How To Cook Artichokes – Boiling Artichokes Recipes

Boiling artichokes is such an easy recipe to make and as absolute favorite to eat in my household. My grandmother taught me how to cook artichokes when I first got married. Her boiled artichoke recipe is something that I make over and over again. 

Boiling Artichokes Recipe

When I go out to a restaurant, I typically opt for the breaded version, but I never make that at home. When I cook for my family, it’s usually much a healthier version – boiling artichokes is what I turn to most. Take a look at this super easy side dish that is filled with flavor and is so much fun to eat.  

How To Cook Artichokes

I have a lot of friends who get intimidated by artichokes because they can get a bit messy when you eat them and require a few steps during the prep process. But I PROMISE you, once you start boiling artichokes, you will be doing it with your eyes closed. A quick chop, shove and boil and you are done.  Let me explain. 

The first thing you need is a pot that you can fill with water. As you can see in the video below, I have two pots on my stove. You can use either one of them. You only need to fill your pot with enough water to cover HALF of your artichokes.

They will not fall to the bottom of your pot. They are going to float. So, at best, only half of your artichokes will always be under the liquid. Don’t fret. 

And no, you don’t need to flip them halfway. That wouldn’t work anyway. They are bottom-heavy. As you are boiling artichokes, you will notice that the tops will always be above water. 

Boiling Artichokes Video Recipe

How To Prep Your Boiled Artichokes:

What I like to do is take off a few of the bottom leaves. The tiny ones. The ones that really probably don’t have any meat on them anyway!

There’s no point in having them on your vegetable ANYWAY. It will be all work for nothing. So, pull off a layer all the way around and then chop off the stem. 

Chop off the full head of the artichoke with a sharp knife. Each leaf has little sharp things at the edge. You need to do this for your sanity. 

Then, take your fingers and pull apart all the leaves as best as you can. Just get in there and pull out the leaves away from the center.

You want to keep everything intact, but you are about to add some onions and garlic into the mix and you need a place to put it all. 

Boiled Artichokes Ingredients

• 4-5 Artichokes
• 3 garlic cloves – diced
• 3 tablespoons oregano
• 3 tablespoons parsley
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

How To Cook Artichokes Directions

Fill a pot halfway with water and set it to boil. Now that you’ve chopped you’ve prepped your artichokes, you need to take your ingredients and mixed them together Using your fingers, stuff what you can into a few places all over each artichoke.

If you run out of your mixture and you feel like you need to make more, then make more. Truth be told, I usually eyeball this part.

That’s what my grandmother taught me to do and so I don’t really measure anything at this point. If I pull out 5 garlic cloves, then I use 5 garlic cloves. Do what you want when boiling artichokes for your family. Do you. 

After you’ve stuffed your artichokes, place them in your pot of boiling water. Drizzle olive oil all over the top of each of your artichokes and then cover your pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Lower the heat to medium.

Allow the pan to cook for about 35-40 minutes.  Artichokes should slightly change color and open up when done. Serve cold or hot – that’s really up to you. 

How To Eat Them! 

I know this entire post is about boiling artichokes, but we need to talk a bit about eating this vegetable as well. To eat an artichoke, all you have to do is pull off the outer petals one at a time. It’s that simple.

Pull the leaf through your teeth to remove the soft, pulpy portion of the petal.  When you start, the outer petals will only have a tiny bit of “meat”. After boiling artichokes, this part is very easy. The meat just slides off.

As you continue in towards the center of the artichoke, you will find that you start to get more and more yummy goodness. Once you are done with that pulp, you need to discard the remaining petal. It looks like you are throwing away a lot of the vegetable, but that’s the way you play this game. 

Talk To Me About The Heart

The heart is my absolute favorite part of the artichoke. I fight over the heart. I arm wrestle strangers. I with go toe to toe with you. That’s what all this work is all about.

First, you need to spoon out the fuzzy center at the base and discard it.  I just use my fingers. It gets messy. You could use a fork or a spoon if you want to seem fancy. Whatever.

I just dive in with my fingers and I don’t care if I am sitting at a 5-star restaurant – come at me. The bottom, or heart, of the artichoke is entirely edible. I eat it all the way to the bottom of the stem. If the stem has been cooked for 40 minutes in the water, then it is good enough to eat and it is going right into my belly.

Can You Eat A Raw Artichoke?

I mean… I don’t know? Why would you want to do that? Maybe you can.

I don’t even want to go online to see if that’s a real thing, because I know what it tastes like and it wouldn’t bring you any joy. I think you should steam it at a bare minimum. Please – try this recipe first.

It’s really not that hard. I don’t mean to be rude. Please, don’t take this as me being rude. I am trying to love you here. I am trying to tell you that there is a mouthful of wonderful goodness waiting for you – something that a raw artichoke just cannot provide. 

What Sauces Can I Dip Artichokes In?

With this recipe, I don’t use anything. I eat it as is. I think it has enough flavor thanks to the garlic and the herbs. But if you’d like, you could consider adding the following dipping sauces to your artichokes:

• Lemon-Thyme Butter. 
• Hollandaise. 
• Garlic Mayonnaise

What do you think? Are boiling artichokes something you’d like to try out? Looking for more great recipes to consider? Check out some of my favorites below:

How long does it take to cook an artichoke in boiling water?

As noted, it takes about 35 minutes or so to cook artichokes in boiling water. As long as you wait for your water to have a rolling boil, it shouldn’t take more than this amount of time.

What are the benefits of artichoke?

• low in fat
• high in fiber
• loaded with vitamins and minerals like vitamin C, vitamin K, folate, phosphorus, and magnesium

How do you know when an artichoke is done?

Personally, it’s a timing thing for me. I usually just let them boil for around a half an hour. But if you want to test one of the leaves, pull one off and see if it easily comes off. If you have a hard time pulling it off, it isn’t ready.

Can you overcook artichokes?

I mean… you can overcook water, right? It will evaporate to nothing! Yes, you can overcook an artichoke. There is a sweet spot for just about everything. If you overcook your artichoke, it will turn to mush.

So, if your artichokes are particularly small, you might want to check on them at the 25-minute mark.

Can you eat a whole artichoke?

Yes and no. Ok, mostly no. There are three parts that you can enjoy from an artichoke:

• The pulpy part of each leaf that sits on the base
• The heart
• The stem

Everything else acts like a vessel. So, while it looks like a waste, you are actually eating the artichoke correctly when you have the majority of it still sitting on your plate.

Can you microwave an artichoke?

I don’t care what the Internet says – I am going to tell you no. Please don’t microwave an artichoke. My Italian ancestors all just turned over in their graves. Boiling an artichoke is so EASY. Baking one tastes a thousand times better – but we won’t go there today. 999 times out of 1000, I boil my artichokes for dinner because it’s just healthier. When I bake them, there’s a lot of extra carbs involved and I try to avoid that at home.

But microwaving? I am not even going to look up why or how anyone would want to know that information. I don’t want it in my brain. So, I won’t pass it onto you.

Ready to start boiling artichokes?

I really hope you try out this boiling artichokes recipe!!! My kids are OBSESSED. I grew UP on this recipe! It’s super easy to make. I promise. And once you start serving it – you will never stop.

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