Grilled artichokes are deliciously tender and smoky. Skip the butter and aioli and serve them up with our punchy Italian Salsa Verde. A tasty vegan appetizer or side dish that presents beautifully!
One of our favorite ways to prepare artichokes is to grill them! Grilled artichokes are incredibly delicious, especially when they are fresh, plump, and in season. Grilling the artichokes gives them such a beautiful, smoky, earthy flavor—truly elevating them! Here, we are serving them up with a herby Italian sauce called Salsa Verde. Briny, lemony, and vibrant, the combination is completely delicious!
Why You’ll Love This
- Bursting with flavor! Smoky, earthy flavor—especially delicious with the briny, lemony salsa!
- Nutritious! Artichokes are rich in fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, and other nutrients like potassium.
- An impressive side dish! Beautiful grilled artichokes are perfect for warm weather parties, especially with the vibrant salsa verde drizzled over top.
Grilled Artichokes Ingredients
- Artichokes: You’ll need two large, fresh artichokes—don’t worry, we’ll show you how to cut and prep them!
- Italian parsley: This gives the Italian salsa verde a nice peppery flavor that pairs beautifully with the artichokes.
- Fresh garlic: Raw, grated garlic adds pungent flavor to the salsa, but you can also add garlic while cooking the artichokes if desired.
- Capers: Adds a briny, tangy taste that really pops in the salsa verde!
- Olive oil: Use Italian, high-quality olive oil as the flavor will enrich the Italian salsa.
- Lemon: Fresh lemon juice brightens up the salsa verde, while lemon slices can be used for the grilled artichokes.
- Optional: If desired, add bay leaves, sage, or thyme to the steamer basket for the artichokes. Feel free to add chili flakes or finely minced anchovies to the Italian salsa verde too!
How to Make Grilled Artichokes
Step 1: Prep the steamer basket. Fill a large pot with enough water to come up to a steamer basket placed inside. To the water add optional lemon slices, garlic cloves, and bay leaves. Bring to simmer.
Step 2: Prep artichokes. Use a sharp knife to trim off tips and remove small, tough outer leaves. Trim the stems. With a spoon, scoop out thin hairs nearest the heart.
Step 3: Simmer artichokes. Add artichokes to steamer basket, cut side down, layering if necessary. Steam by boiling water at medium-high heat, then cover and simmer on low for an estimate 25-45 minutes (depending on size), until just tender. Test by pulling off a leaf—it should pull off with a gentle tug. Cool.
Tip: After steaming the artichokes you can refrigerate them for up to 3 days before grilling.
Step 4: Make the Italian salsa verde. Mix all salsa ingredients in a small bowl.
Step 5: Preheat and grease grill. Bring the grill to medium and grease the grates well.
Step 6: Grill the artichokes. Brush artichokes lightly with oil and season with kosher salt and pepper. Place open-side down on grates, cover, and grill until grill marks appear and heated through. Flip and grill 2 minutes before transferring to platter, open-side up.
Step 7: Serve. Spoon salsa verde over top and nestle some into the heart. Serve with remaining salsa verde on the side and lemon wedges.
Chef’s Tips
- Maintain beautiful color: Artichokes will begin to discolor once you cut into them. To prevent this, steam them right away, or place them in a bowl of lemon water.
- Buying artichokes: When choosing artichokes, select ones that feel heavy in weight (they contain more water and moisture) with tight leaves—these are the freshest. If they feel light, they are likely dried out and older.
- Use any size: Any size chokes will work for grilling- the secret is in the steaming. Steam until al dente- smaller varieties will cook much faster.
- Eat the stems: With really fresh artichokes, the stems are edible too- peel them if you like using a vegetable peeler.
- If you crave “creaminess”- mix some of the leftover Italian salsa verde with mayonnaise to create a flavorful herby dipping sauce or aioli! Use vegan mayo if you like!
FAQs
It’s easiest to pull the outer leaves off one by one, dipping the leaves in salsa or sauce. Then use your teeth to scrape off the tender flesh. When you get to the inner leaves and heart, you can eat these whole!
Fresh grilled artichokes have sweet and smoky flavor, and the Italian salsa verde adds a lovely tangy, bright taste.
Low fat artichokes are rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. They are especially high in folate and vitamin C, as well as magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium. Artichokes even have protein!
