26 Asparagus Recipes to Put a Little Spring in Your Step (2024)

One of the miracles of the modern world is that you're able to find fresh asparagus in your local supermarket in the middle of winter, and it might even taste okay. But those supermarket spears pale in comparison to what you'll find at your local farmers' market come spring. The stuff shipped from who-knows-where can't touch the sweet, grassy flavor of peak-season asparagus, and I like to eat asparagus all the time in all sorts of ways this time of year. If you need a little help with preparing and storing asparagus, we've got a guide that's got you covered, but here are also 26 of our best asparagus recipes, from an asparagus and sweet pea frittata to Sichuan-style asparagus and tofu salad, to serve as inspiration.

26 Asparagus Recipes to Put a Little Spring in Your Step (1)

Sides

Sautéed Asparagus

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One of the absolute easiest ways to cook asparagus is to sauté it in a heavy pan with a little vegetable oil. The key is to get the pan hot and to avoid overcrowding the asparagus—you want to sear the stalks quickly so that they get a charred, woodsy flavor before their interiors get too soft. Try serving the asparagus with a quick caraway-yogurt sauce.

Sautéed Asparagus

Broiled Asparagus With Cotija Cheese

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A hot pan will get you pretty nicely caramelized asparagus, but putting that pan under a blazing broiler is even better. The asparagus will get great color but also stay crisp. We toss the asparagus with olive oil, salt, and pepper before cooking and finish with a squeeze of lime juice and a sprinkling of Cotija cheese.

Broiled Asparagus With Cotija Cheese

Simple Grilled Asparagus

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The grill is another effective tool for quickly browning asparagus. Toss the asparagus with olive to make sure it doesn't dry out and be careful to keep the stalks perpendicular to the grates so you don't lose any to the fire. Grilled asparagus is delicious as is, but it's even better when dipped in homemade aioli.

Simple Grilled Asparagus

Charcoal Chimney–Grilled Asparagus With Green Goddess Dressing

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Green vegetables like asparagus often end up overcooked on the grill, either flaccid or charred to a crisp. Grilling the spears hard and fast by placing them directly over a charcoal chimney starter keeps them green and tender-crisp, while giving them just the right amount of char.

Charcoal Chimney–Grilled Asparagus With Green Goddess Dressing Recipe

Braised Asparagus

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Braising might seem like a recipe for mushy asparagus, but do it right and you'll be rewarded with a flavorful, perfectly tender result. We like to sear the stalks first to give them a little extra flavor before braising them in a mixture of stock and butter, which reduces to a rich sauce.

Braised Asparagus

Charred Asparagus With Miso Béarnaise Sauce

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A plate of charred asparagus with a velvety miso béarnaise is an elegant (and surprisingly easy) steak dinner side dish. The asparagus cook in the time it takes for your steak to rest, before everything is drizzled in the umami-packed sauce.

Charred Asparagus With Miso Béarnaise Sauce

Quick-Pickled Asparagus With Tarragon and Shallot

You don't have to cook asparagus at all—the hearty vegetable stands up well to pickling. This recipe uses a white wine vinegar brine flavored with tarragon and shallot, which makes for tangy, crunchy pickles that you can eat on their own, toss into salads, or layer into sandwiches. This recipe isn't appropriate for canning, but the pickled asparagus will last a few weeks in the fridge.

Quick-Pickled Asparagus With Tarragon and Shallot

Breakfast and Brunch

Spring Ramp and Asparagus Frittata

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This frittata pairs asparagus with a more elusive spring vegetable: ramps. If you can't find ramps, leeks or garlic will make a different but still tasty dish. We stir the eggs vigorously when they first hit the pan to form loose curds, then stop, let the bottom set, and move the pan to the broiler until the top looks done.

Spring Ramp and Asparagus Frittata

Asparagus and Sweet Pea Frittata With Minty Spring Salad

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Ramps aren't always easy to find, but I'm sure you can get your hands on some peas to make this frittata. If you have access to tiny, super-sweet fresh peas then you can use them, but otherwise go frozen. To round out the meal, serve the frittata with a fresh, herbal salad of shaved raw asparagus, mint leaves, and pea tendrils

Asparagus and Sweet Pea Frittata With Minty Spring Salad

Flipped Frittata With Asparagus, Spinach, Ham, and Cheese

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If you don't feel like turning on the broiler to make a frittata, you can finish it by flipping it midway. You end up with a denser texture, one that you might actually prefer over a poofier, oven-finished frittata. Here we use the technique for a frittata loaded with asparagus, shish*to peppers, spinach, ham, and cheese.

Flipped Frittata With Asparagus, Spinach, Ham, and Cheese

Diner-Style Asparagus, Bacon, and Gruyère Omelette for Two

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Packed with crispy bacon, sautéed asparagus, and Gruyère, this hearty omelette will comfortably feed two people. This is no delicate French omelette—we cook the eggs until they start to brown and we don't move them around that much, which lets them form large, fluffy curds.

