10 Easy Asparagus Recipes

Our favorite easy asparagus recipe? Baked! Here the tender stalks are baked in a hot oven until tender, but still beautifully green. Then they're spritzed with lemon, and the finishing touch: gooey melted Parmesan cheese. It’s the perfect way to eat asparagus, which can often be cooked until it’s bitter and limp. Even better, it’s a side dish that’s easy enough to whip up while you’re in the midst of cooking a main!

Creamy, savory, crunchy, and zingy: this asparagus risotto is truly sublime. Roast up some asparagus with lemon at the same time that you’re stirring up a creamy Parmesan risotto on the stove. Then throw the tender bright green asparagus into the risotto, right along with the lemon. You’ll wish the pot would never end (we certainly did!).

Want a salad that’s as tasty as it is versatile? Enter: asparagus salad! It’s got savory sauteed asparagus, cooked up in a hot pan for a few minutes then spritzed with lemon. Add that to a bed of greens and sprinkle with peppery radishes and salty feta cheese. A Dijon mustard dressing tops it off. Even better: you can serve as a side dish, or add cooked quinoa and make it a main dish salad. 

Turns out grilled asparagus might be the very best way to cook it! It’s easy and requires only a few ingredients. And it comes out incredible: tender and charred, with a hint of smoke. Spritz it with lemon juice for a little brightness, and it’s a fresh and healthy side dish you won’t be able to stop eating! It's perfect to throw on the grill while you're grilling a main dish.

Here's a tasty way to eat asparagus as part of a main dish dinner: combine it with pasta! This easy pasta recipe takes just 7 ingredients and about 20 minutes to make. The asparagus is combined with lemon, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese to make a pasta dish that tastes greater than the sum of its parts. Add a green salad and it's a healthy dinner! Also try: Vegan Pasta Primavera

Have you ever tried raw shaved asparagus? The flavor of asparagus raw and shaved is unlike anything you'd imagine: it's not bitter at all! Instead the flavor is lightly sweet and the crunch is refreshing. Here it's shaved with a vegetable peeler and then combined with olive oil, lemon juice and Parmesan into a salad that's incredibly flavorful.

Here’s a simple way to get a side dish on the table…fast: sauteed asparagus! When you’re trying to get dinner on the table, you don’t want to get stuck on a side dish. Here’s an easy side dish that requires little prep and almost no thought. Bright green asparagus is sauteed simply with olive oil and lemon, and we've got a list of flavor adders to amp it up!

Another great way to add asparagus to a main dish recipe: throw it in a frittata! This easy frittata recipe stars bright bursts of roasted cherry tomatoes along with fresh shaved asparagus. Most asparagus frittata recipes use cooked asparagus: but shaving it and using it raw brings a sweet, fresh flavor that's uniquely delicious. It's topped with feta cheese and perfect for brunch, lunch or a simple dinner.

Here's another easy asparagus side dish recipe: roasted asparagus with lemon! This one's fully plant based. And it's so simple that you should be able to memorize it. Who needs to follow a recipe? This one you can cook from the gut. The asparagus is tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon zest. The secret ingredient? Grated garlic, which infuses a delightful savory flavor. Throw that lemony garlic asparagus in the oven and roast for 10 to 15 minutes, until it’s tender.

Want a quick and healthy way to cook asparagus? Try steamed asparagus. Steaming is healthier than most ways since you don’t need to use as much fat! If you do it correctly, it comes out bright green and crisp tender: perfect with a zing of lemon. And it takes only 10 minutes!