This lemon asparagus pasta recipe is vegetarian-friendly and made with just a handful of easy ingredients. Perfect for a light lunch, easy dinner, or side dish!
If you like easy pasta recipes like this one, then you’ll love my BLT pasta salad and my cajun chicken pasta bake!
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Lemon Asparagus Pasta
Meals shouldn’t be complicated, and this pasta with asparagus and lemon is about as simple as it gets! Perfect for a light lunch or dinner, or even as a side dish, this is a great meal to make when you’re short on time or meal-prepping ahead of a busy week. I love making a big batch of this lemon asparagus pasta to enjoy for a quick lunch all week long.
Kids and adults alike will love this simple pasta recipe! Customize it to best fit your family’s tastes, or prepare as written in the recipe card. Either way, I hope you enjoy it!
Looking for more Vegetarian Recipes to make? Then try this Pasta with Garlic and Oil.
Ingredients for Lemon Asparagus Pasta
- Asparagus: Lightly cooking the chopped asparagus spears in a hot skillet with the oil and garlic gives it beautiful flavor without overcooking it or causing it to become soggy throughout the remaining cooking time.
- Pasta: I like using rotini for this lemon asparagus pasta recipe because the dressing and the parmesan cheese collects in each layer of the noodles’ spirals, ensuring full flavor in every bite. I also like to slice the asparagus so that it’s in pieces that are roughly the same length as the pasta for a good mouth feel.
- Lemon: This dish needs something bright and acidic to bring it to life and meld the ingredients together, and fresh-squeezed lemon juice does the trick!
- White wine: Is used to deglaze those brown bites on the bottom of the pan (also known as fond). Fond = flavor and is an important step in this recipe.
- Butter: Cubed cold butter is essential for this recipe. When cold butter is added to a hot pan right before serving it thickens the sauce similar to a beurre blanc sauce.
- Garlic: If you are a garlic lover than this recipe is for you. I use 5 cloves of garlic in this pasta!
How To Make Lemon Asparagus Pasta
- Start by heavily salting some water in a pot and boiling the pasta according to package instructions until al dente.
- Then, heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add in asparagus, and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add the minced garlic, and cook for an additional minute, until fragrant.
- Pour in the white wine and deglaze the pan, making sure to scrape the brown bites from the pan. (This is called fond, and it holds a lot of flavor!) Add in cold butter and stir until melted.
- Stir in lemon juice and add cooked pasta to the skillet. Toss to coat the pasta in the sauce.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve immediately with parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes, if desired. Enjoy!
Tips and Variations
- Make this a more filling meal by adding some protein like tofu, grilled chicken, or sautéed shrimp to the lemon asparagus pasta before serving.
- Add more cheese like feta or goat cheese crumbles.
- Change up the veggie! Asparagus is obviously preferred, but you could also use broccoli, cauliflower, sugar snap peas, or zucchini.
- Spice it up with some iced jalapeños or cayenne pepper.
Storage Instructions
Store any cooled leftover lemon asparagus pasta in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Enjoy cold or reheat in the microwave for a minute or so until heated through.
Do not freeze this dish, as it would fall apart in the thawing and reheating process.
More Easy Pasta Recipes To Try
- Bow Tie Pasta Salad
- Antipasto Pasta Salad
- Pasta with Garlic and Oil
- Walnut Pesto Pasta
- Mushroom Carbonara
- Homemade Hamburger Helper
Asparagus Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 ounces rotini pasta
- salt, for boiling pasta
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb asparagus, washed, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter, cold
- 1 whole lemon, juiced
- salt and pepper, to taste
- parmesan cheese, for serving
- red pepper flakes for serving, if desired
Instructions
- Salt water and boil pasta according to package instructions.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add in asparagus and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add in garlic and cook for an additional minute.
- Pour in wine and deglaze pan making sure to scrape the brown bites from the pan. (This is called fond and holds a lot of flavor!)Add in cold butter and stir until melted. Stir in lemon juice and add cooked pasta to the skillet. Toss to coat the pasta in the sauce.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately with parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes, if desired.
Nutrition Information
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Gayle G.
Good basic recipe. I found that adding a little pesto gave it more of zing. You CAN customize this to your taste!