Instant Pot Steamed Artichokes (2024)

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This Instant Pot Steamed Artichokes recipe is ultra-easy to make,full of great flavor, and super-speedy in your pressure cooker!

Over the past few weeks, Barclay and I have been takinglots of little field trips to explore the various markets in our new neighborhood in Barcelona. Andeach time, I come away with a bag full of freshveggies,plus usually at least one or two new foods to try. Andeach time, this handsome husband of mine comes away with…

…a bag of fresh artichokes. ???

Ha, I’m not kidding. We’ve been eating steamed artichokes at least twice a week since we’ve been living here, partly because they are Barclay’s absolute favorite food in the universe, and it turns out they arewidely available here in Spain. But also because they arecrazy affordable in Spain! (Like, $0.50 apiece here, versus the$3 artichokes we used to buy in Kansas City!)

Naturally, we both freaked out the first time wesaw the price tag andimmediately filleda bag full of freshalcachofas to take home and steam. But once we arrived home, we realized that there were no pots in our “furnished” little rental kitchen that were large enough to use as a steamer, whoops. Thankfully, my new Instant Pot(affiliate link)had just arrived in the mail that day from Spanish Amazon. So we decided to try see if we could pressure cook them instead. And oh man, guys.

Talk about agame changer.

Seriously. Just when we thought artichokes couldn’t get any better, the Instant Pot worked its magic and made themeven easier and quickerto steam. I mean, let’s be real, artichokes are still incredibly delicious and easy tocook the traditional way on the stovetop. Butnow — a half dozen perfectly-cooked batches in the Instant Pot later — I have to saythat I think my stovetop steaming days are officially behind me.

So if you’re alifelong fellowTeam Artichoke fan — or if you’ve been curious about trying them for the first time — grab your Instant Pot because you’ve gotta try this one for yourselves. ?

To make these Instant Pot steamed artichokes, begin by prepping and trimming however many fresh artichokes you would like to cook. (I can fit between 4-5 medium artichokes in a single layer in my 6-quart Instant Pot, but obviously the size of your artichokes and pot may vary.)

For tips on how to choose the best fresh artichokes at the market, plus tips on how to prep and trim them before cooking, check out my post and video here on How ToCook and Eat Artichokes. (It features the traditional stovetop steaming method, but all of the steps before and after cooking are the same.)

Once your artichokes are ready to go, place the steamer basket in your instant pot, and add some water, garlic and a bay leaf to the bottom of the pot. Take a slice of lemon and rub it all over the outside of the artichokes (to add flavor and slow down oxidizing/browning), then drop the lemon wedge in the water. And place your artichokes in a single layer (not stacked on top of one another) in the steamer basket. We’ve tried cooking them stem-up and stem-down, and it doesn’t seem to make a difference, soset them in there however you’d like.

Then secure the lid, set to cook on“manual” high pressure for 10 minutes (or 12 minutes for large artichokes), finish with a quick release…

…and voila!

A batch of gorgeous, tender, flavorful, perfectly-steamed artichokes will be yours to enjoy in less than 30 minutes! So simple!!

Again, if you need any tips on how to eat these guys, feel free to check out my traditional steamed artichoke tutorial here.

Otherwise, as we say with our artichoke nights here in Spain — ¡buen provecho!