Stuffed Artichokes: How to Healthify a Classic Italian Side Dish
Impress dinner guests with this flavorful (and surprisingly healthy) veggie.

Artichokes are one of those foods that appears in many American favorites (spinach and artichoke dip, anyone?), yet many people are afraid to place a whole, fresh artichoke in their grocery cart. Something about its spiky appearance intimidates shoppers and convinces them to save their artichoke cravings for restaurants.
Sure, you could let the chef make artichokes for you, but there's a good reason to learn how to prepare artichokes at home. Artichokes are a great non-starchy vegetable, meaning they're low in carbohydrates and calories (but high in fiber and other important nutrients). Artichokes are especially high in folate, vitamin C, and vitamin K.
If you're new to cooking with artichokes at home, roasted and stuffed artichokes are a simple and easy recipe to start with. In this episode of “Diabetes Bites,” learn how to prepare a simple stuffed artichoke in a way that’s healthy and diabetes-friendly, according to Fiorella DiCarlo, RD, CDN, registered dietian in New York City.
There are a number of ways to stuff an artichoke, and it's very easy to go overboard on saturated fat and excessive carbohydrates. A common myth about eating with diabetes is that you have to cut carbs and grains completely. Carbs are actually an essential part of the human diet, and experts recommend choosing high-quality carbohydrates instead of removing carbs completely. That means focusing on whole grains, fruits, and vegetables whenever possible, while limiting added sugars and refined flours. (It's not just people with diabetes: This is the same diet recommendation for everyone.)
For example, most versions of stuffed artichokes use breadcrumbs. Storebought breadcrumbs are usually made from white bread, which is low in fiber and other nutrients that are stripped away during the refining process. By using whole-wheat bread as the stuffing, you're adding extra fiber and protein. Fiber helps manage blood glucose levels and is essential to a healthy diet, especially a healthy diabetic diet. (Here are other reasons to add fiber to your diet.)
Along with the whole-wheat breadcrumbs, this stuffed artichoke recipe gets added flavor from a touch of parmesan cheese, garlic, and classic Italian herbs. These flavorful yet healthy stuffed artichokes make an impressive side dish or appetizer for dinner parties (and you will never be intimidated by the humble artichoke again).
Ingredients
- 6 cups water
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 2 large fresh artichokes
- 2 slices whole wheat bread
- 3 cloves garlic
- ¼ cup freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large pot, add water and juice from the lemon, and bring to a boil. Preparing Artichoke: Peel off bottom layer of outer leaves. Cut in half lengthwise, and scoop out the "choke" and hairs, using a spoon or your fingers. Put artichokes in boiling lemon water for about 5 minutes. Remove and set leaves-side down, on a baking dish or cast iron pan Preparing stuffing: In a food processor, add 100% whole wheat bread, parmigiano reggiano cheese, garlic, parsley, and ground black pepper. Blend or pulse ingredients form crumbs, then drizzle in olive oil. Scoop stuffing into the cavity of the artichokes, pressing and packing it in. Place sheet or in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes, or until topping is golden brown.Nutrition Information
Nutrition Information Based on a Single Serving
*Percent Daily Value are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Dietary Needs


