Cucumber & Artichoke Salad {Kid Approved!}

If you struggle to get the kids to eat Artichokes or think they'll shy away, try this Artichoke salad. These delicious little Artichoke hearts are combined with the usual salad suspects, and smothered in a dressing the kids love. It's a perfect light summer salad, fresh and full of flavor. All we need now is some sun :)

Artichoke Salad

Coming in number 7 on the USDA's top 20 antioxidant-rich foods list, it's well worth trying to get the kids to like these and they're so likeable that even though lots of kids are a bit funny about trying them, once they try them, they often love them!

I used to have a hard time getting the kids to eat Artichoke hearts.

As a kid, I was given these in their whole form, where you take the leaves off and we'd dip them in a dressing and eat the meat. With my own kids, I tend to stick to the baby Artichoke hearts you can easily buy canned in the supermarket.

Artichokes are part of the Thistle family and so depending on your kids either hide this fact as they're introduced to them or exploit it.

Got a wild adventure loving kid? Make these part of an 'out-in-the-sticks' foraging for food type of thing :)

For cooking purposes in this house, these are most definitely veggies!

More Salad Recipes

• Cucumber and tomato salad
• Festive Caprese salad
• Warm Harvest salad
• Greek chickpea salad
• Cold salmon & potato salad
• Thai chicken noodle salad

What To Serve With Artichoke Salad

I make this Artichoke salad as a side, and usually they'll be a number of different dishes on the table and it's a sort of help yourself type of affair.

I've always found it easier to get the kids to eat something when they're helping themselves to it rather than me giving it to them on a plate!

This salad is great for a crowd, it's green and pretty and a huge plate of it look appealing. Sometimes I've have roasted and sliced a chicken or another meat and lay that out, other times I'll make a main dinner recipe and let everyone tuck in.

This Chicken Piccata goes especially well with this salad if you're using a lemon dressing.

Grab the FREE 7 Day Clean Eating Challenge Pack & Take The Kids Diet From Zero To HERO!

Ingredients

There are so few parts to this salad, it's hard to go wrong.

Canned Artichoke Heart Salad

I buy canned Artichoke hearts, un-marinated and in water. There are many available in the shops, so have a look in your local shops and see what's available to you. Many of the canned or jarred artichoke's here are either in oil, or marinated in a flavored oil, which doesn't work very well in this salad, so make sure you look for the hearts in water with nothing else added.

The artichokes I buy come as whole hearts in the can. After a quick rinse, I quarter them.

If you can't find these in your supermarket, try Amazon, they have some available and are reasonably priced.

You can use fresh artichokes if you prefer to, I just find it a lot easier to use canned. I've got a house full of kids, times precious!!

If you want to use fresh artichokes here's some tips for getting to the heart!

• Snap (gently!) the outer leaves from the Artichoke, they're pretty tough, but you'll eventually be left with a sort of 'bullet shaped' heart, and you'll see the leaves will be a more yellow-ish color
• Cut the heart from the stalk and then cut the heart in half
• Have a bowl of warm water ready to put the hearts into, this gives them a clean and stops them going dry while you finish the rest
• When all the hearts are in the bowl, gently swirl them around and drain, then repeat with more water until the water is clear
• To cook the Artichoke hearts, I prefer to boil them as I find they go dry in the oven. Simmer them for 25-30 mins until they're tender. Cover them while they're cooking. Then drain and cover while they cool
• Now they're ready to use

Fresh Cucumber

A delicious, fresh cucumber should be firm and crisp. I take out the middle seeded part of the cucumber (this part goes into the following mornings smoothie:) and then quarter it and slice it that way, but feel free to chop it up however your lot prefer.

I like to make the artichoke pieces and cucumber pieces roughly the same size, particularly for new artichoke eaters, as it all blends together easier that way!

Artichoke Salad Dressing

There are two salad dressings in this house that everyone loves. One is the Maple and Balsamic dressing which is mustard free and easy to put together in seconds.

I usually have a jar of this in the fridge, ready to turn anything into something yummy.

The other dressing we have a lot, especially in the summer, is this Lemon dressing. It's really fresh, gives everything a touch of sunshine and adds a bit of pizazz to a salad!

Make Ahead

This salad is super easy to make ahead and just need you to chop and deseed the cucumber and drain, rinse and chop the artichokes. I don't recommend you put the dressing on until just before you want to serve it, or you risk the salad going a little soggy!

I usually make this ahead only by a few hours, or a day at the most, and then I cover it and keep it in the fridge. The artichokes have a tendency to go a bit dry, so while it's fine to make this ahead of time, just me mindful of the artichokes!

How To Make Artichoke Salad

Ingredients

• 2 Cans Artichoke hearts (390g tin/ 240g drained weight)
• 2 Cucumbers Deseeded and quartered
• Dressing (either Balsamic or Lemon) See post for recipe details

Instructions

• Drain and wash the artichoke hearts and quarter them
• Chop the cucumber into pieces the same size ad the cucumber
• Add the dressing shortly before serving, so keep the cucumber crisp
• Serve

Artichoke Salad Recipe