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Oven Roasted Asparagus is a flavorful side dish for any meal. Topped with olive oil, garlic, and cheese, they come out perfectly tender and crisp every time!
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Oven roasted asparagus is the best way to prepare perfectly gorgeous green asparagus every time. It’s never soggy or mushy, just tender and crispy when serving. The secret is cooking it for a short amount of time over high heat. This is will help cook the asparagus quicker without letting the oils soak into the asparagus.
Toss the asparagus in oil and spices, bake at 400 degrees on a rimmed baking sheet, and viola! You’ve got a delicious side dish. If you’ve never tried oven-roasted asparagus, try this recipe! It’ll change the way you prepare veggies forever.
Roasted Asparagus Ingredients
Easy, simple seasonings complement beautiful, fresh asparagus. Here’s what you need:
- Asparagus – The main ingredient! A bunch of asparagus, freshly picked is best. Thick asparagus spears give you more to eat. Thin asparagus doesn’t hold the toppings as well. Snap the stems at the bottom to remove the woody ends of the asparagus.
- Olive oil – Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the top of the asparagus before adding on toppings.
- Garlic – Seasoning the fresh asparagus lightly will give it extra flavor.
- Parmesan cheese – Make these even better with a little cheese to go over the top the asparagus stalk. This will melt evenly and have a deliciously cheesy taste.
- Kosher salt – This will balance out all the flavors and add that subtle salt flavor. If you like a thicker more flavorful salt, try sea salt over top!
What to Serve with Oven Roasted Asparagus
This side dish is super easy to make and it is a delicious side to our favorite meals. From pork roast to grilled steak to regular baked chicken, it complements each of these dinner recipes! We even love serving roasted asparagus for Easter dinner. Not only does it add beautiful color to the table, but it also has such a delicious and fresh spring flavor.
Asparagus can be seasoned in a million different ways. However, it always tastes scrumptious with whatever meal you’re serving. This roasted asparagus recipe is always a favorite at our dinner table whenever we make it for our families!
Bake asparagus at a high temperature to ensure the heat bakes it evenly and quickly. This creates that crisp-tender taste and texture. Simple ingredients for a simple but decadent side dish!
Tips for Baking
Asparagus cooks best laying flat on a baking sheet without layering the asparagus over the top of each other. These helpful tips can help make your asparagus even better. Try using them while making these oven-roasted asparagus!
- Removing ends – To remove tough ends, grab one stalk of asparagus at each end and bend until it snaps. It will naturally snap where it starts to get tough. Avoid using a knife if possible.
- Lining baking sheet – When lining your baking sheet, use a silpat mat or parchment paper instead of foil. Foil tends to make roasted asparagus more mushy.
- Make room for the asparagus – Place them on the baking sheet in one layer, and try not to overlap them. Give them as much space as possible for even cooking.
- Asparagus size – Thick spears tastes the same as thinner spears. So, feel free to roast up whatever you have on hand. Thinner spears can be tougher to chew, while thicker spears are more tender. So, just be careful to adjust your roasting time a few minutes.
- Heat – If you like your food on the spicy side, sprinkle red pepper flakes over top of the parmesan cheese. This will add a bit of spice to your asparagus.
- For a smaller batch of asparagus, try our Air Fryer Asparagus recipe.
More Ways to Season Roasted Asparagus
There are several ways to season this delicious spring vegetable. This goes for broccoli, butternut squash, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, any veggie you want to roast in the oven.
- Sprinkle Parmesan and mozzarella over it, or add a little sugar to caramelize.
- Use your favorite brand of seasoning salt, fresh lemon juice with some lemon zest
- Toss with seasoned bread crumbs.
- Add bacon, garlic powder, or onions to the top
- Cover asparagus with kosher salt and black pepper
- Sprinkle with fresh parsley, basil, or other fresh herbs
- Toss asparagus with slivered almonds
“Made them a couple of weeks ago and they are out of this world. In fact, my sister-in-law was standing over the Pan just eating them straight from the oven.”
-Caroline
Storing and Reheating Leftover Roasted Asparagus
Place leftover roasted asparagus in an airtight container and keep in the refrigerator for five to seven days. When ready to reheat leftovers, you can place them back in the oven for a few minutes, reheat in an air fryer, or you can microwave them for about thirty seconds. Unfortunately, the microwave makes them a bit soft, so I would recommend the oven or air fryer method.
