How do I cook asparagus properly?
Where to break the stem, whether to peel, and the four methods with their times — griddling, roasting, boiling and steaming — ranked by what each does to the flavour.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 10 min
- Read
- 3 min
Short answer
Snap or cut off the woody base, then griddle or roast at high heat for six to ten minutes, or boil for two to four. Griddling and roasting concentrate the flavour and are better than boiling for anything but the very thinnest spears. British asparagus has a short season from late April to around midsummer and it is worth waiting for.
Asparagus is one of the few vegetables where the British season is short, distinct and genuinely worth organising around. Out of season it is air-freighted and thin-tasting, and no technique compensates for that.
Step by step
- Deal with the woody end.Hold a spear at both ends and bend it — it snaps where the tender part ends. Do that with one spear, then line the rest up and cut them all to the same length, which wastes less than snapping each one. Keep the ends for stock or a blended soup.
- Peel only thick spears, and only the lower half.Fine and medium spears need no peeling. Thick spears, and white asparagus always, have a fibrous skin on the lower half worth taking off with a peeler. Lay the spear flat and peel away from the tip.
- Griddle or roast for the best flavour.Toss in olive oil and salt. Griddle pan or barbecue over a high heat for six to eight minutes, turning, until charred in places and just tender. Or roast at 220°C for eight to ten minutes in a single layer. Dry high heat browns the sugars and gives a far more interesting result than water.
- Boil briefly if you want it clean and green.A wide pan of well-salted boiling water, lid off, spears lying flat. Two minutes for thin, three or four for thick. Test by bending — it should droop slightly but not flop. Drain immediately, and refresh in iced water if it is not being eaten straight away.
- Steam if you are cooking a lot at once.Four to six minutes in a steamer, or standing upright in a tall pan with a couple of centimetres of water so the stems boil and the tips steam. The upright method is what asparagus pans are for and it does give more even cooking on thick spears.
- Stop while it still has bite.Overcooked asparagus goes olive, limp and slightly slimy, and it happens in under a minute. Take it off when it is bright green and bends without breaking.
- Dress it simply and at the last moment.Butter, lemon, flaky salt. Or hollandaise, a soft-boiled egg, parmesan, prosciutto, or a mustardy vinaigrette. Add anything acidic at the table — lemon in the pan turns it drab within a minute.
Tips
- Store asparagus standing in a centimetre of water in the fridge, like a bunch of flowers, with a bag loosely over the tips. It stays crisp for days that way and goes limp in a day lying flat.
- Thin spears are not inferior — they are simply a different thing, better for a quick griddle or shaved raw into a salad. Thick spears are better for roasting and for hollandaise.
- The British season is roughly St George's Day to the summer solstice. Asparagus grown here in that window has a depth that imported spears do not.
- Raw asparagus, shaved into ribbons with a peeler and dressed with lemon and parmesan, is excellent and rarely tried.
Questions people ask
Should I snap the ends or cut them?
Snapping one spear tells you where the woody part ends; cutting the rest to match wastes considerably less. Snapping every spear individually throws away a lot of good asparagus.
Why does asparagus make urine smell?
Asparagusic acid breaks down into sulphur compounds. Everyone produces them; only some people can smell them, which is a genetic difference in olfactory receptors. It is entirely harmless.