Baby artichokes take less time to cook than standard artichokes which is an added bonus! Grilled artichokes are my utmost favorite thing- an added bonus is that artichokes are a natural detoxifier! They can be a little work intensive in the prep but they are oh-so worth it!
The grill adds so much flavor to the chokes that you don’t really need a sauce, but I am a sucker for a dipping sauce so I made this yummy sauce to go with it inspired by the Chef’s Dressing at Houston’s Restaurant. Houston’s usually serves their Chef’s Dressing with their smoked salmon appetizer, but I thought this would be the perfect compliment to grilled artichokes.
This is a very “rough” copycat of their recipe that I’ve found as I’ve substituted many ingredients for what I had on hand and also lightened it up a bit with lower fat ingredients. If you don’t feel like making the dipping sauce, the chokes are perfectly wonderful with a drizzle of olive oil, sea salt and fresh squeezed lemon juice. If you can find a lemon infused olive oil, (affiliate link) that is even better! Note: Baby artichokes are smaller and therefore require less actual cook time which is an added bonus!
Print
Grilled Baby Artichokes with Chefs Dressing
Ingredients
- 9 baby artichokes, sliced in half, de-stemmed with fuzzy “chokes” removed on the inside
- 2 lemons
- 1 tblsp olive oil
- sea salt- to taste
- fresh ground pepper- to taste
Chef's Dressing Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup light mayo
- 1/2 low fat greek yogurt
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 ounce (1/2 small can) of anchovies – oil drained
- 2 tblsp fresh thyme or tarragon
- 1 lemon
- 1/2 tsp ground pepper
Instructions
Boil a pot of water. Go ahead and remove a few of the outer leaves of the artichokes, de-stem them, and slice them in half. Using a butter knife, remove the fuzzy inside, they may not have that much of one in all of them (which is the beauty of baby artichokes!). Add the baby artichokes to the boiling water and boil for 10 minutes. In the meantime, prepare your grill for medium direct heat.
While the artichokes are boiling, go ahead and mix all the Chef's Dressing ingredients with an immersion blender or food processer. Put in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Remove the artichokes from the boiling water. Drizzle the artichokes lightly with olive oil, sea salt and pepper and then grill the artichokes for about 10 minutes until char marks have formed on the inside layers. To serve, slice the 2 lemons in half and squeeze the juice on the artichokes. Be amazed at how easy and baby artichokes are to prepare versus regular sized artichokes! Hooray for baby artichokes!
Looking for recipe inspiration? We got you covered! Check out some of my most popular recipes!
I’ll have to try that dipping sauce. I’ve been stuck on the mayo, ketchsup, lemon juice, salt n pepper thing for ever. Need a new go- to sauce for my California Chokes!
Back in the day, mom would make a dipping sauce from lemon, a lot of pepper, and olive oil. Gotta get the precise ingredients and ratios from her. Since we were kids, it tasted awful, so we went the plain mayo route. Always enjoyed artichokes!
Thanks for the neat concept Robyn.
Since fresh artichokes aren’t readily available here and I don’t really know what to do with them, about all we eat are the canned hearts, BUT Bev found a plant the other day and we now have an artichoke growing in the garden. I guess I’d better start saving these recipes in case we get some.
Larry- if you don’t feel like making the sauce, the chokes are awesome with just lemon juice, olive oil and sea salt. However, this dipping sauce is great- the anchovies add a little hint of saltiness without being too overpowering. I mixed this sauce in with tuna salad instead of just mayo and it was great. Good luck!
Larry- I am envious of that garden of yours! I definitely do not have a green thumb! 🙂
Love grilled artichokes – such great flavor. I serve mine with a drizzle of saba( or just reduce down some balsamic vinegar), a bit of olive oil, feta crumbles and fresh lemon zest. So good!
Jodi- I love the idea of adding feta! Yum, I will definitely have to try that sometime soon!
Those look ridiculously good, Robyn! I love the “back of the palate” taste that artichokes deliver and the dressing sounds like a perfect match.
I never would have thought about grilling artichokes, but that’s brilliant!!
Thanks Megan! If you give them a try- let me know. I guarantee you’ll be in love! 🙂
These sound amazing–I love baby artichokes!
I just made this this weekend and it was really good! Thanks for the recipe.
Jack-
Glad you enjoyed!
Those look absolutely amazing. I love artichokes and I have to try a grilled one ASAP!