Chili's
Chili's Skillet Queso Copycat Recipe
Cheese, chilli and a little seasoned beef, served in a hot skillet so it stays molten. Twelve minutes, one pan.
How to Make The Pizza Company Baked Spinach with Cheese at Home
Squeeze the Spinach Dry or the Dish Separates
A spinach bake that holds together on the spoon.
AI-generated illustration created for food.fast. It is not photographic evidence of a prepared batch.
Every failed version of this dish has the same fault: a pool of green water under a raft of cheese. Spinach is about 91 per cent water, and all of it has to come out before the dish goes in the oven, not during.
Wringing it out in a clean tea towel takes two minutes and removes a startling amount - often 200 ml from a 400 g bag. That is the whole difference between a bake that sets and one that separates.
The rest is a simple cream cheese and mozzarella base, hot enough at the top to brown. It is a good thing to make ahead and bake from cold.
How this page shows its working
The method gives quantities, timings and observable cues rather than asking you to guess. The 3 cases in If it goes wrong explain likely causes and corrective action.
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Wringing spinach properly
Wilt it first - a minute in a dry hot pan, or straight from frozen and thawed. Then let it cool enough to handle.
Pile it into the middle of a clean tea towel, gather the corners, and twist. Keep twisting past the point where you think it is done. A 400 g bag of fresh spinach gives up something like 150 to 200 ml of water, and frozen gives up more.
The result should be a dense, almost dry ball that you then need to pull apart with your fingers before mixing. If it is still soft and heavy, it is still wet.
Which cheeses, and what each is for
Three, and they are not interchangeable.
Cream cheese is the body. It binds the spinach and sets when baked, and its acidity keeps the dish from tasting flatly rich.
Mozzarella is the stretch and the browning. Low-moisture, grated, mostly on top.
Parmesan is the savoury note. A small amount does a lot, because it is concentrated in glutamate.
Cheddar is the common substitution and it splits more readily than mozzarella, releasing oil onto the surface.
How to make it, step by step
Prepare
-
Wilt the spinach and cool it enough to handle
A minute in a dry hot pan for fresh, or thaw frozen completely. Let it cool for a few minutes so you can pick it up without burning yourself.
About 5 min -
Wring it out hard in a tea towel
Gather it in the middle of a clean tea towel, twist, and keep twisting past where you think it is done. Expect 150 to 200 ml of water. Then pull the ball apart with your fingers.
About 4 min
Mix and bake
-
Beat the cream cheese smooth before adding anything
Room-temperature cream cheese beaten on its own until smooth, then the garlic, salt, nutmeg and pepper. Lumps at this stage stay lumps.
About 3 min -
Fold in spinach and most of the cheese
Work the separated spinach through the cream cheese along with the parmesan and about two thirds of the mozzarella until evenly combined.
About 3 min -
Bake at 200 °C until browned at the edges
Spread into the dish, scatter the remaining mozzarella over the top and bake for about twenty minutes until bubbling and browned. Rest five minutes before serving.
About 20 min
What went wrong, and how to fix it
Each entry names a likely cause as well as a correction, so the advice remains useful when equipment, ingredients or batch size differ.
Watery pool under the cheese
- Why it happened
- Spinach not wrung out.
- What to do
- Twist it in a tea towel until it is a dense dry ball. There is no other fix.
Oily surface
- Why it happened
- Cheddar, which splits more readily than mozzarella.
- What to do
- Use low-moisture mozzarella for the melt and parmesan for the flavour.
Lumps of cream cheese
- Why it happened
- It went in cold.
- What to do
- Room temperature, beaten smooth on its own first.
Questions people actually ask about this recipe
Why is my spinach bake watery?
The spinach was not wrung out. It is about 91 per cent water and a 400 g bag will give up 150 to 200 ml when twisted in a tea towel.
Can I use frozen spinach?
Yes, and it is cheaper. Thaw it completely and wring it out even harder than fresh - it holds more water.
Can I make it ahead?
Assemble up to a day ahead and bake from cold, adding about five minutes. It is one of the better make-ahead dishes for that reason.
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