How To Cook Artichokes

How to Boil Artichokes | Low-Carb and Keto

This will help you learn how to cook artichokes by boiling them. Artichokes are a great addition to a low-carb or ketogenic lifestyle. At first glance, they seem daunting, but hopefully, you’ll be confident to try making them after reading this. You’ll also find a lemon garlic butter sauce recipe to dip your cooked artichoke in.

Hello Artichoke

The artichoke capital of the world is in Castroville, CA, close to where I got engaged! There are huge artichoke signs in that town and I didn’t get what the hype was. Honestly, I wasn’t super familiar with artichokes. Having grown up on the East Coast, the closest we got to artichoke anything was college late nights at Applebees where we’d get half-off spinach artichoke dip.

My first attempt at cooking an artichoke was an epic failure. Failure enough that I didn’t want to bother ever trying again. But then life happened and I was ready to really learn. It’s easy. Super easy. It just takes awhile. Aaaaand, not all of it is edible. Ask me how I know THAT!

Are Artichokes Low Carb?

One medium artichoke has only about 6g net carbs! This means it is a very low carb option and perfect for a ketogenic diet. They are high in fiber which makes them complex for your body to process which is a good thing! Artichokes are low in sugar and great for diabetics.

How To Cook Artichokes

First, in order to learn how to cook artichokes, you need to prepare them for boiling. You’ll want to peel off the stray petals from the base and then peel the base. Next trim the base, leaving 1/2 inch of the stem.

Cut 1/3 off the top of the artichoke. That portion is not edible, as the only portion you’ll eat is the base of the petal and the artichoke heart.

Rinse the artichoke thoroughly then add it to a large pot of salted boiling water. Boil (medium-sized artichoke) for 40 minutes. You’ll know that the artichoke is fully boiled when petals are able to be pulled off without effort. If you have a larger or small artichoke, you can adjust the boiling time and test that it is done the same way.

Lemon Garlic Butter – Artichoke Dipping sauce

Artichokes are a vehicle for a good dip or sauce. I don’t think there are many people that enjoy just eating artichoke meat off the petals.

For the dip, all you need is 1/4 c salted butter (melted), 1 clove of garlic (pressed), and 1 tbsp lemon juice.

Make the dip right before you’re ready to eat the artichoke petals.

Fun fact: when I made this for a party my garlic turned blue! I kid you not. I went on to see if Google had anything to say about this, and apparently, some garlic has a chemical reaction with the mix of butter and lemon juice but it is perfectly safe to eat. That is all I wanted to know. Was I going to make my friends sick? Yes or no. Google confirmed that it was fine. Enjoy that blue garlic if that happens to you.

How To Eat Artichokes

Pull boiled petals off the artichoke. You’ll only bite off the flesh that is at the base of the petal. I do suggest you dip the artichoke petals in a sauce (like the lemon garlic butter suggestion above).

Once you get down towards the heart, you’ll find a fuzzy mound called the choke. You don’t want to eat that! Spoon that out and discard it. At the base, you’ll have a creamy artichoke heart. You can use this in many recipes like this Low Carb Spinach Artichoke Dip. Another recipe you might like to try is Spinach Artichoke Dip Meatballs.

More Yellow Glass Dish Recipes

Roasted Cabbage
Grilled Eggplant With Asian Marinade
Sausage and Green Beans Sheet Pan Dinner

If You’re a Trim Healthy Mama

The artichoke on its own is an FP – it depends on what sort of sauce you serve it with. If you use the butter sauce it becomes a THM (S).

As always, pair this with protein.

For THM friends, this is an (FP)

Print Recipe

5 from 5 votes

How To Prepare and Artichoke

How to prepare artichokes by boiling them, they're great as a low carb and keto snack.

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Cool time10 minutes mins

Total Time55 minutes mins

Appetizer, Low Carb, Snack

Cuisine: American, Mediterranean

Artichoke, Butter, Gluten-free, How-To, Keto, lemon, Low Carb, Nut-free, THM, THM-S

Servings: 2

Ingredients

• 1 Artichoke
• Salt For the water
• 3 qts Water

Instructions

• Trim pick off the small leaves from the base.
  
• Peel the base.
  
• Cut the base off, leaving 1/2".
  
• Trim the top about one-third of the way down.
  
• Rinse artichokes thoroughly. Especially after trimming to release debris.
• Use a large pot for boiling.
• Add several quarts of water to cover artichokes. Add 1 tbsp salt.
• Boil for about 40 minutes for medium artichokes.
• Remove and let cool.
• Peel away the pedals.
• Remove the choke (the hairy part).
  
• Then you have the creamy artichoke heart.
  
• You can use that in a recipe or eat it by dipping it in the butter mixture mentioned in the blog post (or any sauce of your choice).
• Eat the artichoke flesh by using your teeth to gently scrape off the flesh from the base of the petal.
  

PIN IT!