These vegan fried artichokes are the perfect tapa. Made with fresh artichokes that are dipped in vegan buttermilk and breadcrumbs before being fried to crispy perfection and served with a creamy lemon-garlic dipping sauce. Be careful, they’re addictive!
Late winter and early spring is artichoke season. Living in Spain, the veggie stores are overflowing with cheap, locally-grown artichokes right now. Good thing they’re one of my favourite vegetables!
Before coming to live here I pretty much only knew artichokes from a can and I remember being quite intimidated when I decided to prep a whole fresh artichoke for the first time!
Silly me, turns out it’s actually quite easy. Not as easy as opening a can but the return on investment of biting into a fresh artichoke heart without the slight metallic taste of the canned variety is totally worth it!
Follow along with the pictures as I show you how to prepare artichokes and make one of Spain’s most popular springtime tapas: fried artichokes.
First you’ll want to prepare a bowl of cold water and squeeze in the juice of half a lemon. This will prevent the prepared artichoke slices from oxidizing while you continue slicing the rest.
Cut off about the top third of the artichoke.
Peel off the tough dark green outer leaves until you reach the more tender light green ones. Take a paring knife and slice off the outer green part of the stem to reveal the whitish core.
For this Spanish-style fried artichoke recipe we’ll be slicing the artichokes into thin slices about half a centimetre thick. Drop the slices into the lemon water as you work since they will start to brown immediately.
When you thinly slice and fry artichokes this way it’s not really necessary to remove the prickly choke from the centre of the artichoke so don’t worry about that.
That’s it, artichokes prepped and ready! Now on to the frying.
Normally fried artichokes are breaded with egg white and breadcrumbs. Since we’re vegan here I decided to do like with my vegan fried okra recipe and use buttermilk.
My vegan buttermilk recipe is simply a couple teaspoons of apple cider vinegar in half a cup of unsweetened soy milk. The vegan buttermilk is nice and thick and the perfect sticky base for the breadcrumbs.
Dredge each artichoke slice in the buttermilk then breadcrumbs and into a pan of hot oil. Fry for a couple minutes on each side till they’re golden brown and crispy.
These vegan fried artichokes are great served fresh out of the pan with just a sprinkling of salt or with a creamy dipping sauce. Either way they’re highly addictive so watch out, you won’t be able to stop at just one!
Wanna see how easy it is to make these vegan fried artichokes? Watch the video and share it on Facebook:
Yield: Serves 2
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
These vegan fried artichokes are the perfect tapa. Made with fresh artichokes that are dipped in vegan buttermilk and breadcrumbs before being fried to crispy perfection and served with a creamy lemon-garlic dipping sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 lemon
- 2 large or 3 medium artichokes
- Oil for frying
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup (120 ml) unsweetened soy milk
- 1 cup (90 grams) breadcrumbs
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened vegan yogurt (I used soy)
- 2 tablespoons vegan mayonnaise
- 1 small clove of garlic, minced
- ¼ teaspoon plus a few pinches of salt
- A sprinkling of your favourite fresh herb (I used thyme)
Instructions
- Squeeze half of the lemon into a bowl of cold water.
- Prepare the artichokes as explained above by slicing off the top third then peeling off the tough outer leaves. Run a paring knife down the stem to reveal the whitish core. Slice the artichoke into 0.5 cm slices and drop the slices immediately into the lemon water as you work.
- Once all the artichokes are sliced, heat about a centimetre depth of oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Put the 2 teaspoons of vinegar into a measuring cup and fill it with soy milk up until you reach the half cup mark (120 ml). Sprinkle the breadcrumbs onto a plate.
- Remove the artichoke slices from the water and put them on a tea towel. Pat dry. Dip each slice into the vegan buttermilk then the breadcrumbs. Fry a few slices at a time so as not to overcrowd the pan. They should take a couple minutes on each side until they are golden brown on the outside and tender on the inside. Remove to a paper-towel lined plate to drain and sprinkle with a pinch of salt.
- Combine the yogurt, mayo, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice, garlic and a ¼ teaspoon of salt to make a dipping sauce. Sprinkle with your favourite herb.
- Serve the fried artichokes immediately with the dipping sauce on the side.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 2 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 478Total Fat: 18gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 1631mgCarbohydrates: 69gFiber: 14gSugar: 9gProtein: 15g
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