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This Paleo Creamy Spinach Casserole is a delicious, decadent yet healthy side to search at your Thanksgiving tables this year! It’s made with ghee, almond milk cream cheese, frozen spinach, and baked with a pork panko topping. Gluten free and soy free!
Growing up, my mom used to make a version of this Spinach Casserole for Thanksgiving every year. It was loaded with butter, cream cheese, and topped with a stuffing mixture. So delicious, but it always felt so rich and left me feeling not so great. I knew I had to come up with a gluten free & dairy free version to enjoy for the holidays! This brought me right back to the good old days…it turned out so yummy!
This side dish comes together quickly and easily. You can even make it the night before and bring it to room temperature before baking!
What You Need To Make This Paleo Creamy Spinach Casserole:
- Frozen spinach – I used 3-12 oz packages to make 36 oz total.
- 1 tub kite hill almond milk cream cheese (can sub regular if you tolerate dairy – it will still be Keto).
- Ghee
- Garlic Powder
- Salt
- Pork Panko – this is essentially crushed up pork rinds and makes a great gluten free and low carb alternative for bread crumbs! If you can’t find it, you can crush up your own pork rinds.
That’s it!
How to Make this Paleo Creamy Spinach Casserole:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9×13 casserole dish.
Cook the spinach according to package directions. I just boiled mine for a few minutes, then drained it in a colander. Press down on the cooked spinach with paper towels to absorb any excess water. It’s important to get ALL of the water out so you don’t have a watery casserole!
Melt the ghee in a sauce pan over medium low heat. Add in the cream cheese and stir as it melts, until you have a creamy mixture and the cream cheese is completely mixed in. Add in the garlic powder and salt and stir.
Mix the cooked spinach with the cream cheese/ghee mixture in a bowl. Transfer it to the casserole dish. Top with the pork panko, then bake (uncovered) for 20 minutes. Enjoy!
If you make this Paleo Creamy Spinach Casserole, make sure to tag me on Instagram so I can see your creations!
Looking for some other sides to make for Thanksgiving this year? Check these out!
Gluten free / Dairy Free Sausage Apple Herb Stuffing
Enjoy!!
Mary
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Paleo Creamy Spinach Casserole
Ingredients
- 36 oz frozen spinach, I used 3- 12 oz packs
- 1 tub Kite Hill Almond Milk Cream Cheese
- ¼ cup ghee
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ¾ cup Pork Panko, or crushed up pork rinds
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9x13 casserole dish.
- Cook the spinach according to package directions. I just boiled mine for a few minutes, then drained it in a colander. Press down on the cooked spinach with paper towels to absorb any excess water. It's important to get ALL of the water out so you don't have a watery casserole!
- Melt the ghee in a sauce pan over medium low heat. Add in the cream cheese and stir as it melts, until you have a creamy mixture and the cream cheese is completely mixed in. Add in the garlic powder and salt and stir.
- Mix the cooked spinach with the cream cheese/ghee mixture in a bowl. Transfer it to the casserole dish. Top with the pork panko, then bake (uncovered) for 20 minutes. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
All nutrition facts are an estimate and automatically calculated. While I fact check them using My Fitness Pal, please note that they may not always be 100% accurate and depend on ingredients used. Weigh your total and divide by the number of servings for the most accurate grams per serving size.
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You do know that ghee is clarified butter, yes? So this is not dairy-free
What do you use in place of ghee to make this dairy free?
This looks like a terrific dish. What if I don’t eat pork. Will gluten free panko work ok instead for the crispy topping?
Yes that definitely will work!
Hi Mary I made this using butter instead of ghee and with the Kite Hill cream cheese it looked lumpy almost curdled. I wonder if it was the butter? I’d love your thoughts. Haven’t served it yet.
Thank you- love your recipes!
Hi Laura! It’s hard to say since I’ve only ever used ghee, but truthfully butter should’t make a difference in terms of texture. It sounds like maybe it needed to just be stirred or whisked longer? I’m sorry it didn’t work out!
This recipe was easy and delicious and a huge hit on Thanksgiving!! I followed the instructions exactly. Highly recommend.
Thanks Jodi!!
Hello Mary!! LOVE all your recipes.. pure healthy comfort food! I had a question about using fresh spinach instead of frozen because I have a huge container I need to use up. Do you think it’s possible and if so how would you recommend doing that? Thank you so much!
Hi! Thank you!! I would chop up the fresh spinach and cook it down (saute with olive for 5 ish mins) and then use a paper towel to squeeze out excess water then follow the rest of the directions.- you might just need a LOT of spinach since it cooks down so much!
How many oz of cream cheese do you mean when you say “tub?”
8 oz!
I recently made this, only thing I changed was to add a bad of cauliflower rice.
So good! Thank you Mary for all of your delicious recipes.