Since double baked cheese soufflés are baked twice, there's no stress over them falling. They're supposed to! These artichoke soufflés combine an artichoke purée with a roux and cheese to make a wonderfully decadent appetizer, side, or even a main dish with a salad.
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This dish was inspired by these herbed goat cheese soufflés I made shortly after touring a goat farm in Hawaii. Either of these soufflés are ideal if you want the lightness without the fuss.
I've made some gorgeous soufflés over the years, but they tend to fall pretty quickly. Like, by the time I serve them... If that's happened to you too, read on.
🤷♀️ What are double-baked soufflés?
Double-baked soufflés are just what they sound like. They're baked twice.
The first baking is done just like a regular soufflé. And it collapses, just like a regular soufflé, LOL. And it's ok. The soufflés are flipped out of their ramekins and transferred to a baking dish. Pour a little cream over them with a little grated cheese, and bake a second time.
They're a little denser than a traditional soufflé fresh from the oven, but still have a lightness from the egg whites.
❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
- This type of soufflé is very forgiving.
- You can do the first baking ahead of time, and refrigerate the soufflés if that works better for your schedule. Then bake them the second time before serving.
- Very flexible for an appetizer, side dish or main dish with a salad.
🧅 Main Ingredients + Notes
The secret to faster and easier meals often lies in the ingredients. For example, store-bought items and ingredients you make ahead and store in the refrigerator (or freezer) can turn a 60-minute recipe into a 30-minutes meal or less.
For the all of the ingredients, measurements and directions, go to the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post.
- Artichoke bottoms - cans of these are carried in most stores in the canned vegetables section.
- Half and Half
- All-purpose flour
- Gruyere cheese - any Swiss cheese is fine, but I prefer either Gruyere or Emmentaler.
- Thyme - use fresh thyme in this recipe, not dried.
- Eggs
- Marinated artichokes
- Heavy cream
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products and foods I use in my kitchen. This means that at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. To view my entire storefront of recommended kitchen tools and equipment, check out my shop on Amazon.
🔪 Recommended Equipment
- Ramekins with a 1 cup (8 ounce) capacity
- Parchment paper
- High speed blender
- Medium skillet
- Cheese grater
- Whisk
- 2 medium to large bowls
- Hand mixer
- Rubber spatula
- Cooling rack
📝 Instructions Overview
Detailed instructions for making these little artichoke soufflés are in the recipe card below, but here's an overview!
Step 1
Make the artichoke sauce. Combine the canned artichoke bottoms and the half and half in a blender and purée.
Step 2
Make the roux. Melt the butter, whisk in the flour and cook for a few minutes. Whisk in the artichoke sauce, some of the Gruyere cheese and half of the thyme.
Continue to whisk until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth. Remove from the heat to cool.
Step 3
Beat. Separate the eggs with the whites in a medium bowl, and the the yolks in a separate medium bowl. Using a hand mixer, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. It's important that there is absolutely no yolk in the egg whites, or they will not whip up to much more than froth. Set aside.
Whisk the artichoke sauce by large spoonfuls into the yolks. Drizzle each spoonful into the yolks, while whisking, to keep them from becoming scrambled eggs. As you add more sauce, the egg yolks will become tempered, or used to the warm sauce.
Step 4
Fold and first bake. Fold the egg whites into the sauce, spoon into ramekins and bake.
Step 5
Second bake. Flip the soufflés out of the ramekins and arrange in a baking dish. Place slivers of marinated artichoke hearts on top, pour the cream over them, sprinkle on the remaining thyme and cheese.
Bake and serve warm.
👩🍳 Preparation Tips
- For details with photos on how to make a silky roux, check out this post for spinach madeline. The explanation is about half-way down the post, or use the table of contents for How to Make a Silky Roux.
- The best way to separate the eggs is to use the three-bowl method. One bowl is for the egg whites, one for the yolks, and one for breaking open the egg. That way, if the yolk breaks when breaking open the egg, you won't affect the pristine egg whites. If any yolk gets into the whites, they won't whip up to a medium-stiff peaks.
- Fold the whipped egg whites into the sauce in thirds. This makes it much easier to fold them in.
- Don't over-fold the egg whites. There should be clumps of whipped whites through the sauce.
⏰ Tip to Simplify and Save Time
- If time is short, you can make these soufflés through the first bake the day before, and refrigerate. Sit on the counter for 30 minutes while you preheat the oven, to bring them back to room temperature before doing the second baking.
📇 More Artichoke Recipes
If you love artichokes, you might like this stuffed artichoke recipe on the blog, stuffed with quinoa tabbouleh.
