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Pan-Roasted Asparagus
In this quick and easy method for basic pan-roasted asparagus, an initial blast over high heat gives the spears a light char to develop sweet, nutty flavor, then covered cooking with a little water renders the spears perfectly crisp-tender. Serve the asparagus unadorned straight from the pan, or add any one of the following embellishments to dress it up. You will need a 12-inch skillet with a lid for this recipe.
4
Servings
Tip
Don't use extra-thick asparagus, as it requires longer cooking. Look for spears that are no larger than ½ inch in diameter. But don't use ultra-thin asparagus, either, which will end up overdone.
15 minutes
Ingredients
-
2
tablespoons grapeseed or other neutral oil
-
2
pounds asparagus, trimmed
Directions
-
01In a 12-inch skillet over high, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the asparagus, sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt and cook, tossing once or twice, until lightly charred in spots, 2 to 4 minutes.
Reviews
May 20, 2025
Perfecto! Al dente yet tender
Usually I would roast asparagus in the toaster oven, but this pan roasting method really opens a whole new pathway to tasty asparagus with a simple salt and grape seed oil seasoning. I was able to cook some really thick stalks (about 1”) this way by not having the pan screaming hot at the start and keeping the thicker stalks in the middle and the “skinnier” (1/2”j ones on the outside. During the steam portion, I pulled the thinner stalks out first, leaving the thicker ones to steam longer and turning off the heat when the water had evaporated to let them finish on the residual heat (an induction cooktop, in an iron / Staub pan). They all came out remarkably even. This was all done in the time it took the bucatini to cook (11min): from having a hot pan at the time the pasta went in the water, the asparagus tossed in the pan; then pulling the last asparagus just after draining the pasta!
May 2, 2024
Perfect!
I generally broil asparagus, but for a quick small batch, this technique was perfect.
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Not at all a fan of asparagus when it is steamed, oven roasting it has been my 'go to' technique for years but this hybrid of pan searing with final quick steam of a little water resulted in tender meets toothsome very good outcome. Because it needs some 'babysitting' for the sear and steam steps, I'll still probably choose to oven roast as my first choice technique but this is a good one to have in the quiver. As note, we used 1 pound (half the amount of recipe) of asparagus in a 12" skillet (per recipe) and it took a good 7 minutes to get some of the spears lightly charred (per recipe) and we started out with room temp asparagus. Steaming took the time specified in recipe.