What to Serve with Grilled Artichokes
- Grilled lamb, chicken, or fish, like Grilled Branzino or Grilled Salmon
- Grilled Tofu
- Grilled Veggies and Grilled Potatoes
- Grilled Lamb Kebabs or Grilled Tandoori Chicken
More Favorite Artichoke Recipes
Hope you enjoy this Grilled Artichokes Recipe! Happy grilling season!
xoxo
Print
Grilled Artichokes Recipe
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: vegetables, grilled,
- Method: grilled
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Grilled artichokes are easy and incredibly delicious! Skip the butter and aioli and serve them up Italian style with Italian Salsa Verde. A tasty vegan side dish that presents beautifully!
Ingredients
- 2 large artichokes
- optional: 2 garlic cloves, bay leafs (or thyme or sage leaves) and lemon slices
Italian Salsa Verde
Instructions
- Place a large pot on the stove with just enough water to just come up to a steamer basket placed inside. To the water add the optional lemon slices, garlic cloves and bay leaves. Bring to a simmer.
- Prep the artichokes: With a sharp knife, trim off the sharp tips and remove any small, tough outer leaves. Trim the stems. Using a spoon, scoop out the thin hairs nearest the heart.
- Place the artichokes in the steamer basket, cut sides down, layering if necessary. Bring the water to a boil, cover and simmer on low heat for 25-45 minutes, depending on size. Steam until just tender. To test, just pull off a leaf; it should pull off with a gentle tug. Let cool. (At this point, you could refrigerate for up to 3 days before grilling.)
- While the artichokes are steaming, make the salsa verde. Place everything in a small bowl and mix well.
- Preheat the grill to medium, and grease the grates well.
- Lightly brush the artichokes with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the artichokes open-side down on the grates, cover, and grill until good grill marks appear and they are heated through. Flip and grill 2 minutes, before placing on a platter, open side up.
- Spoon the salsa verde over the artichokes and nestle some into the heart heart area- you wont need all. Serve the artichokes with the remaining salsa verde on the side with slices of lemon or lemon wedges.
Notes
The artichokes can be steamed up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated before grilling. Leftovers will keep up to 3 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Reheat in a 350 F oven.
Salsa Verde Aioli: If you are craving richness, you can mix some of the leftover Italian salsa verde into mayo or vegan mayo and create a herby aioli to dip the leaves in. This is a super tasty dipping sauce!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ½ a large artichoke
- Calories: 160
- Sugar: 0.8 g
- Sodium: 240.4 mg
- Fat: 14.4 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 8.7 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 2.3 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Fantastic preparation, even though I messed it up. I used baby artichokes, which I expected to steam quickly, but I forgot to check them soon enough. Twenty minutes was too long and my artichokes were very overcooked! Still, the flavor was great and we ate them all despite my mistake. Can’t wait to try again while artichokes are in season.
Hello Sylvia,
Just came across your blog now! I have gone through at least 200 of your recipes this morning and I LOVE what I am seeing! I am a pretty good cook (my friends think I should have been a chef) and always cook healthy food (originally born in Istanbul to Armenian parents) and I see that your recipes are exactly what I want. I have not tried any of them yet, but I will let you know how they turn out once I do. I am really excited. Great job!
thanks!
I steamed the artichokes a couple days before in my instant pot, then refrigerated. Grilled them up last night and they were easy and tasted incredible- used apple wood chips.
Excellent! I will never have artichokes any other way now. The Herb Oil is brilliant and we just skipped the aioli and served with more herb oil. Delicious!
We made these last night and my husband declared them the best thing he’s ever eaten. Seriously good. We added wood chips to the grill ( in a foil packet with holes poked in it) and the smoke flavor truly elevated.
I love this blog!!! I understand the defense mech of the choke… keep on eating me; u worked so hard to get to me enjoy w/everything! Love this dish as well… thanx 4 the inspiration, awesome read!-Mel
Thanks Mel
Thank you for reading… and thank you for your kind words.
I’ve always wanted to make grilled artichoke with aioli but have been intimidated! I need to get up the courage to make this over the summer!
It’s really very easy. Give it a try!
Ah, artichokes are so pretty. When they start appearing around the farmer’s market, I know it’s spring. Thanks for a lovely idea of how to serve them. I can’t wait!
Thank you and be sure to let me know how they turn out!
Oh, I can think of nothing I’d like to eat more right now than these artichokes. Amazing dish.
Thanks! They are really quite easy, so go for it!
.