If you have ever ordered the Grilled Artichokes at The Cheesecake Factory then you know just how amazing they taste. The waitress sets three large wedges in front of you and you breathe in the steamy grilled aroma of garlic, spices, and warmed butter. Your taste buds begin to salivate and you dive into the appetizer like a kid with an ice cream sundae. It’s beyond delicious.
My passion for artichokes pretty much rivals my passion for chocolate. It’s strange I know, but this bizarre vegetable has been a favorite of mine since I was in preschool. We lived in California during that time and artichokes were plentiful, inexpensive, and best of all, they were fun to eat! Anything that requires using your hands to eat is fun don’t you think?
Last spring I was very surprised to come across artichoke plants at Home Depot. I wasn’t even aware we could grow artichokes here in coastal Virginia. I purchased two plants and they grew quite large but never produced any artichokes. Because the winter was abnormally mild this year, the artichokes kept growing. Suddenly, a month ago little artichokes started appearing! Oh happy day!
I think we have a total of ten artichokes between the two plants. That’s over $30 worth of artichokes for me to eat! Woo-Hoo!!
I want to share with you how to make your own Grilled Artichokes. This recipe will serve 4-6 people.
You will need: 4 large artichokes 2 lemons, garlic cloves, salt, 3T olive oil, 1 T steak sauce, 2 tsp. Montreal Steak Seasoning, 2 tsp. balsamic vinegar.
First, fill a large pot with 2 inches of water, two tablespoons of salt, a large lemon, quartered and a few cloves of garlic. Have an additional lemon wedge on hand. Cut off the bottom so they sit upright nicely. Next with a pair of kitchen scissors trim off the top 1/3 of the surrounding leaves. Really, this step is purely optional in my opinion. We never trimmed them when I was young. I think restaurants trim them because the tip of the leaves can be sharp.
Turn your artichoke on its side and with a large chef knife, cut it into quarters if it’s very large or into thirds if it’s smaller. The inside of the artichoke will discolor in less than one minute when exposed to air so immediately rub it with your lemon wedge. Take a paring knife and cut out the hairy “choke” and it’s pink leaves. See the wedge on the left? That one has had the choke removed and it’s left with all that beautiful white artichoke heart!
Place the artichokes in the pot and bring it up to a boil. Boil for approximately 8 minutes or until the heart is fork tender. Remove from heat and drain the artichokes in colander.
While the artichokes are cooking, you can prepare the marinade for the Grilled Artichokes.
In a small bowl mix together 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of steak sauce, 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar, 2 teaspoons of Montreal Steak Seasoning.
Drizzle the marinade over the artichokes and gently toss to coat well.
Place the artichokes on the grill over medium low heat and grill for just a few minutes until you see slight charring.
Serve the artichokes with additional marinade or melted butter for dipping. To eat the artichokes, peel off a leaf, dip the bottom in melted butter if desired, and use your teeth to scrape off the lower half of artichoke “meat” on leaf. Trust me, it’s absolutely addicting!
Kim
I am so thrilled that you posted this! I didn’t know anyone else had such a weird love of artichokes! My mom steamed them for me with a side of lemon, butter, basil sauce. This was my favorite treat! Now, my daughter loves them as much as I do! Can’t wait to try them!
Jessica @ Mom 4 Real
Grilled Artichokes (Cheesecake Factory Knock-Off) From Sand and Sisal
I have never tried artichokes before (except in spinach/artichoke dip). I’ll have to keep this recipe handy for summer BBQs.
I just recently found your blog and am loving it. Now you just taught me how to make one of my favorite treats. Everytime I’ve tried to do the grilled artichoke’s I’ve failed. Boiling them first, who knew? Thank you thank you!!
Thank you Erica! You can always steam them too if you prefer, but it will take longer.
Love artichokes. Since I am also in coastal Virginia, I now have a new mission to find an artichoke plant! Thanks for the idea and recipe!
I have only ever had artichokes steamed, thanks for the recipe and another way to enjoy this treat.
The artichokes look AMAZING, but I HAD to tell you how much I LOVE your haircut!! Sooo cute!! Looks like you’re ready for Summer 🙂
These look so good! I’ve always wondered how to grill artichokes! I’m pinning this for the summer!