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Double-Baked Artichoke Soufflés with Cheese
Ingredients
- 13.75 ounce can of artichoke bottoms sliced in quarters
- ½ cup half and half
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup lightly packed grated Gruyere cheese divided
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme divided
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 egg yolks
- 3 egg whites
- 2 marinated artichoke hearts (jarred) thinly sliced into a total of 8 slices
- ⅔ cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400˚F, and butter the bottoms and sides of four ramekins, each of which have a 1-cup capacity. Line the bottoms of the ramekins with parchment paper, and place them in a baking dish. Pro-tip: The best way to get the circles of parchment paper, fold a sheet of parchment over on itself twice to create 4 layers. Place one of the ramekins on top of the parchment, and trace the bottom. Use some scissors to cut along the trace, which will produce 4 circles.
- Add the artichoke bottoms and half & half to a blender, and blitz like crazy until smooth.
- Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat, and whisk in the flour. When the flour is incorporated, reduce the heat to medium-low, and continue to whisk every 15 - 20 seconds until the flour is lightly browned.
- Stir in the artichoke cream from the blender, ½ cup of the cheese, ½ teaspoon of the thyme, and the salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes until the cheese melts. The mixture will be thick. Remove from the heat to cool slightly.
- Separate the eggs into 2 separate medium sized bowls. Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites, and beat them to medium stiff peaks using a hand mixer. Set aside.Pro tip: To test if the egg whites are ready, dip the beaters into the whipped whites, and then turn the beaters upside down pointing up to the ceiling. The egg white tips should be defined but droop.
- Gradually add the artichoke mixture to the egg yolks by whisking in one large spoonful at a time to keep the egg yolk from curdling into bits of scrambled eggs. A large serving spoon is perfect for this.
- Fold in the whipped egg whites. The best way to do this is to fold in only ⅓ of the whipped egg whites at a time, using a large spatula. There should be some lumps of whipped eggs whites when you're done.
- Ladle the soufflé batter into the prepared ramekins, about ¾ full. Pour very hot or boiling water into the baking dish, about half-way up the sides of the ramekins.
- Bake for 10 minutes, and reduce the oven temperature to 350˚F. Bake for another 15 minutes. Remove the baking dish from the oven, keep the oven on, and carefully lift the ramekins from the pan using a towel. Transfer them to a cooling rack and allow them to collapse.
- Empty the baking dish of the water, and dry it.
- Once the soufflés cool a few minutes, run a sharp knife around each ramekin and turn them upside down to flip out the little soufflés. They should slide out very easily. Arrange the soufflés back in the baking dish. Place a couple slivers of artichoke hearts on top of each one.Pour the cream over the soufflés. Add the remaining thyme and the rest of the grated cheese to the cream.
- Bake for another 10 - 12 minutes. Serve warm.
Liz
Oh, my gosh, these sound amazing!!! Gruyere and artichoke hearts are staples in my kitchen and I can't wait to try your souffles!
Jane
What beautiful and delicious savory souffles. Artichoke hearts and Gruyere are the perfect combination to make our mouths water. Brava Susan!
Karen
That is an amazing and simple way to rescue a collapsed souffle like it was meant to be! Love your toppings too. Gorgeous
Laura @motherwouldknow
I never make souffles for just the reasons you listed. But now, I will have to try these, as I won't end up serving pancakes or embarrassing myself as I try to explain what the dish should have looked like. these are just spectacular and I'll bet they taste amazing.
Carol Borchardt
I'm a total artichoke fiend and I can't wait to try this recipe! I've never attempted a souffle just because they sound so tricky but these.....! These I can do. Such an elegant dish for a spring meal!
Tamara Andersen
What a glorious combination you have in this Double Baked Artichoke Cheese Souffle recipe! I had to sympathize with your description of the souffle turned pancake as that has often been my experience... This is such a creative way to use them! And GRUYERE AND ARTICHOKES. Yum!
Ansh
I may never look up from the plate :)) Such a delicious recipe. So decadent , elegant and just plain delicious.
Sarah Walker Caron
What a great idea! I love artichokes and souffles ... these sound divine.
Beth
I love that you make us feel ok about our souffle deflating and that you can do this gorgeous dish over a couple of days! I have artichokes on my mind!
Barbara | Creative Culinary
Thank you, I know you must have done this recipe just for me right? Because that whole collapsing thing? I deal with that EVERY DAY at high altitude so some things I just never make and souffles are one of them.
But this? With artichokes? Yep, this will be done...what a great idea. I need to figure out steps to make every souffle twice baked now! Great dish Susan...can't wait to try it.
Megan @ MegUnprocessed
I LOVE artichoke! I was just saying I need to get some from the farmers market.
Toni
It looks so good! Definitely a must-make!
Michael Simmons
My wife loves cheese soufflé so I made this for dinner with ham and it turned out perfect! Thank you for sharing this recipe with us!
Naveen Sohail
This is comfort food at it's best! I love to read more recipes like this.
Ali
OMG, I can't wait for more to try this. this is amazing