Carbohydrate

Cholesterol



Fiorella DiCarlo is a registered dietitian in New York City.
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I'm so excited today about
this recipe we're gonna make,
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because it has all the flavors from home.
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Today we're going to make our stuffed,
roasted artichoke recipe.
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A classic Italian dish that
is going to be super healthy.
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[SOUND] I'm from Italy, and
artichokes are always on the menu.
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We have an entire town that's
dedicated to the artichoke harvest.
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And it is full of healthy fiber and
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antioxidants that are going
to be great for your health.
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Now, don't get intimidated by this guy
because it's really, really delicious,
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and it's not that difficult to prepare.
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The reason why we're going for
the artichoke today,
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is because it's filled with fiber.
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And we know that fiber works really,
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really well on managing
blood glucose levels.
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It's also delicious.
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It's filled with folate as well, and
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actually acts as the bodies
natural diuretic.
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It's very, very versatile vegetable,
and that you can marinate it,
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and broil it, and
roast it the way we're going to do today.
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And we're going to stuff it too,
and I'm gonna show you how.
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The first thing we're going to do,
is we're gonna take the bottom leaves out.
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We're just gonna take them out
with our fingers like this.
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We're not gonna cut them off, because we
don't wanna lose some of the fibrous part.
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Which is the most important part of this
vegetable, and why it's going to be so
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healthy for you.
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A lot of people like to cut off this
stalk here at the end, but preferably,
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I like to keep it in because, really, in
the stalk is where most of the fiber is.
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Now, what you can do here is you could
actually open up the leaves, and
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stuff it this way,
which is very old-school Italian.
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But we're gonna do it the modern way
today, and we're gonna go ahead and
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just slice and have our artichoke.
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And we're gonna go do that, and just
with a sharp knife go ahead and do it.
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And look at that opening, there we are.
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Look at that.
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Now, there's the heart.
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The other thing you wanna do,
is take off some of this thorny part here.
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This is a little thorny, and
we don't want you to hurt your finger, so
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we're gonna go just chop it like that.
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Chop that off, so it's nice and
even and beautiful.
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You can see that there, and there you are.
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Now, the next thing
that we're going to do,
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is we're going to take out
a little bit of this core.
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We're going to leave the heart because
that's gonna be the most delicious part.
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But the core, this little hairy part here,
we're going to take it out.
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You can do that either with the knife,
or you can do it with the spoon.
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And go ahead and
core that selves out, for you there.
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And if it's a little tough,
you don't have to worry about it.
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You can just go in there with your hands,
and pull it out yourself.
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Gorgeous.
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The next thing we are going to do,
is blanch it in boiling water.
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Now, this water has come to a boil,
and what were going to do
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is we're gonna cut up a lemon, and
squeeze some lemon juice in here.
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Now, that process is called acidulation.
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It's just a fancy schmancy word.
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That means, that once we put
the lemon juice in that water,
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it is going to prevent the browning and
the oxidizing of the artichoke.
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Which was gonna keep it that beautiful
green color that you're looking for.
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You can go ahead and
just squeeze that right in, there we go.
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And then what we're going to do,
is we're just gonna drop them in there,
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and it's going to be a quick blanch for
about 5 minutes.
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There we are.
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So here,
we have our beautiful blanched artichokes.
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And now,
we're gonna start on our stuffing.
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So we have five basic ingredients
here that are full of flavor.
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Our first ingredient in the stuffing
is this cubed whole-grain bread.
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It's filled with fiber, and it will help
lower and manage your blood sugar levels.
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If you use day-old bread, it might
actually might work better for you too.
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Next, we're gonna use
three cloves of garlic.
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It has vitamin C in it, that will also
help you lower your blood sugar levels.
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Then we're gonna go ahead and
put some green parsley in it.
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It's beautiful, and it will add that
beautiful green color to the recipe too.
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And then,
we're going to do one of my favorites, and
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it's Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
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Which honestly,
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I would Parmigiano-Reggiano
everything if it was up to me.
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And it's going to give you that salty,
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nutty bite in the stuffing that
is going to be so delicious.
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Your friends are gonna love you.
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They're gonna think,
you turned into a foodie.
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And then, we're gonna go ahead and
close this baby up here.
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[SOUND] There we are.
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I'm gonna go ahead and
drizzle some olive oil in there,
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it should be about a tablespoon.
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[SOUND] Perfect.
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And the saltiness of the Parmigiano
cheese is going to give
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it the salt that you need, so you don't
really have to add anymore salt to it.
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[SOUND] So all of our ingredients
have been blended together.
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And we're gonna go ahead and
take some of the stuffing.
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And we can go ahead and put it with
the spoon, start with the spoon.
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Be nice and neat and polite because later
we're gonna jam it in with our hands.
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So we're gonna put this in here, there.
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[MUSIC]
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What you wanna do is just keep it neat,
and
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kinda stuff it in because
you want enough of it.
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We have these beautiful
stuffed artichokes, and
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we're about to put them in the oven.
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It's been pre-heated to about 375,
for about 30 minutes.
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Check on them because these
stuffing needs to be browned,
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and the core needs to be softened.
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[SOUND] All right.
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I've got my big glove ready,
that means one thing.
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Somethings is about to
come out of the oven.
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So I'm gonna go over and
check out on our artichokes, and
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make sure that it's brown beautifully,
and they are.
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So I'm gonna go ahead and take them out.
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[SOUND] And I'm telling you, the aroma is
getting better and better as we cook them.
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[SOUND] We're gonna pull these guys out.
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And when you walk to
your table with these,
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everyone's going to think that you
just became the biggest foodie.
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So we're gonna put them there.
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Look, how beautiful they are.
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Nice and crispy top, soft center.
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And what you wanna do to eat these,
is just gently peel away the leaf, and
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just pull down the meat of the artichoke.
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And that's basically,
what you do until you get to the core.
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And then you can just cut that up,
and eat it with a fork.
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Roasted stuffed artichoke,
and they're perfect.
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And thank you for joining us again with
Diabetes Bites, we'll see you next time.
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