Asparagus is one of our favorite spring vegetables, and we love to pair it with any sort of flavor, but we especially love the sweet and tangy combination of flavors that you get from a high quality Italian balsamic vinegar! This easy Sautéed Balsamic Asparagus recipe is quick to make. It is a delicious vegetable side dish that pairs with so many things and is great for any day of the week and even special occasions!
For more healthy recipes using balsamic vinegar, try our Bruschetta with Marinated Tomatoes and Balsamic Vinegar or Fresh Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette (5-minute Salad Dressing).
Looking for more asparagus recipes? Here are some of our favorites:
- Spaghetti Carbonara with Asparagus
- Asparagus and Mushroom Cheese Soufflé Bites
- Vegetable Lasagna with White Sauce
- Goat Cheese Pesto and Asparagus Pizza
Jump to:
- Why We Love this Recipe
- What is Balsamic Vinegar (aka Black Gold of Modena)?
- Ingredients
- Substitutions
- How to Make Easy Sautéed Balsamic Asparagus with Parmesan
- Equipment
- Step-by-Step Instructions
- Variations
- Storage
- Top tip
- Troubleshooting
- What to eat with Balsamic Asparagus
- What wines pair with Balsamic Asparagus?
- FAQ
- Related
- Pairing
- 📖 Recipe
- Food safety
Why We Love this Recipe
- Quick and easy to make.
- Just a few ingredients
- Incredibly tasty!
- A perfect side dish for any occasion
What is Balsamic Vinegar (aka Black Gold of Modena)?
Real balsamic vinegar is truly made with love, and it cannot be considered the “real stuff” (labeled DOP) unless it is aged for a minimum of 12 years. DOP stands for Protected Designation of Origin, and anything with this label means that you can trust that the product is of the highest quality and is produced in a very specific region in Italy using local ingredients.
Traditional balsamic vinegar with the DOP label can only come from one of two regions: 1) Modena, where balsamic vinegar was invented, or 2) neighboring Reggio Emilia. Both cities are located in the region of Emilia Romagna which lies between Tuscany and Lombardy in the north-central portion of Italy.
Balsamic vinegar is made from grape must (of local grape types lambrusco and trebbiano) that is aged, thus evaporating the liquid. Each year, the reduction is moved to a slightly smaller wooden barrel and this occurs for a minimum of 12 years. In Italy, we’ve tasted 25, 40, 50 and even 100-year old balsamic vinegar, and this aging process creates a truly magical liquid! The result is a thick, beautifully flavored vinegar that has an umami sweetness.
Balsamic vinegar is truly a special ingredient and is one of our favorite things to cook with. However, if it isn’t labeled DOP, then you run the risk of having an imposter of unknown quality.
Ingredients
This super easy Sautéed Asparagus recipe requires just a few easy to find ingredients from your grocery store:
- Unsalted butter: A little butter is perfect to sauté the asparagus and build a small amount of sauce
- Asparagus: We recommend using fresh asparagus spears that are the thickness of a pencil or slightly larger for the best flavor and texture. Usually you can find a bunch of asparagus of similar sizes in the store.
- White Wine: A dry white wine helps give a little body to the sauce and balance out the buttery richness.
- Kosher Salt & Black Pepper
- Balsamic Vinegar: This is the magic ingredient in this sautéed asparagus dish. No need to use the “extravecchio,” or “extra-old” version as the 12-year old varieties works perfectly here. Just make sure you look for the DOP (Protected Designation of Origin) label to ensure that you are buying the real balsamic vinegar from Italy. If it doesn't have a DOP label, it is not the real deal and you will miss out on the exceptional flavor that real balsamic adds to this dish.
- Lemon Juice: Just a touch balances out acidity and gives a little lightness to the dish.
- Parmesan Cheese: Parmesan is added at the end for even more flavor - be sure to grate your own real Parmigiano Reggiano for best results!
See recipe card below for quantities.
Substitutions
Here are a few common substitutions for the ingredients in this recipe:
- Lemon: A little bit of any citrus juice works as well, such as grapefruit, lime, bergamot, or even orange.
- Asparagus: This recipe works very well with other vegetables, although asparagus is one of our favorite vegetables to use with this balsamic vinegar sauce. Green beans, broccoli or broccolini, shelled edamame (mukimame), or zucchini are just a few!
- Parmesan cheese: You can switch out the parmesan cheese for pecorino cheese (sheep's milk hard cheese from Italy) for a slight change in flavor.
- Butter: Using a little olive oil instead of butter is a good substitution if you prefer.
