Beta Carotene in Spinach

Including other green foods.

Article by Diet Bites

More Beta Carotene Tips, Recipes

How much beta carotene in spinach?

One cup of raw spinach contains about 1688 µg's of beta carotene. However, if we use frozen spinach, cook and boil it - we'll receive 13750 µg's as a benefit.

This is because edible greens wilt when they hit the heat and quickly compress. Therefore, the result is compacted.

Instead of getting the healthy benefits from one cup of raw, we're getting much more because it takes several cups of raw to make one cup of cooked where greens are involved.

Canned spinach contains 12585 µg's per cup, after the liquid has been drained away.

When cooked on the stove, one cup contains 11318 µg's.

What about going fancy with a French recipe and making a souffle? For a one-cup serving, we'll be getting 2030 µg's of beta carotene.

When we're going Italian and opt to use spinach egg noodles, pasta or macaroni, we'll receive 82 µg's of beta carotene healthy benefits.

What about one leaf of raw spinach? 563 µg's.

Dieting Tips & Recipes for Spinach

Tips for Purchasing, Planting & Harvesting Spinach

Let's start with a few excellent tips:

1. Fresh picked greens tend to wilt very quickly. If you see brown edges, toss out and either pick or purchase anew.

2. Spinach and other fresh greens are exceptionally easy to grow and harvest. They require the cooler, fall months of the year.

They can be challenging to grow in the deep southern regions of the United States because of the heat. Winters in these areas are often warmer than the summer months in the upper regions of the States. Imagine that.

We've planted a crop of spinach during the fall and after we received a blanket of early snow, the spinach continued to thrive. But when the bitter cold continues, the crop will fade away.

Nutritional Benefits of Spinach

Beta Carotene is just one excellent nutritional element in spinach. It's also a rich source for iron.

It's also ridiculously minimal in caloric content. A medium size bag as purchased at the market contains less than 50 kcals - for the entire bag.

Dieting Tips & Quick Recipes for Spinach

1. Keep frozen on hand and mix into Italian-based recipes.

2. Add to cooked noodles along with fresh sliced mushrooms and regular sour cream for a quick meal. Simply sauté the mushrooms and spinach before adding to the noodles.

Chicken Mushroom Pocket Recipe

Start with one cup of prepared roasted chicken which has been cut into bite-sized bits. Add 1 cup of sauteed sliced mushrooms, spinach and onions that have been mixed. If you like more mushrooms - then use more in the cup. Or more of the onion or the spinach. Almost all of the recipes at Diet Bites can be personalized because, that's how we like it!

Use puff pastry dough as your pockets. Add the chicken mixture to one square of puff pastry, top with shredded skim-based mozzarella cheese - and you can use any blend to add flavor such as Italian or Mexican blends. Top with another square of the puff pastry and brush with egg white that has been slightly beaten. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown.

3. Purchasing whole grain pasta will add another layer of nutrition to the recipe.

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