The Best Cheesy Italian Stuffed Artichokes

This crowd-favorite recipe is Nonna approved and loved by all. It’s loaded with cheese, olive oil, and herbs making this one of the best ways to kick off a special meal, pasta night, or impress your guests!

His Favorite Side Dish

There are things that we all love and could never get tired of eating. For me, it’s pizza hands down. For Mr. Fantabulous it’s a tie between pasta and these artichokes. These weren’t something I grew up eating let alone ever had until I met my husband.

Growing up German and Slovak, the only pasta dishes we had was spaghetti and meatballs. And I’m sorry but my Mom’s sauce was well…it had CHUNKS of veggies in it and I was not having it.

It wasn’t until I first met Mama Fantabulous did I ever see these things at someone’s house. I watched her make these and when it came time to eat, I watched in utter shock on how you eat them. I did try it but y’all it’s just a weird sensation when you scrape food against your teeth to eat it.

Delicious but still weird.

Grab Your Ingredients

This recipe has been in my husband’s family for generations. I tweaked it a bit to give it just a bit more depth of flavor. I also do not use white wine in the pot as we’re not wine drinkers.

• Artichokes
• Olive Oil
• Grated hard cheese (I love this Three-Cheese Blend by 4C) – with a Home Style of Parmesan/Romano
• Seasonings – Parsley, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper
• Garlic
• Lemon
• Water

How To Pick Artichokes At The Store

Artichokes can be small and ginormous (like the ones I have). There are a few things you should look for when buying them.

1. Make sure the leaves are tightly packed, green or some with purple undertones.
2. Squeeze it and listen. It’ll actually “squeak”. This means it’s fresh.
3. Feel the weight – a healthy, fresh artichoke should feel firm and heavy for its size. Granted baby artichokes won’t weigh much at all.

Make The Cheesy Italian Filling

1. To a bowl, add the cheese, seasonings, garlic, and olive oil. Mix this all together. You want the mixture to be very moist but not dripping oil. Set this aside.

Prepare And Clean The Artichokes

1. With a sharp Chef’s knife, cut off the bottom of the artichokes so it can stand upright without wobbling.
2. If there is a stalk, shave it down, cut off the edge and cut it into chunks (this is edible!)
3. Turn the artichoke on its side and cut off the top of the artichoke (about a 1/3rd) exposing the inside. By doing this you’re making it so you can easily spread open the leaves to stuff.
4. Cut a lemon in half, and rub the cut side all over the newly cut areas of the artichoke. This will help prevent browning.

Trim The Leaves

Prior to stuffing you need to trim the leaves that have the thorn remaining. Simply grab a pair of kitchen shears and snip them off.

Take your time with these as I have lost count how many times I’ve jabbed myself with these or had it go under a nail!

Let’s Stuff The Artichokes

Now I’m sure there are other ways to do this but this is how I was taught and honestly, this method gives the best results.

1. Place your prepared artichoke in a large, shallow bowl. This will help catch any of the filling mixture that falls out as you stuff each leaf.
2. Yes, you stuff each leaf starting from 1-2 rows from the bottom (you need to leave 1″ of space at the bottom unstuffed) working all the way up to the top, and then working your way in the middle.
3. Pull out a single leaf, grab a bit of filling (like maybe a 1/2 of a teaspoon), and stuff it down into the leaf. Go to the next leaf in the row and repeat until the entire outside is stuffed. Pretty much your artichoke will be almost doubled in size.

Stuffing Artichokes Is A Labor Of Love

Yes, these are labor intensive but trust me, they are SO WORTH IT! Now let’s stuff the top.

1. Just how you stuffed the sides of the artichoke, you want to do the same thing with the inside (top).
2. Start from the outer part of it and work your way inwards. This can be a bit tricky and it’s OK if you skip a couple of places. I personally find it nearly impossible to stuff every part on the top.
3. You may not be able to stuff the very middle (choke) and that’s OK. Just do as I did and take any leftover filling and put it on top pressing down in a back-and-forth motion. This will help push more of the filling into the artichoke.

Steam The Artichokes

As you can see, they get really large when stuffed. This is a 4qrt pot for reference below and, as you can see, one just fits in it. Granted these were ginormous artichokes but still.

1. To the pot, add about 1/2″ of water. Place the stuffed artichoke in the pot and add more water if necessary. This is why you leave 1″ of space unstuffed at the bottom. You want the water to come up right below the first row that’s stuffed.
2. Add the stalks and lemon to the water. Bring the water to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cover with a lid.
3. Depending on the size of your artichokes, these will take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. These were so huge that they took the whole 2 hours.

How To Tell When Artichokes Are Done

As I mentioned, the steaming time will vary. To test, see if a leaf or two will easily come loose from the base when you tug on them. There should come off with no force.

How To Eat Cheesy Italian Stuffed Artichokes

So, the first time I ever saw and tried this I was mortified. It is ‘weird’ but in the most delicious way!

1. Grab a leave, turn it upside down so the cheesy stuffed part is against your lower teeth, close your mouth around the leaf, and scrape the leaf against your teeth as you pull it out of your mouth. You’re not only getting the filling but also bits of the artichoke flesh.
2. Eat your way around the outside, discarding the leaves as you go.
3. When you get to the middle, you’ll be at the heart of the artichoke (the best part). You’ll want to pull away the choke (that’s the hairs). They are not edible. Use a spoon and scoop it out.
4. At this point, you’re at the heart of the artichoke, and enjoy!

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