How to Prepare and Cook Artichokes

Artichokes are as good for you as they are delicious!

Have you ever wondered how to prepare and cook artichokes? It can be intimidating if you’ve never cooked an artichoke before but it is as easy as steaming any other vegetable. Artichokes may look daunting with their spikes but they’re easy to prepare once you know how to. It’s just cutting off the tops and the sharp edges. You can even eat the stem if you desire. We are used to just eating the canned heart of the artichoke, but once you have a fresh artichoke, there’s no going back. 

Freshly steamed artichokes are as California as it gets. They can be paired with your favorite sauce, but the most popular of artichoke dipping sauces are mayonnaise, butter or you can whip up an easy garlic aioli. 

How to Prepare Artichokes

The most important part of preparing artichokes is remembering to cut off the tops, just like in the pictures shown. If you forget to chop off the tops, it’ll be difficult for you to actually eat your artichoke. 

You can either chop off your stem or you can actually peel your stem with a vegetable peeler and boil the whole artichoke and eat the stem like you would the heart. Personally, I chop off the stem so I can get to the heart directly, but that’s just me. 

Are Artichokes Healthy?

Artichokes are incredibly nutritious and healthy. It is a fibrous vegetable that is low in calories. Each artichoke is only 60 calories and has 7 grams of fiber with almost 5 grams of vegetable protein. Artichokes are also chock-full of Vitamin C with each artichoke giving you 25% of your daily value and 19% of your daily value of Magnesium.

How to Prepare and Cook Artichokes

5 from 1 vote

Recipe by Sarah Course: Side, AppetizersCuisine: American, CalifornianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

2

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

45

minutes

Calories

60

kcal

Ingredients

• 2 whole artichokes

• 1 lemon

• salt

Directions

• Prep your artichokes. Take a sharp knife and chop off the tops of your artichokes. You can either peel the stems of your artichokes or chop off the stems and expose the hearts. Take kitchen scissors and clip off the sharp points of the leaves of the artichokes. Slice your lemons.
• Boil water. Bring about 2 quarts of slightly salted water to a boil. Once to a rolling boil, add the artichokes and lemons. Cover.
• Steam. Boil the artichokes for about 45 minutes or until you can easily take a leaf from the artichoke from the vegetable.
• Serve. Let the artichokes drain for a couple minutes after they are finished cooking. Serve the artichokes when they are hot and with mayonnaise or butter for dipping.

Notes

• After chopping off the artichoke, wash out the artichoke by gently peeling the leaves back under running water

Did you learn how to cook and prepare artichokes? Tell me in the comments below. Share with me how your artichokes turned out.