Can You Juice Frozen Spinach?

Can you juice frozen spinach when you are making fresh juice at home or is it not safe? That’s a common question I’ve gotten from people who have started making leafy green juices. Let’s examine the pros and cons of using frozen spinach.

(the short and quick answer is you shouldn’t juice frozen spinach. If you want to add spinach to your juice, but don’t want to buy fresh spinach all the time–since it goes bad so fast— just buy a good organic spinach powder)

Why Juice Frozen Spinach?

The first thing to go over is the question, which is really basic, as to why juice frozen spinach at all? Why not juice fresh spinach?

Basically it comes fown to conveiance. Spinach wilts rather quickly. If you buy a big bunch of spinach, it will last…at most…a week. So that’s really the only reason that you would ever have to juice frozen spinach.

So, if you do not have access to fresh spinach, but still want to make spinach juices, then I can understand how this is somewhat of an attractive solution. Frozen spinach won’t rot in the same way that fresh spinach will, so theoritically you have the ability to make juice with the same spinach for weeks without having to constantly go out and buy new spinach.

Also, frozen spinach tends to be cheaper than fresh spinach, so if you are juicing on a budget, then this is a big upside. You can buy yourself a big bag of fozen spinach and then you won’t have to worry about having fresh spinach on hand when it comes time to make a big green drink.

Is There A Case for Frozen vs Fresh Spinach?

So, the next question is when is it appropriate to use frozen spinach when juicing? Is there ever a good reason besides conveiance?

I will come right out and admit that I am not a fan of juicing frozen spinach. However, there are some situations when it can be alright to do so.

If you are unable to find fresh spinach, and you are for some reason averse to using kale, and you really, really, want to get your spinach juice fix in, then go ahead. Use frozen spinach to make juice.

But I will tell you that it’s really not the best juice to make. And it requires so much work to juice it as opposed to using fresh spinach that I would tell you to either walk yourself over to a supermarket and buy fresh spinach or simply go without.

The Drawbacks of Juicing Frozen Spinach

The reason I don’t reccomend that you juice frozen spinach is that it has too many drawbacks. Let’s look at each in turn.

It’s Cooked

The first problem with frozen spinach is that it’s cooked. This is the only reason you need to know why it’s an inferior juicing material when compared to fresh spinach. Anything that is cooked will be nutrient depleated. The entire reason to juice fresh fruits and vegetables is to get the nutrients from raw food that would be too difficult to consume if you were to attempt to eat it whole. So, juicing cooked spinach defeats the purpose.

It Has Too Much Water

The second reason that I sugest people avoid jucing frozen spinach is that it is water logged. Frozen spinach has too much water and this makes it super bad for juicing. The juice that you get when you make a frozen spinach juice with your juicer is going to be water logge. It’s just not something that you will want to use.

It’s Frozen Hard

Lastly, the fact that frozen spinach is frozen is a problem! You have to thaw it out. You can’t juice frozen spinach witout first letting it thaw and come to room temperature. This presents a whole additional set of problems. It adds an extra time constraint to your juicing routine.

In all honesty, I would suggest a better solution is a healthy green powder to add to your fresh juice. You can add this to a lemon and apple juice and not have to worry about keeping greens on hand.

Health Concerns: Is Juicing Frozen Spinach Dangerous?

People who are still wondering about the frozen spinach and if it’s something to do in a pinch might say, well, it’s not the best, but is it bad?

Technically, no. Its not unhealthy to juice frozen spinach. It’s just a mess!

The only issue that I would say to be mindful of is that juicing frozen spinach does not afford you the oppertuniyty to really clean the spinach and remove any pesticides. Also, most frozen spinach is not going to be organic. So, be aware that you will not be able to remove gunk from the spinach before juicing. If you’re cool with that, then by all means move foward.

But remember, any spinach is better than no spinach. If you want to get the health benefits, including the prevnenattive nature of spinach in relation to cognative decline, then you will want spinach in some capacity.

Benefits To Juicing Frozen Spinach

So, what exactly are the benefits to juicing frozen spinach? Is there any reason why you would want to go ahead and use frozen spinach if you had any altertantive?

Well, for one thing frozen spinach tends to be much cheaper than fresh spinach. So, if you are someone who is on a budget, then it make sense. But really, I would stress that if you are on that much of a budget, there are likely ways to cut other things and make room for fresh spinach in your grocery budget.

Aside from being cheaper, frozen spinach has the benefit of being pracitcaclly everlasting! You can buy it and leave it in your freezer for months and then pull it out when you want to make a green juice. Admittaly it’s not the most appealing, but it is a reason.  Nevertheless, I’d just stay to stick to fresh spinach.

How To Juice Frozen Spinach If You Must

If you really must resort to juicing frozen spinach, then here is how you can do it.

First, you need to completely thaw out the frozen spinach. And when you are thawing out the spinach, please make sure that you do not that it in a bowl. You want to drain the water from the spinach before you go ahead and juice it. So, what I would suggest is to set it in a strainger above a bowl.

If you do use a bowl, please make sure to strain out any of the liquid before you juice. I’d even go so far as to suggest that you use a cheese cloth or the back of a spoon and press all of the liquid out of the spinach. This way you will get less of that excess water.

Overall, I would really, really advise against using frozen spinach. It’s simply not a great way to cook