My Favorite Asparagus Recipes

For seasonal cooks, no vegetable shouts "it's spring again" quite like asparagus. The season for local asparagus is just a few weeks long, best be prepared! The season for good supermarket asparagus is long but who wants to make the same ol' steamed asparagus week after week? I'm here to help, proud to present my best and favorite asparagus recipes, all in one place ...

A Dozen+ of My Best Asparagus Recipes, Everyday to Special, Sides to Salads, Soups to Suppers. Recipes Include Nutrition Information & Weight Watchers Points. Many Vegetarian, Vegan & Naturally Gluten Free Recipes.

Skip Straight to My Favorite Asparagus Recipes

for Everyday
~ or ~

for "Special"
(Special Asparagus & Special Occasions)

~ or ~
Check Out All My Asparagus Recipes

Quick! Quick!
What Is Spring's Favorite Vegetable?

Artichokes, you think? Good thought! Maybe tender, just-plcked English peas? For sure, also so fleeting. Unless you keep a garden, there's no getting fresh peas to the table fast enough. Garlic scapes? Fiddlehead ferns? Both lovely but still, puh-lease.

Here's my vote for spring's best vegetable: ASPARAGUS!

And vegetable lovers agree! Every March 1, like clockwork, A Veggie Venture's asparagus recipe traffic begins. Visits peak and plateau in mid May but stay strong well into July. That's a five-month season!

And that's the thing that asparagus has over other classic spring vegetables: a long season.

For four or five weeks midway, locally grown asparagus is available in most locales. But before and after special home-grown asparagus is available, the miracle of our global food distribution system produces excellent imports: yes, call me a huge fan of most grocery-store asparagus, especially for everyday.

The same special-to-everyday continuum holds true for the asparagus recipes I've been collecting here online since 2005.

• Everyday Recipes – These are the quickest and easiest recipes, perfect for weeknight sides and suppers. Use the asparagus you have, whether fresh and local or straight from the produce section at your supermarket.
• Special Recipes – On this page, "special" means both "special asparagus" (local, just picked, etc) and "special occasions" during asparagus season (spring events like Easter and Mother's Day, say).

Asparagus: Thick or Thin?

Pay attention, all asparagus is not alike. It pays to notice, because different thicknesses are suited for different cooking/eating.

• Skinny Spears Best for eating raw or a very quick sauté. You definitely don't want to roast skinny asparagus, there's so little meat, the spears will shrivel or burn in high heat.
• Fat Spears Thick, almost plump asparagus spears are extra-good roasted.
• Medium-Thick Spears Good news, asparagus that's somewhere in the middle (not thin, not thick) is the easiest to find, especially in grocery stores. Better news, medium-thick asparagus spears are also the most versatile.

Thickness is so important I've noted which size is best on each of these favorite recipes. I want you to love asparagus! I want you to love my recipes! That's why I work so hard to make sure visitors are armed with useful information.

How Much Asparagus to Buy? What About Those Woody Parts?

Buy a pound of potatoes and, well, you'll cook and eat a pound of potatoes: there's very little waste, especially when you leave the skins on.

But buy a pound of asparagus and, well, the edible yield may be just half a pound!

Here's why. Up to half the length of an individual spear may be woody, possibly inedible and definitely less pleasurable to eat.

That's why many recipes suggest either peeling or striping asparagus when the skins are a little tough. It's also why, as an alternative to peeling the asparagus, other recipes say to "remove the woody ends".

And sure, it's quite easy to line up the asparagus flat on a cutting board and just cut off an inch or two or three from the bottom of the spears. But to avoid waste and to maximize the edible portion of asparagus, especially "special" asparagus, many good cooks use this technique to remove the woody ends.

There's a rhythm! Bend, Bend, Snap! Bend, Bend, Snap!

• THE HOW TO Asparagus & Woody Ends (Step-by-Step Photos & Video)

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My Favorite
Asparagus Recipes
for Every Day

• THE RECIPE How to Microwave Asparagus
• WORKS BEST with medium-thick and thick asparagus.

• THE RECIPE Easy Sautéed Asparagus
• WORKS WITH ALL asparagus thicknesses, but cooking time will vary.

• THE RECIPE Roasted Asparagus with Feta Roasted without oil, topped with warm, melty feta.
• WORKS BEST for medium-thick or thick spears.

• THE RECIPE Slow-Roasted Asparagus
• WORKS BEST with medium-thick and especially very thick spears.

• THE RECIPE Asparagus Scallion Salad with Hard-Cooked Egg
• WORKS BEST with medium-thick asparagus spears.

• THE RECIPE Easy-to-Elegant Asparagus Soup One recipe with either rustic or refined texture.
• WORKS BEST with medium-thick and thick asparagus, also with a mix of different sizes

• THE RECIPE Asparagus with Blender Hollandaise
• WORKS BEST for thin or medium-thick asparagus spears.

• THE RECIPE Asparagus Tapenade
• WORKS BEST for medium-thick and thick asparagus spears.

• THE RECIPE Quick Pickled Asparagus No canning required.
• WORKS BEST with medium-thickness spears.

• THE RECIPE Lemon & Asparagus Pasta Light and bright for spring.
• WORKS BEST for skinny and medium-thick asparagus.

• THE RECIPE Stir-Fried Shrimp with Asparagus or Other Summer Vegetables Tossed in an addictive sweet 'n' sour hot sauce.
• WORKS BEST for medium-thick asparagus spears.

• THE RECIPE Roasted Salmon & Asparagus The original sheetpan supper.
• WORKS BEST for medium-thick or thick spears.

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My Favorite
Asparagus Recipes
for Special Asparagus
& Special Occasions

• THE RECIPE Gorgeous Raw Asparagus Salad
• WORKS BEST for the freshest, thinnest asparagus you can find!

• THE RECIPE Party Asparagus with Aioli
• WORKS BEST for slightly skinny or medium-thick asparagus spears.

• THE RECIPE Asparagus Risotto Lighter, more flavor thanks to a gorgeous asparagus stock.
• WORKS BEST for medium-thick or thick spears.

• THE RECIPE Spring Garden Vegetable Soup with Asparagus, Artichokes, Peas & Spinach A bowlful of our favorite spring vegetables.
• WORKS BEST for medium-thick spears.

• THE RECIPE Asparagus Custard Tart Visually impressive but oh-so-easy.
• WORKS BEST for either thin or medium-thick spears.

• THE RECIPE Greek Spinach-Asparagus-Potato Gratin (Spinaki me Sparaggia Orgraten) A bit of a production but the best "creamed spinach" ever.
• WORKS BEST for medium-thick or thick asparagus.

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Calling All Asparagus Lovers ...

So that's it, people. If you're crazy for asparagus, you'll definitely want to check out all my asparagus recipes. Your personal favorite is right there, hiding in plain sight ...

• THE A-Z COLLECTION Asparagus Recipes Soups to salads to suppers and still more, the whole collection.
• JUST THE FAVORITES (You're Here!) Favorite Asparagus Recipes A shortlist of favorites, everyday to special!

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Collections: More Favorite Vegetable Recipes

~ My Favorite ASPARAGUS Recipes ~
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~ 15 Favorite Vegetable Recipes, Still Useful After 15 Years ~
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Looking for healthy new ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of super-organized quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables. Join "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg to explore the exciting world of common and not-so-common vegetables, seasonal to staples, savory to sweet, salads to sides, soups to supper, simple to special.

© Copyright Kitchen Parade
2011 & 2022

Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

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