The garlic and butter IN the artichoke is a fantastic idea and I can't wait to give that a try on my next try. I find that putting a bay leaf in with the water adds a little extra flavor. Also, if you're a fan of mayonnaise, try making a little homemade garlic mayo (I usually just use garlic powder since I'm a poor college student) to dip the pedals in.

I too am an artichoke addict - have been since the 70's. I find that most people not only do not know how to prepare them, they don't even know how to eat them. Like the previous reviewer said, you don't eat the entire leaf - scrape the meat off with your teeth. When you get to leaves that are thin and nearly transparent, take a spoon and scrape them out along with the fuzzy choke and throw away. What you have left is the artichoke heart (the BEST part of the artichoke!) Cut it into bite size pieces and enjoy!

This is just a little heads up for some folks who never made and or eaten artichokes whole like this before. I read through some of the reviews and noticed that some were trying to eat the whole leaf. what you do is remove a leaf, dip in butter or sauce and scrape the fleshy part off with your teeth. Discard the rest of the leaf.I hope this helped.

Excellent ideas everyone! Here's one more dip for you that works with both mayo and butter. I've never tried it with olive oil but I would imagine it would be delicious. Try adding fresh tarragon leaves (cut with scissors)into the dipping sauce. Dried will work too, but you may have to let it steep longer. Enjoy!

I think I made these wrong! I steamed 2 artichokes for about 50 min, and when I peeled the petals off they were very hard to chew and the ends were almost crispy.

Great recipe! I added a lemon slice to the top of each artichoke and dipped them in melted butter with lemon juice and black pepper. Delicious!

I found Mini Arts at Trader Joes they were sooo cute! A box of 15 for only $2.50 so look if you have one in your area. The kids just loved them, and the size made them super easy to eat. I did not put the butter in each leaf since they were so small, but I put oil in with the steaming water. They cooked fast too, only 12-15 mins. Turned out VERY good! Fun for something different!

I only had one artichoke and it was big - so my cooking time was a little longer, but it was awesome! It took the other reviewers prep advice about snipping the pokey ends. We made a little dipping sauce of LF mayo with a squirt of lemon and a dash of lemon pepper. I will definitely be putting artichokes into the rotation now that I know how easy they are!

Steaming makes these the perfect texture. Like others, I added plenty of water (the water level was flush with the bottom of the steamer). In addition to slathering the artichokes with butter and garlic before steaming (great idea!), I also added slices of lemon and minced garlic to the water. I steamed them for 45 minutes and made two sauces to dip the leaves in--one with butter, garlic and lemon, the other with mayo, a little bit of balsamic vinaigrette and pepper. My husband loved these and so did I! Will definitely make again...

I hate giving bad reviews, but this was awful to me. I could only eat a small bit before throwing the rest away. Maybe I didn't steam the artichokes for long enough, but the flavor was just gross to me.

This was my first attempt at making whole artichokes. I made sure that I did a lot of research into the preparation which helped. This was a good first time recipe. Next time, I would like to try something with a little more flavor.

I had to cook mine for about 40 minutes but no biggie. I also didn't cut off all of the stem...that's some good eating! I just trimmed it & leveled it out some.

Very tasty. Instead of butter I drizzled with olive oil. Just delicious.

This is how I was taught as a child to make artichokes. But, my Mom put it in a pressure cooker. Needless to say, my hubby thought I would blow the house up with it so I changed to steaming it. They always come out perfect! Only thing I do different is use garlic butter to dip. Kids and I fight over them, so now I have to make 4!! Great treat or after school snack!

The best way to clean chokes is set them in the sink & cover with cold water for a 30 mins or so. Then take a shape knife & cut the stem back with an even cut so that they can stand upright in your pot or steamer without falling. After you cut the stem off, take kitchen shears & go around each choke & snip the tips of each leaf to remove the tiny stickers at the tops of each leaf. Run back under cold water again & now you can safely spread the leafs back some without getting pricked! Pull the center back & reach in with the tips of your fingers & pull out all of the little tiny purple leafs that are near the heart in the very center, they are too small to eat so remove them now to avoid a mess while eating them later. With the centers cleaned before cooking gives you an area to insert a fork into the heart to check for doneness, (beware of steam) when it goes in without any effort then they are done. I set them on a paper plate or some paper towels to cool some & this also helps remove any excess moisture so you don't end up with a puddle on your dinner plate. Artichokes are a little involved to clean & cook, so I now clean & cook four at a time & stick them in a big zip lock until we are ready to eat them. They last for quite a few days with no problem in the frig. I then set each artichoke in microwave proof (cereal size) bowl and nuke them for a minute or two to knock the chill off right before we are ready to eat them. Although these things taste excellent cold too!!

This was a great starting point-I literally slathered the artichokes with butter and (minced)garlic instead of putting between the leaves, and I took the suggestion about using lemon-I laid a lemon slice over each one. I filled the pot with water to the bottom of my steamer insert and did not have to add any water while they were cooking. I also added a chicken bouillon cube to the water along with 1 teaspoon of my favorite "Trader Joe's Pasta seasoning blend". Because my 'chokes were big-I extended the cooking time to 1 hour. I let them sit in the covered pan for about 15 minutes prior to serving, and they were PERFECT. I served these with a lowfat mayo and fresh basil pesto I mixed together-my family asked for them the very next night!!

Yummm, artichokes have been my favorite veggie since I was a kid. I'll never make them any other way again. My one suggestion though, is to melt the butter and pour over the chokes and garlic because it's too easy to get a nasty poke from the leaves if you try to rub in butter. I used about 5 cloves of sliced garlic for 2 large chokes. I put them on a steamer rack and filled with water to the bottom of the steamer and had no problem with running out of water.

These were delicous! I made them for company who had never even herd of artichokes and they loved them. Makes a great side dish to chicken.

this was my first time making artichokes of any kind.. and i think nit's just that i had no idea what i was doing!

This was amazing. I have been making stuffed artichokes for a while now and this tastes SO MUCH BETTER. Very simple and easy to do. I do cut the choke in half to make it easier to serve later. I also served it with a garlic butter. Delicious. Thanks for the post.