If jerusalem artichokes have turned up in a recipe or caught your eye at the store, here's what you need to use them with confidence and how to choose them, cook them, store them, what to substitute, and 17 recipes to try them in.

What are jerusalem artichokes?

Jerusalem artichokes are knobby brown tubers that taste nothing like the green globe artichoke and have no botanical connection to it. They grow on a type of sunflower, which is why you'll often see them sold as sunchokes.

Snap one in half and you get a pale, crisp interior that turns silky and sweet once cooked.

The flavor sits somewhere between a water chestnut and a roasted artichoke heart, with a faint nuttiness. Raw, they're crunchy and mild. Cooked, they go soft and almost buttery, which is why they carry a soup or puree so well.

Cooking With Sunchokes

Don't peel them. The skin is thin and edible, and the knobs make peeling a losing battle anyway.

Scrub them well under running water with a brush to get grit out of the crevices, then trim any dark or soft spots. Cut surfaces brown fast, so drop sliced pieces into water with a squeeze of lemon while you work.

Roasting is the easiest win. Halve or quarter them, toss with oil and salt, and roast at 425°F (220°C) until the edges caramelize and the centers go creamy, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Basic Cooked Jerusalem Artichoke keeps it simple with a boil and butter, while Jerusalem Artichoke with Mushrooms & Thyme leans into their earthy side.

They also puree beautifully. Creamy Jerusalem Artichoke Soup blends them smooth with stock and cream, and a thinner version works as a sauce under fish or scallops.

Raw, sliced thin on a mandoline, they add crunch to salads. Chicken with Jerusalem Artichoke & Lemon braises them alongside the meat so they soak up the pan juices.

Pairing and the Gas Question

Sunchokes love acid and fat. A squeeze of lemon and a finish of cream both balance their sweetness, and they pair naturally with thyme, garlic, mushrooms, goat cheese, and roasted chicken or fish. Jerusalem Artichoke with Goat Cheese plays the tuber's nuttiness against tangy cheese.

Here's the catch worth knowing. Sunchokes store their carbohydrate as inulin, a fiber your gut bacteria ferment instead of digest, which can cause real bloating and gas in some people.

The nickname "fartichoke" is not a joke. Two things help: introduce them in small portions the first time, and cook them long and slow, since extended low heat breaks down some of the inulin. Roasting and slow-simmered soups are gentler than a quick saute.

Substitutes

The closest swap depends on the dish. For roasting or purees, parsnips give you similar sweetness and a creamy cooked texture, though they're starchier and less nutty.

Waxy potatoes work in soups when you want body without the inulin issue. For raw crunch in salads, water chestnuts or jicama mimic the snap and mild flavor.

A globe artichoke heart echoes the cooked taste but not the texture, so it's a flavor match rather than a true stand-in.

Buying and Storing

Choose firm tubers with taut skin and as few deep knobs as you can find, since smoother ones are far easier to scrub. Smaller and medium tubers tend to be sweeter and less fibrous than oversized ones.

Pass over any that feel soft or wrinkled. Sprouting eyes or green and moldy patches mean they're past saving.

They keep longer than you'd expect for something this delicate-looking. Stored unwashed in a paper bag or loosely wrapped in the crisper drawer, they stay firm for one to two weeks.

Don't wash them until you're ready to cook, since moisture speeds spoilage. If they start to shrivel, they're past their best but still fine in a long-cooked soup where texture matters less.

Quick facts

In Chinese

菊芋

British (UK) term

Jerusalem artichokes

en français

topinambours

en español

patacas

Recipes using jerusalem artichokes

There are 17 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 17 recipes