Artichokes stuffed with Italian seasoned breadcrumbs and melty parmesan cheese are the perfect appetizer or side dish paired with pasta or your favorite Italian meal.
Stuffed artichokes have always been a favorite of mine. In fact, I have been eating these artichokes since I had the two front teeth needed to scrape the delicious stuffing from the leaves. It is one of the benefits of growing up in an Italian family. Even today, I still request artichokes for every birthday dinner.
Steve on the other hand is a recent artichoke convert. He didn’t try his first artichoke until sometime within the last 5 or so years. I think he politely declined any artichoke at family dinners previously either because he didn’t know how to eat it or was just convinced he wouldn’t like it. Honestly, I didn’t push it too hard, because it meant more for me and my brother to fight over. But now that he realized how delicious they are, I think he is making up for lost time. Every time I make these, he will easily polish off an entire artichoke himself (or more, if I let him!).
Stuffed artichokes are the perfect appetizer or side dish for any Italian themed dinner. But if I’m being honest, there have been many occasions where we have made an entire meal out of just artichokes.
How to Prepare Stuffed Artichokes
With thorn tipped leaves, artichokes can see intimidating to prepare. While, stuffed artichokes take a little time to make, it is easily worth all of the steps. And if you are like my dad, you can probably pawn some of the tedious work of stuffing the leaves off to your family members.
To prepare stuffed artichokes:
- The first step is choosing your artichoke. It is important to select an artichoke that is firm. The leaves should be tightly closed and it should feel firm and dense if you squeeze it. Avoid artichokes that are bruised, wilted, or have brown spots.
- The first step to prepare artichokes is to trim the stem. You want to trim the stem where meets the leaves, so it gives you flat base to stand the artichoke on. Don’t discard the stem you trim off, this is edible too. Just peel the tough outer skin, and keep this to cook along with the artichokes.
- Next, you want to trim the top sharp tips off of the artichoke. Just lay the artichoke on its side and trim off about the top inch or so. You can also take a kitchen scissors and trim the top part off every leaf to remove the sharp tip. But I like to live life dangerously (or I’m just lazy), so I usually skip that part.
- Rub a cut lemon over the cut edges of each artichoke to prevent it from browning.
- You are now ready to cook the artichokes!
Cooking the Artichokes
Artichokes can be tough, so you will want to steam or boil the artichoke to cook and soften it before stuffing. I place the artichokes in a large pot with about and inch or two of water. Toss in some lemon and a clove of garlic, then bring the water to simmer and cover for about 30 minutes. This will make sure the artichoke leaves get nice and tender and ready to eat.
After the artichokes are cooked, the next step is to stuff the artichokes. You want to make sure you add the stuffing mixture to each leaf individually. This part is a little tedious, but you just gently pull each leaf outward, take a small spoon, and add a spoonful of mixture to each leaf. Start on the outer leaves and work your way around and in the artichoke pulling each leaf gently to stuff. Stuff each leaf until you get to the inner leaves with the purple tips.
How to Eat Stuffed Artichokes
While growing up with an Italian family, stuffed artichokes were a regular treat in our house. I realize that unfortunately most people have never cooked or eaten a whole artichoke before. So here are some tips for eating artichokes to make sure you enjoy them to the fullest.
To eat a stuffed artichoke:
- Pull off the outer leaves one at a time, working from the outside in.
- Place a leaf in your mouth with the inside of the petal facing in.
- Gently bite down on the leaf and pull the leaf out of your mouth using your top front teeth to scrape the soft flesh of the petal off along with the breadcrumb and cheese stuffing. The outer leaves are a little tougher (with less edible flesh), but as you get to the inner leaves you will find they are more tender with more edible flesh.
- Continue eating all leaves until you get to the soft inner petals with the purple tips. When you get to this part, you can eat the soft light colored parts of these leaves.
After eating the inner leaves, you can prepare the artichoke heart. This is my family’s favorite part, so there is always a fight over the pieces. To prepare the heart, pull off any remaining leaves, then remove the fuzzy inner layer and discard, you don’t want to eat that. We usually scrape this out with a knife or spoon. Then cut the heart into pieces and eat with a fork (or your fingers!). And if you’re with my family, you better make sure they are exactly equal size so nobody gets more than another.
If I have inspired you to make and try stuffed artichokes for the first time, comment down below and let me know what you think. I hope you love them as much as me!
Stuffed Artichokes
Ingredients
- 2 artichokes
- 1 lemon
- 1 clove garlic (peeled and slightly crushed)
- 2 tbs olive oil
- ¼ cup butter (melted)
- ½ cup breadcrumbs (see note)
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese (grated)
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp crushed red pepper
- ½ tsp parsley
- ¼ tsp pepper
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Zest and juice the lemon and set aside the zest and juice in two separate bowls. Reserve the squeezed lemon to add to pot when cooking artichokes.
- Prepare the artichokes for cooking by trimming the stem off flat. Peel each stem and keep to cook along with the artichoke if desired. Next trim the top inch or so off each artichoke with a sharp knife. If desired, use a kitchen scissors to trim the sharp point off each remaining leaf tip.
- Fill a large, wide pot with about 1 and a half inches of water, the zested and squeezed lemon, and a clove of garlic that has been lightly crushed. Bring to boil and add the artichokes (stem side down), and stem pieces, if cooking. Cover and simmer for 25 - 30 minutes.
- While artichokes cook, prepare the stuffing mixture by mixing lemon zest, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, crushed red pepper, parsley, salt, and pepper.
- In a separate bowl, mix melted butter, olive oil, and lemon juice.
- When artichokes are finished boiling, a fork should slide easily into the stem and an outer leave should pull off with little resistance. (The leaves should not be falling off.) Remove artichokes from water (draining any extra water stuck in the leaves) and set aside to cool slightly until able to handle.
- To stuff artichokes, gently pull each leaf outward, take a small spoon, and add a small spoonful of the breadcrumb mixture to each leaf. Start on the outer leaves and work your way around and in the artichoke pulling each leaf gently to stuff. Stuff each leaf until you get to the tight inner leaves with the purple tips.
- Place artichokes (and stem pieces) in a casserole dish and drizzle each artichoke with the butter mixture (trying to get butter in between each leaf).
- Cover casserole dish with foil, and bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Uncover, and bake 10 minutes longer.
Notes
- Put about 5 - 6 slices of bread in a food processor or blender
- Pulse until uniformly small
- Spread breadcrumbs out on a large baking sheet in an even layer
- Toast in a 350° oven for about 10 - 15 minutes until dry and slightly toasted