Marinated baby artichokes are super easy to make! Boil the artichokes until tender, pack them into a jar with the marinade of lemon juice, white wine vinegar, olive oil, garlic, bay leaves, and Italian seasoning, top with water, and refrigerate. Four hours later (or the next morning) you have something that tastes better than anything from a jar at the grocery store, at a fraction of the price.
This recipe for marinated baby artichokes started with a spontaneous produce section find – a basket of small purple and green baby artichokes that were too pretty to pass up. Baby artichokes don’t need to be scraped and dipped like large globe artichokes. They’re tender enough to eat whole after a brief boil, which makes them ideal for marinating. They keep in the refrigerator for about a week. Use them in everything from antipasto plates to pasta, pizza, grain bowls, and alongside grilled meats.
What Makes a Good Baby Artichoke Marinade
The marinade is built on: acid (lemon juice and white wine vinegar), fat (good quality olive oil) and aromatics (garlic, bay leaves, Italian seasoning). The water dilutes the marinade to a gentle brine rather than a sharp pickle. This keeps the artichoke flavor present while the herbs and citrus perfume the whole jar. Bay leaves are underused in home cooking but contribute a subtle, slightly floral earthiness that you notice mostly in its absence. The quality of the olive oil matters here more than in cooked recipes since it’s consumed unheated.
Ingredients
- 5-6 baby artichokes about 1 pound
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- Juice from 1 small lemon about 2 tablespoons
- ¼ cup good quality olive oil
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 clove of garlic chopped fine
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Water
Instructions
- Wash the artichokes, pull off any dry outer leaves, and cut them in half along their symmetrical axis.
Place them in a large pot, cover them with water and boil them until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain. In a large size bowl, mix all of the other ingredients except for the water together.
Place the artichokes in a quart size jar with a lid and pour in the marinade. Add water to fill the jar full. Screw on the lid and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and preferably overnight. The artichokes will keep in the fridge for about a week.
