My favorite part of winter is what I like to call: Simmer Season – the time when everything gets slowly cooked on the stove and all warm and delicious, and this Harissa Simmered Artichokes Toast recipe is the perfect example of that!
And it’s not a stew, it’s a “simmer.” You first sear the artichoke hearts to get nice color on them, then let them slowly cook in a simple harissa broth to develop a lot of color and flavor. The texture is tender, but you counteract it with breadcrumbs on top and a crispy toast below. Add in some hummus and it’s a perfect easy weekday meal! Plus it’s just so cozy. Yet another reason to love simmer season!
Table of contents
First, what is harissa?
I was first introduced to harissa in powder form, but it is actually a North African chili pepper paste, native to the Maghreb. It is made up of roasted red peppers, Baklouti peppers (Tunisian chili peppers), various spices such as coriander, cumin, caraway, and then aromatics such as garlic paste. Like with most foods, it varies from region to region, but it’s always been a delicious addition to many of my meals and recipes.
Grocery stores are now making it easier and easier to find harissa, which is great for stocking your pantry and developing your kitchen! I like to use the Mina brand, and in this recipe I used the mild version.
Ingredients you’ll need for these harissa simmered artichokes
Now that you have the basics on harissa, here is everything else you need for this very simple recipe:
- 2 14 oz. cans of artichoke hearts, drained and rinsed
- 1/3 cup mild harissa
- 1 & 1/2 tbsp dark brown sugar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup vegetable stock
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 small handful of fresh parsley & dill, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup of hummus of choice
- 2 slices whole grain bread
How to prepare the artichoke hearts
The artichoke hearts add a lot of key textural interest to this recipe. And even if you don’t think you like artichoke hearts because of the “canned” flavor, this cooking method might help you change your mind!
I always recommend draining and rinsing artichoke hearts well, just to get out any excess salinity. From there, I put the sauté pan on medium heat, add a good glug of olive oil and sear the artichoke hearts on each side for about 2-3 minutes. This softens their already soft texture, gives them a beautiful golden brown color, and preps them for the rest of the recipe!
How to put these harissa artichokes together
From here on out, it’s time to simmer the artichoke hearts. This simply means mixing together the harissa, brown sugar, soy sauce, vegetable stock and 1/2 cup of water to make the simmer broth. Pour this over the artichokes and let it reduce by half. Then it’s time to put everything together!
Tips & tricks on how to plate and store these harissa artichokes
If you are prepping this recipe to eat at a later time, I recommend cooking the artichokes, but keeping all the other elements of the recipe separate until you are ready to eat! This means portioning out the breadcrumbs, artichokes, hummus and bread all into different containers, and storing them all in the fridge. This recipe will last up to 5 days stored separately, but I always suggest eating it when you can!
For plating, my biggest tip is that…you can eat these how you want! In this blog post I put these artichoke hearts on toast, but they are amazing with rice, with crispy chickpeas, on their own, or even as part of a salad or sandwich! Feel free to get creative with your base, the flavor will still always come through!
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And that’s it for these harissa-simmered artichoke hearts on toast!
If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.
And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you
Harissa-Simmered Artichokes on Toast
Equipment
- 1 high sided sauté pan
- 1 small food processor
Ingredients
- 2 14 oz. cans of artichoke hearts drained and rinsed
- 1/3 cup mild harissa
- 1 & 1/2 tbsp dark brown sugar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup vegetable stock
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 small handful of fresh parsley & dill roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup of your hummus of choice
- 2 slices whole grain bread
Instructions
- Begin by cutting the artichoke hearts in half. Set aside.
- Whisk together the harissa, sugar, soy sauce and water and vegetable stock. Don't add any salt, the saltiness from the artichoke hearts will be more than enough!
- Bring a high-sided sauté pan to medium heat and add 1 tbsp of olive oil. Add in the breadcrumbs and toast for a few minutes or until they are golden brown. Set them aside and wipe out the pan.
- Put the pan back on medium heat and add the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil. Sear the artichoke hearts in batches, cooking until both sides are golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side. When they are charred to your liking add in all the artichoke hearts to the pan and make sure they are in an even layer.
- Pour in the harissa broth and bring to a simmer. Shake the pan a few times and spoon the sauce over each artichoke heart to coat them evenly. Let this simmer and reduce, stirring occasionally, for about 5-7 minutes, or until the sauce reduces by half and is noticeably thicker.
- Take the pan off the heat and sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top.
- Toast the two slices of bread, and slather each with 2 tbsp of hummus.
- Pile the artichoke hearts high on the toast and scatter with parsley and dill. Serve warm! This is a knife-and-fork style toast.
This one is a banger Justine. Added some white beans and rosemary while simmering the artichokes – did not disappoint!
I’m so happy you made it! It’s one of my new favorites so I’m glad you loved it 🙂
I’ve been working through a bunch of your recipes in the new year – I LOVE this one! It’s so fast and so satisfying.
Where did your lemon herb hummus recipe go??? That was amazing with this dish. I came back to make it again and can’t live without that hummus 🙂
Comes together easily and so flavorful, I love the sweetness from the dark brown sugar. Served on sourdough toast with parsley hummus and topped with lots of fresh dill 🙂
Just made this. 10/10 will make this again for myself and would definitely serve it to company. Looks impressive and tastes even better.
I accidentally used spicy harissa and was nervous I ruined the recipe but it came out fabulously. I’m excited to make this again, it was a big hit with friends as an appetizer- it easily fed 4 with some leftovers. Thank you Justine 🙂
Just made this for the first time today and omg what a gamechanger. I had the artichokes on a bed of quinoa and didn’t have breadcrumbs so I used roasted chickpeas for my crunch factor and topped with microgreens. Such an awesome, flavorful power lunch. Thank you!
My new fixation recipe. Love this one, Justine!!
Wow what an incredible payoff for such a simple recipe. Deeply flavorful with pantry staples – what a home run!
I’m so glad you liked it! Thank you for taking the time to leave a rating and review!
This is unreal. I had it on sourdough and added arugula on top of hummus before I added the artichokes. The flavor is amazing. Again…unreal. Delish!