . it looks like noodles with only a faction of the carbs and calories . I hope this will be yummy over them ..
Let us know how it works out for you!
I love this receipe and I make it all the time. I am trying to add this onto MyFitnessPal and I can’t find it. Is this on there?