Looks delicious! I may have to try this sometime.
-Erin Spain
DIY On the Cheap
I’ve never tried artichokes so I will have to put them on the shopping list, they look delicous! xo K
I love artichokes 🙂 this looks like a very yummy recipe. Thanks for sharing. If I only had a garden…what’s your address again?
I love artichokes 🙂 this looks like a very yummy recipe. Thanks for sharing. If I only had a garden…what’s your address again?
Kim!
We grew our first artichokes (up here in the PacNWest) last Summer!
We wintered over our plant. We plan to buy a couple more plants at the local farmer’s market on opening day. You plants look fabulous!
I have never grilled…only boiled. (It’s our favorite movie night treat!)
THANKS for sharing your recipe! Ahhhh…. Grilled chokes on a Summer’s evening by the fire…yum, yum and yum!
~Lynne
w/L.
Kim!
We grew our first artichokes (up here in the PacNWest) last Summer!
We wintered over our plant. We plan to buy a couple more plants at the local farmer’s market on opening day. You plants look fabulous!
I have never grilled…only boiled. (It’s our favorite movie night treat!)
THANKS for sharing your recipe! Ahhhh…. Grilled chokes on a Summer’s evening by the fire…yum, yum and yum!
~Lynne
w/L.
Hi! I’ve never tried artichokes (and never really wanted to, how sad is that?), but this recipe and your pictures look so good I am definitely going to give them a shot.
Just found your blog and am loving it! Thanks!
Thank you!
mmmm they look delicious! I love artichokes but I’ve never cooked them myself because I didn’t know what to do with them so thank you – guess what I’m having for dinner tonight 🙂
I can’t believe you grew those yourself!! I absolutely love artichokes but it’s never crossed my mind that I might be able to grow them. So fun!
trying this tonight! visiting from tatertotsandjello
new follower
Wow, they look so delicious! Would you consider linking this up to my Pinworthy Projects Party? I’d love to have you join the party.
Oh, I am really sorry! I just saw you note about links in comments. Please feel free to delete mine!
No worries Shannah! Thank you 🙂
These look amazing! Perfect for summer BBQ’s! We’d like to invite you to join our first ever Tasty Tuesday linky party on 5/15!
I’m also crazy about artichokes and really look forward to trying your recipe. Nicely photographed!
Thank you Bella!
Hi there! This sounds amazing!! I also LOVE artichokes.. my hubby thinks I’m crazy, but I could eat them every day!
Any idea if they can be oven “roasted”? We are about tho do some traveling and I’m not positive that the house we’ve rented has a BBQ.
Thanks so much, and your site has some FAB ideas!
Take Care,
Amanda
Hi Amanda! I’ve never prepared them in the oven before, but I don’t see why you couldn’t. I’d still boil or steam them first, then toss in the marinade and roast on a foil lined pan. Sounds good to me! 😉
Thank you for this recipe. These were the best artichokes I’ve ever had!
Oh wow! What a compliment! Thank you! (You just made a difficult day a little brighter!) 😉
Kim I just wanted to share that I linked to you on my own grilled artichoke post. Thank you so much for the amazing step-by-step. This is a dish I’ve always wanted to try!
http://www.yallcomeeat.com/2012/07/grilled-artichokes.html
Found this via Centsational Girl. I will definitely try it soon!
These were absolutely amazing! We couldn’t get enough and my husband and I had more than our fair share : )… The marinade is fantastic! Thank you for sharing!
Artichokes are my favorite 🙂 I need to figure out how to grow them in Michigan! lol
I’m at Cheesecake Factory. I ordered them but how in the world do you eat them? They are mostly hard or chewy
Haha! Hi Julia, yes, I guess if you’ve never eaten artichokes before then you could run into some serious trouble. 😉 You remove one leaf at a time and place the one half of the leaf between your teeth. Gently bite down and scrape off the tender artichoke “meat” off with your teeth. Only eat what you can scrape off. Never try to eat the whole leaf! Discard the leaf and start with another. When you work your way to the very inside, then you can eat the “artichoke heart” (the center and top of stem). It is a bizarre little vegetable but delicious.