If you can get your hands on fresh artichokes, make this bright artichoke salad right away. Topped with mint pesto, it's perfect for spring.
It’s spring… which means I can’t help but bring home artichokes from the farmers market. They’re just SO pretty, although they take a bit of effort to clean and cook.
My first tip for fresh artichokes is to use them in a pretty simple way so you can really appreciate their delicate flavor after you’ve put in the time to prep them. Save your artichoke dip recipe for canned or jarred artichokes.
Tip number two: delegate artichoke-trimming to someone else in your family! The day I brought these home, my mom (who’s been staying with us lately), gave me a “what are you going to do with those” sort of look, right before I handed them to her to figure out. We ended up roasting them to perfect this fresh, delicious spring salad.
Artichoke Salad Recipe Ingredients
Roasted with lemon, the artichokes make a delicious tangy star for this salad. I toss them together with these key ingredients to make it hearty & satisfying enough to be a meal on its own:
- Spinach, pea & mint pesto, to act as the dressing, tying everything together and adding loads of bright flavor
- Farro and chickpeas, for nutty flavor and a heartier meal
- A sprinkle of feta, for tangy, salty pops of flavor
- Greens & herbs, to make it extra fresh & spring-y!
To change up this artichoke salad, sub another grain for the farro – quinoa or wheat berries would both be delicious. Roast your chickpeas for extra crunch, or try another type of pesto. To make it vegan, use a tablespoon of capers in place of the feta.
If you find yourself with leftover pesto, slather it on toast with a poached egg, or on a stacked veggie sandwich the next day.
If you love this artichoke salad recipe…
Try some of our other spring favorites like this asparagus soup, this spring salad, or simple roasted or grilled asparagus.
Roasted Artichoke Salad
- about 6 baby artichokes
- 2 small lemons
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Sea salt and fresh black pepper
- ⅓ cup pine nuts
- 1 garlic clove
- ⅓ cup peas, thawed
- Juice of most of 1 small lemon
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1½ cups packed spinach
- ¼ cup mint
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- Sea salt and fresh black pepper
- 1½ cups cooked farro (tip: cook farro in advance)
- 1 cup chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- A few handfuls of baby salad greens and/or sprouts
- ⅓ cup crumbled feta cheese
- Roasted artichoke hearts
- Generous dollops of pesto
- Sea salt and fresh black pepper
- Preheat your oven to 475 degrees. Trim your artichokes. I love this little animated tutorial). Place artichoke hearts in a bowl of water with sliced lemons (so they don't brown), until you get them into the oven. Brush a small baking dish with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Remove artichokes and lemons from the water, shaking off excess water. Toss artichokes with remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper. Arrange them, cut side down, along with the sliced lemons, in the baking dish. Roast for 25-30 minutes or until tender. Set aside.
- While your artichokes roast, make the pesto. Combine pine nuts and garlic in a small food processor. Pulse, then add peas, lemon juice and dijon mustard, spinach and mint. Blend until combined. Add olive oil and blend until smooth (or as smooth as you like).
- Assemble the salad with cooked farro, chickpeas, salad greens, feta cheese, and sliced artichoke hearts. Toss with a big squeeze of juice from your roasted lemons and season well with salt and pepper. Add a few dollops of pesto and serve remaining pesto on the side
Vegan version: skip the cheese
Gluten-free version: use quinoa or another gluten free grain
Roasted artichoke preparation adapted from ATK’s The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook.
It looks absolutely delicious to eat and This kind of salad makes me greedy by making my mouth water..Finally,I like too your gorgeous photos along with your description. .so, thanks a lot for sharing.
Yummy mixture! Can’t wait to try this!
You’re making me so hungry! This salad sounds incredible – Can your mom come over and prepare the artichoke for me too??
Made this artichoke salad last night and so enjoyed it, especially the spinach and pea pesto. Used adzuki beans since that’s what I had on hand and added some nutritional yeast to the pesto which was gilding the lily as it was already a great pesto, but still good. Thanks Jeanine!
Now THAT is my kind of salad!
This kind of salad looks insanely delicious to eat and it makes my mouth water.so, thanks a lot for sharing.
I just discovered your blog, and am really in love. This looks amazing and absolutely delicious. I’m looking forward to future posts.
Lorraine // Nutrition from Scratch
Dear Jeanine
I have probably looked through your whole blog already and i can truly say I love what you have built here. These recipes look really delicious and easy to make. Im not a big salad fan but this one actually doesn’t sound half bad, i might actually try it someday. Keep up the good work.
Yum! Can’t wait to try this. Thanks for lending some advice and suggestions for these interesting and delicious vegetables 🙂
Lovin all that green! Yum!
We’re in autumn (fall) in New Zealand where I live, but this looks so delicious that I am going to try it with bottled char-grilled artichokes. The pea & spinach pesto sounds awesome. Nice on toasted ciabatta with feta I would think. Yum! Thanks for delicious recipes.
This salad looks so delicious! I definitely need to get my hands on some artichokes and give it a try very soon.
This salad looks so good ! I love artichoke ,mint and spinch … I’m sure its delicious.
What a fantastic combination of flavours and textures. Perfect for spring.
That looks insanely good. I will have to give that a try real soon!
That looks insanely good. I will have to give that a try real soon!
sounds and looks so heavenly!! yumm
https://aspoonfulofnature.wordpress.com/
I’m in love with this pesto, and the whole salad for that matter. And I appreciate your simple preparation of artichokes especially.
That pesto looks amazing!
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweetie.com
This looks delicious! I like your artichoke tips, especially the one about having someone else do it! Beautiful recipe, thank you for sharing!