Diner-Style Asparagus, Bacon, and Gruyère Omelette for Two

Sautéed Asparagus With Chorizo, Fried Eggs, and Smoked-Paprika Allioli

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We keep the asparagus and eggs theme going here, but turn instead to fried eggs and replace the bacon with cured Spanish chorizo. The chorizo's flavor penetrates the whole dish because we use the rendered fat to sauté the asparagus and cook the eggs. If that's not enough for you, finish it all off with an additional drizzle of the chorizo fat.

Sautéed Asparagus With Chorizo, Fried Eggs, and Smoked-Paprika Allioli

Cheesy Grits With Spring Vegetables

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As far as savory breakfasts go, grits are one of the most luxurious ways to start the day—especially if you make them with whole milk, cheddar cheese, and Parmigiano Reggiano. A rich bowl of slow-cooked grits needs something lighter for balance, so we top it with an assortment of spring vegetables glazed with butter and fresh herbs.

Cheesy Grits With Spring Vegetables

Asparagus alla Milanese (Poached Asparagus With Fried Egg and Parmesan Cheese)

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Asparagus alla Milanese has just three main ingredients, making it a perfect breakfast option on weekdays when you have asparagus to use up, but not a lot of extra time. Asparagus spears are poached until cooked but still ever-so-slightly snappy, then they're topped with a fried egg, a generous amount of Parmigiano-Reggiano, and a drizzle of good olive oil.

Asparagus alla Milanese (Poached Asparagus With Fried Egg and Parmesan Cheese)

Broiled Asparagus With Fried Egg and Gorgonzola

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This dish is an equally easy take on the classic asparagus alla Milanese. Here, the asparagus are broiled instead of poached, and topped with creamy gorgonzola, a fried egg, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, and a sprinkle of toasted bread crumbs for texture.

Broiled Asparagus With Fried Egg and Gorgonzola

Kimchi and Asparagus Stir-Fry With Spam and Fried Egg

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A fried egg turns any dish into breakfast food, right? Right! Here, asparagus is sliced quite thinly, and stir-fried with kimchi and spam. Then it's topped with a fried egg, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, and a dusting of grated Spanish chorizo.

Kimchi and Asparagus Stir-Fry With Spam and Fried Egg

Crispy Pork Shoulder Hash With Charred Asparagus and Serrano Chile

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This crispy pork hash is designed to use leftover pork roast and our preferredtechniques for making great potato hash—par-cooking potatoes with vinegar to maximize internal tenderness and outer crispiness, as well as cooking all the components (potatoes, asparagus, and pork) separately so that they end up tender and perfectly crisp.

Crispy Pork Shoulder Hash With Charred Asparagus and Serrano Chile

The Rest

Asparagus, Mushroom, Leek, and Cheese Galette

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Easy to throw together, this vegetable tart has a crispy, flaky, and buttery free-form crust and a savory filling of spring ingredients—tender asparagus, melted leeks, and earthy mushrooms, with Fontina cheese tying everything together.

Asparagus, Mushroom, Leek, and Cheese Galette

Poached Chicken and Asparagus With Green Goddess Sauce

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One tricky thing about cooking asparagus is that the tips cook faster than the stems. This isn't usually a big deal, but peeling the asparagus will let it cook more evenly. We poach the asparagus and serve it with poached chicken and a green goddess sauce that has whipped cream folded in for an almost mousse-like consistency.

Poached Chicken and Asparagus With Green Goddess Sauce

Stir-Fried Spring Vegetables With Black Olives and Sichuan Peppercorn

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This stir-fry is packed with some ingredients you probably wouldn't expect to find in a Chinese-style dish, like morels and black olives. Tradition aside, these spring vegetables taste great with garlic, ginger, scallions, Shaoxing wine, and soy sauce. It's worth the effort to blanch the green veggies before stir-frying—it sets their color so they stay vibrant.

Stir-Fried Spring Vegetables With Black Olives and Sichuan Peppercorn

Sichuan-Style Asparagus and Tofu Salad

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Another Chinese-inspired dish, this one pairs tender-crisp blanched asparagus with meaty firm tofu. We dress the salad with a mouth-numbing hot-and-sour sauce that we'd normally use to serve with Sichuan-style wontons (minus toasted sesame oil, which is a little overpowering in this dish).

Sichuan-Style Asparagus and Tofu Salad

Ricotta Gnocchi With Asparagus and Prosciutto

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Making pasta from scratch is an intimidating task, but homemade gnocchi is actually incredibly easy and only takes about half an hour. Whether or not you make the gnocchi yourself, definitely try out this dish of gnocchi served in a cream-based sauce made with asparagus, prosciutto, and scallions.

Ricotta Gnocchi With Asparagus and Prosciutto

Asparagus Tartine With Ricotta and Mint

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If I find beautiful asparagus at the farmers' market, I want to prepare it simply to preserve its fresh sweetness. This tartine celebrates the vegetable—we blanch the asparagus and serve it with creamy, mild ricotta. Mint leaves, freshly cracked black pepper, and olive oil bring the dish together without stealing the spotlight.