You can also add leftover cooked asparagus spears cold to salads. Cut up thicker asparagus spears into a green or pasta salad for added fiber and flavor. Thick or thin spears of asparagus can also be cut into bite-size pieces and added to scrambled eggs or an omelet.
Frequently Asked Questions
Most people use foil when baking asparagus. This is actually the reason for the mushy asparagus. It doesn’t give it any room to breathe, it continues to soak in the moisture and oil from the pan. Switching to parchment paper for oven-roasted asparagus is a game changer!
Either way is great! Blanching helps give the asparagus help in the cooking process. Blanching helps avoid char on the outside of the asparagus when it is being cooked at a high temperature. This is best used when you are grilling, searing, or roasting.
It is a simple process. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add salt and place asparagus into the large pot. This will add seasoning but also help when roasting the asparagus. It will keep the asparagus crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
Asparagus is found in well-drained soils and does not have extremely acidic soils. It can grow in heavy, medium, or sandy soils, as long as the soils are well-drained areas. If there is a lot of water after it rains, asparagus will not be able to survive.
READ MORE: 35+ Easter Dinner Ideas
More Delicious Vegetable Sides
If you’re looking for more delicious vegetable side dishes like our roasted asparagus, check out some of our other favorites! If you prefer oven roasting your veggies, you will love our roasted Brussels sprouts with potatoes and our roasted vegetable recipes.
How to Make Roasted Asparagus
Oven Roasted Asparagus Recipe
Video
Equipment
- Conventional Oven
Ingredients
- 1 bunch asparagus (trimmed)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (extra virgin)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese (grated)
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
- Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425-degrees. Rinse and trim asparagus. Dry well and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl or shallow dish, combine olive oil, garlic, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Toss well with asparagus until asparagus is lightly coated with mixture.
- Place asparagus in a single layer on a lined baking sheet pan and bake for 8-10 minutes.
- Remove from oven and serve immediately.
Notes
How to Store and Reheat Leftover Roasted Asparagus
- Place leftover roasted asparagus in an airtight container in the fridge for five to seven days.
- When ready to reheat leftovers, you can place them back in the oven for a few minutes or, you can microwave them for about thirty seconds.
- Unfortunately, the microwave makes them a bit soft, so I would recommend the oven method.
I recalled my mother made this recipe years ago and it was absolutely delicious and tasty. It still is a favorite side dish of mine because it is healthy. While reading about this recipe, it brought back wonderful memories of my mother and her great cooking skills. I miss you mother.
One of my favorite things about spring is asparagus popping up out of the path, I have roasted it many times but, oh my goodness, never thought about adding the parmasan cheese! YUM!
Very good! Would make again but 1/2 the salt next time!! 🙂
Made them a couple weeks ago and they are out of this world. In fact my sister-in-law was standing over the Pan just eating them straight from the oven.
omg, I never knew about the foil making it mushier but makes so much sense! Thanks for the great tip, I’ll definitely be switching to parchment paper for oven-roasted asparagus from now on!
I love the coating of the asparagus. Totally worth the extra step. It 100% makes this recipe.
The photos alone made me want to cook this! Truly an awesome recipe and great tips too. This will become a regular in my house from now on.
Thank you.
We love asparagus and this recipe is perfect for us. Especially the pairing with parmesan cheese!
I have made this recipe several times and never liked asparagus until now its the best ever!
Asparagus ( fresh or canned)
Rinse & dry or drain can & pat dry with paper towels
1/2 to 1 sleeve of Ritz crackers ( crushed)
2-3 TBS melted butter
Shredded cheddar cheese
I rinse & dry asparagus or drain & pat dry can asparagus with paper towels. ( try to get as dry as you can)
Place / spread apart on lined cookie sheet.
To crushed ritz crackers ..add a little melted butter .mix together lightly till coated with butter
Sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese over asparagus ..then sprinkle ritz crackers over that.
Place in 425 oven for 15 minutes
Remove from oven & ready to eat.
Really good … I could eat it all at one meal 😊
Created dairy free version (have dairy allergen)with follow your heart parmesan cheese shreds.
Turned out great. Taste delicious
My husband just pulled the asparagus out of the oven as I typed this THE AROMA is phenomenal can’t wait to try it
Love how easy and flavorful roasted asparagus is! It’s always in rotation around here! – thanks for the recipe!
This recipe is easy and always delicious! I add a little bit of fresh lemon zest and it’s perfect.