Asparagus. You either love it or hate it; there’s no in between. Jason and I love it, while the kids aren’t as big of fans. So I’m always trying to come up with ways to make it taste good so they’ll eat it. And I finally nailed it with this baked asparagus recipe with some tips from health and fitness experts Zone Body Fit
Instead of just putting olive oil and salt and pepper on it, I started playing with different flavors. I know that the kids love my Best Broccoli Ever recipe (it’s one of the top 3 most viewed recipes here on my blog and one of my most pinned ones on Pinterest) because it’s got garlic and lemon and cheese, so I decided to do baked asparagus the same way.
Baked Asparagus Preparation Instructions
Ingredients
- 1 bunch asparagus spears, trimmed (the thinner the spears, the better!)
- 2 – 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 fresh garlic cloves, minced (if you don’t have fresh, you can use the dried)
- 1 – 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- Course sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 425 degrees.
- Place the asparagus on a foil lined cookie sheet. Drizzle with the olive oil, garlic, cheese, salt, and pepper. Using a spatula, mix the spears around to coat with all the ingredients. Arrange the asparagus in a single layer.
- Bake until just tender, about 15 minutes.
- Sprinkle with lemon juice.
A note and a tip…
TIP: Do you know where to cut the asparagus spear when you are trimming them? It’s simple. Take a spear and bend it. It will break at exactly the spot where the tough stalk that nobody wants to eat meets the tender spear! You can either do this to each spear, or to save time, just do it to one and then line all the rest of them up on a cutting board and use that one spear as a guide to chop all the rest.
Note: The reason I say 1 – 2 tablespoons and salt and pepper to taste is because it just depends on how much flavor your family likes. If your family loves garlic, add more! Pepper is the devil to my kids, so I add less pepper. I add more lemon juice because they love it. Make the recipe to suit your family’s tastes.
This baked asparagus is super simple to make and takes no time at all to prep and cook, so it’s the perfect side dish on busy weeknights. And it’s kid approved!
But this recipe does double duty. Instead of baked asparagus, why not grill them? Over the weekend, the weather was amazing so we grilled baby back ribs for dinner at my sister’s house. I made grilled asparagus. I followed the instructions for the baked asparagus, but once I got them all prepped, I wrapped them in bacon and scewered them instead!
We grilled them for about 20 minutes, and then put the lemon juice on them at the end. They were delicious!
How do you like your asparagus cooked? The next time I make this asparagus, I’m adding cooked bacon. I also can’t wait to try this recipe for baked asparagus with balsamic butter sauce…YUM! I’m always looking for new ways to make it so if you have a recipe you love, please share!
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