Asparagus Tartine With Ricotta and Mint

Asparagus and Ramp Soup With Yogurt

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We couldn't leave you without one more recipe using ramps—we love to pair them with asparagus while their seasons overlap. This easy spring soup is made with blanched asparagus, sautéed ramps, broth, and yogurt. Garnish each bowl with sautéed ramps and asparagus tips, mint, and plenty of olive oil.

Asparagus and Ramp Soup With Yogurt

Asparagus and Tarragon Velouté (Dairy-Free Creamy Asparagus Soup)

2:32

How to Make Creamy Asparagus Soup With No Cream

Technically, velouté is a sauce made by thickening stock with a butter- and flour-based roux. These days, the term is most often used to refer to velvety, smooth soups with little to no dairy fat. We build the base of flavor for this soup by cooking leeks, fennel, and asparagus with vegetable stock. The soup is puréed until smooth, and served with asparagus tips, crème fraîche, chopped tarragon, fennel fronds, and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

Asparagus and Tarragon Velouté (Dairy-Free Creamy Asparagus Soup)

Mushroom and Asparagus Risotto

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We often use a pressure cooker for mushroom risotto, but here we employ ouralmost-no-stir technique, which allows us to add asparagus toward the end of cooking. We worked out the timing so that the asparagus becomes tender just as the rice finishes cooking.

Mushroom and Asparagus Risotto

April 2019

26 Asparagus Recipes to Put a Little Spring in Your Step (2024)

FAQs

What is the best way to cook and eat asparagus? ›

Steamed, Simmered or Blanched. Simply steamed or simmered asparagus is delicious, and you can dress the spears however you like: in a bagna cauda, or a mixture of lemon juice and olive oil, or nothing at all. These are very easy cooking methods, and any size spear will work, although medium is best.

Why do you soak asparagus in ice water? ›

Shock the boiled asparagus in an ice bath.

The ice bath method stops the vegetables from cooking more, and keeps the beautiful, vibrant green color. Drain the blanched asparagus.

Should you soak asparagus in water before cooking? ›

You do not want sandy stalks in your salad, so rinse asparagus well in cold water. You may even want to soak the stalks in a few changes of fresh water, agitating them a bit in each to get rid of any stubborn stuck-on bits. When you're ready to cook, skip the bend-and-snap, which can lead to wasted asparagus.

What is the best fertilizer for asparagus beds? ›

In late fall, the asparagus bed will benefit from the generous application of well-composted manure. A balanced, complete fertilizer, such as a 10-10-10, can also be applied in the late fall, or in the late spring immediately after harvest is complete.

What is the healthiest way to eat asparagus? ›

Try adding shredded, raw asparagus to pasta dishes and salads. Alternatively, enjoy the spears lightly steamed or sautéed in a frittata, or as a stand-alone side dish. Asparagus is a nutritious choice, regardless of whether it's cooked or raw. Try eating a combination of the two for maximum health benefits.

Does asparagus get more tender the longer you cook it? ›

Undercooked asparagus, crunchy and forbidding, can taste like a punishment. But if you simmer asparagus long enough to cook it through, its texture becomes soft and almost creamy, and its lovely flavor comes into full bloom.

How many asparagus spears is a serving? ›

Asparagus is particularly high in folate and vitamins A and K. Keep in mind that a food is considered an excellent nutrient source if it meets 20% or more of your RDA in one serving. For asparagus, a standard serving size is six medium spears, a 1/2 cup of pieces, or just over three ounces cooked.

How do you cook asparagus so it doesn't get soggy? ›

Overcooking It

Because it only takes a few minutes to cook, keep a close eye on it to avoid soggy, limp stems as the outcome. To avoid overcooking, take it out of the oven or off the stove a minute or so before you think it's done. Another way to prevent overcooking is to shock the asparagus in an ice bath.

How do you cook asparagus so it's not stringy? ›

Remove woody ends: We recommend trimming off the woody ends because they're difficult to chew and result in stringy roasted asparagus. Cook at a high temperature: A higher temperature is what produces the lovely grilled flavor and al dente texture.

How long does it take to cook asparagus in the oven at 350? ›

Directions
  1. Trim asparagus, and season: Snap off and discard tough ends of asparagus; place asparagus on a lightly greased baking sheet. Drizzle evenly with olive oil; sprinkle evenly with garlic, salt, and pepper. ...
  2. Roast asparagus: Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes or to desired degree of tenderness.
Mar 11, 2024

Should you mulch asparagus in the spring? ›

They will grow right through the mulch, and the mulch will help keep weed growth down. Once all danger of frost is past in the spring, you could rake the mulch off to the side, which will allow the soil to warm up faster and the spears to emerge sooner.

What spice or herb goes well with asparagus? ›

Asparagus
  • Spices: smoked paprika, chipotle chili & cumin.
  • Fine herbs: rosemary, basil, dill, marjoram, Mediterranean oregano, thyme, cilantro, etc.
  • Spices: Allspice, curry, ginger, pepper, paprika, cayenne, mustard,
  • Fine herbs: basil, sage, bay leaf, oregano, parsley, savory, tarragon.
Jul 10, 2015

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