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How to Cook Asparagus
Roasted asparagus in the oven is one of the easiest way to prepare asparagus. Just coat the asparagus with a little olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and maybe a little minced garlic, and roast them until lightly browned and tender.
If you want to take the roasted asparagus up a notch, when they’re done, drizzle them with a little lemon juice or balsamic vinegar or sprinkle them with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Tip for Roasted Asparagus
Have you ever had roasted asparagus turn out tough and stringy? The best way to avoid that is to use the fat spears, not the skinny ones, for roasting. The skinny ones will dry out too quickly in the high heat of the oven.
More great asparagus recipes
Roasted Asparagus Recipe
For best results for roasting asparagus, use thick asparagus spears, not skinny ones. The thin ones will dry out too quickly and will end up tough and stringy.
Ingredients
- 1 pound asparagus spears (thick spears are best for roasting)
- 1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- Kosher Salt
- Freshly grated black pepper
- Lemon juice (or balsamic vinegar)
Method
1 Preheat oven and prep asparagus: Preheat your oven to 400°F (205°C). Rinse the asparagus spears. If the ends are tough, break them off and either discard or save for stock. You can also use a vegetable peeler to peel away the tough outer skin of the fatter ends of the asparagus if you want.
2 Drizzle asparagus with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic: Line a roasting pan with foil. Arrange the asparagus spears in a single layer on the lined roasting pan.
Drizzle with olive oil and rub the spears all over with the olive oil to coat. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and minced garlic, and rub over the asparagus spears to evenly distribute.
3 Roast in oven: Roast at 400°F (205°C) for 10 minutes, more or less, depending on your particular oven and how thick the spears are, until the asparagus are just lightly browned and tender when you pierce them with a fork.
4 Drizzle with lemon juice or balsamic to serve: To serve, drizzle with fresh lemon juice or balsamic vinegar, and if you want, a sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese (skip if cooking vegan).
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Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
Roasted Asparagus
When you say roasting pan, do you mean a cookie/baking sheet?
Hi Laura,
Based on the photos, I’d say yes–a rimmed baking sheet. You could use a roasting pan if that’s all you had, though. It should still give one pound of asparagus plenty of room to roast up and brown without steaming.
I roasted the asparagus 3 ways and then tasted them with my husband. Our favorite ones were roasted with olive oil, sea salt, ground black pepper and lemongrass mint balsamic vinegar. I cooked them @ 400 degrees for 10 mins. They were perfect! Thanks for your recipe.
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This was the best asparagus that I have ever had! I left out the salt (due to dietary restrictions) and the garlic (because I was serving it with a garlic heavy meal) and it was still perfect. Also skipped step 4 because it tasted amazing before adding anything else.
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Great recipe
I am going to roast my remaining asparagus tomorrow night for dinner as I was very happy with the results following the recipe. I had never sed my potato peeler for the tough ends of the stalks but it made an amazing improvement! Thanks!
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