Artichokes aren’t difficult to prepare.

Here’s everything you oughta know!

How one cooks and eats an artichoke is not obvious from its appearance.

One globe artichoke on a surface

Elise Bauer

What Is an Artichoke?

The artichoke is actually the bud of a thistlea flower.

The heart is completely edible (and amazingly delicious).

Cut off the tips of the artichoke leaves before steaming.

Elise Bauer

The fuzzy choke is too fibrous to eat in regular artichokes, but edible in baby artichokes.

The following is a method I’ve been using to steam artichokes for more than 30 years.

it’s possible for you to steam artichokes on the stovetop or in a pressure cooker.

Slicing off the top of the artichoke before steaming using a serrated bread knife

Elise Bauer

But snipping them off will make the artichokes easier to handle.

Slice about 3/4 inch to an inch off the tip of the artichoke.

A serrated bread knife works great for this.

Two artichokes in a steamer basket in a pot

Elise Bauer

Pull off any smaller leaves towards the base and on the stem.

Cut off excess stem, leaving up to an inch on the artichoke.

The inner cores of the stems taste like the heart.

A hand pulling leaves off a steamed artichokes

Elise Bauer

Rinse the artichokes in running cold water.

While you rinse them, open up the leaves a little so that the water gets inside more easily.

Insert a steaming basket.

A steamed artichoke on a plate, ready to eat with mayonnaise on the side

Elise Bauer

Place artichokes on top of the steaming basket.

Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer.

Cook for 25 to 35 minutes or longer, until the outer leaves can easily be pulled off.

Dip the artichoke leaves in mayonnaise

Elise Bauer

Note: artichokes can also be cooked in a pressure cooker (about 5-15 minutes at high pressure).

Cooking time depends on how large the artichokes are.

The larger, the longer they take to cook.

A close-up of a mouth scraping the flesh off a cooked artichoke leaf with their teeth

Elise Bauer

Artichokes may be eaten cold or hot, but I think they are much better hot.

They are served with a dip, either melted butter or mayonnaise.

My favorite dip is mayo with a little bit of balsamic vinegar mixed in.

eat the artichoke by scraping the petal with your teeth

Elise Bauer

Pull off the outer leaves, one at a time.

Dip the white fleshy end in melted butter, a vinaigrette, or sauce.

Tightly grip the other end of the petal.

The tender, purple-tipped inner leaves of a cooked artichoke

Elise Bauer

(Why dip-side down?

)Discard remaining petal.

Continue until all of the petals are removed.

The artichoke “choke” remaining from a cooked artichoke with the leaves removed

Elise Bauer

Dip and eat just the light colored parts of these leaves.

Underneath the artichoke choke is the heart.

Cut the heart into pieces and dip into melted butter, a vinaigrette, or a sauce to eat.

Hands holding a knife to scrape out and discard the choke from the very inside of a cooked artichoke heart

Elise Bauer

My favorite artichoke dipping sauce?

Some mayonnaise with a little balsamic vinegar stirred in.

Did you like this recipe?

A cooked artichoke heart on a plate, ready to eat

Elise Bauer

How do you like to eat your artichokes?

Let us know with a rating and review.

A bowl of artichoke discarded leaves and the cooked heart on its own plate to the side

Elise Bauer