How to Make Easy Sautéed Balsamic Asparagus with Parmesan
This healthy side dish is so simple to make that anyone can do it! And it is ready in no time! All you have to do is sauté asparagus and the rest comes together quite easily.
Equipment
- A sauté pan is about all you need for this recipe
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Prepare the Ingredients
- Clean your asparagus in water to make sure they don’t have residual dirt or sand. Snap the thicker end of the stem of one asparagus stalk, line it up with the rest of the bunch and then simply cut the remaining asparagus at the breakpoint of the first with a sharp knife. Measure out the remaining ingredients so they can be added easily while cooking the asparagus.
Step 2: Sauté the Asparagus
- Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat to medium-high heat and add the butter. Once bubbling, add the asparagus in a single layer and cook, turning a couple of times. Cook the asparagus for 90 seconds.
Step 3: Finish the Dish
- Next, add the white wine and cook until it has stopped smelling of alcohol - about 1-2 minutes. Add the salt and pepper, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice, stirring often for about a minute. Remove from the heat and stir in half of the Parmesan cheese. Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan!
- You shouldn't need more salt, but you can taste one at this point and add a little salt to taste if needed. Serve with a small side bowl of grated parmesan if anyone wants to add a little parmesan cheese for serving.
Variations
Here are a couple of ways to change it up the next time you make this recipe:
- Just make the balsamic vinegar sauce. Try omitting the asparagus and using the resulting liquid as a sauce for chicken, pork or any protein as well as other vegetables that may have been roasted, steamed or are leftover!
- You can make it vegan, by using a good olive oil instead of butter and omitting the Parmesan cheese, or replacing the parmesan with a vegan cheese. Extra virgin olive oil will be quite a good substitution for the butter if you desire.
- Add nuts! A handful of toasted pine nuts or chopped pecans is great on this asparagus dish.
- Brown the butter. Cook the butter a bit longer to make brown butter to give the balsamic sauce a nice nutty flavor.
- Brighten up the dish with cherry tomatoes! Adding some halved cherry tomatoes to the pan while the asparagus cook with brighten up the dish and add a touch more sweetness.
Storage
How to store leftover balsamic glazed asparagus:
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
How to reheat leftover asparagus:
Just reheat the asparagus in a skillet over low to medium-low heat until warmed through.
Can you freeze leftover cooked asparagus?
You can as long as you let it cool down first. Then it must be kept in an airtight container (preferably a zip top bag with as much air taken out as possible). Frozen asparagus will last for 2-3 months in the freezer. To reheat, simply defrost then add the asparagus to a sauté pan on low until heated through.
Top tip
Asparagus will snap at a natural breaking point - usually between 1 and 3 inches from the bottom at the woody ends of the asparagus. The tops of asparagus will be tender and the bottoms will be fibrous and undesirable. To speed up the process, snap one asparagus, line it up with the rest of the bunch and then simply cut the remaining asparagus at the breakpoint of the first with a chef’s knife. Done!
Troubleshooting
You really shouldn’t have any issues as this is a simple recipe! Just be sure you don’t overcook your asparagus if you like a little bite/crisp/crunch to them!
What to eat with Balsamic Asparagus
This is a great side dish to many different types of proteins or “main dish” items. Asparagus goes well with ham, eggs, pork, beef or chicken so the options are endless. We love serving this during the holidays with a nice prime rib roast or beef tenderloin.
We love this balsamic asparagus side dish with our Crispy Parmesan Crusted Baked Cod or Crunchy Chicken with White Wine Lemon Butter Sauce.
What wines pair with Balsamic Asparagus?
Pairing asparagus alone with wine can be tricky to pair as it tends to clash with reds. But there are some great white wine pairings with this dish! There are three good ones to choose - Riesling (especially dry French or German), Sauvignon Blanc (New Zealand varieties are best with this), and Chardonnay that has not been oaked. You can pair with others, rosé wines are pretty good with asparagus, and there are very few red wines that work well unless they are quirky or have no tannic structure. Try a beaujolais if you must go with a red!
We also recommend that you base your wine pairings on the main protein you are serving rather than the asparagus alone. So, if you are having a heavier red meat based dish, then pairing the entire meal with a bold red wine would be perfectly fine here!
FAQ
This is definitely a personal preference when it comes to cooked asparagus texture. We prefer some bite to the asparagus (especially Mark) but some people like them completely soft and others very crunchy! Significantly overcooking asparagus results in an undesirable very soft and almost mushy texture, so we recommend following the timing in the recipe below for best results!
You should always trim off the end (see Top Tip above). It can be fibrous, woody, bitter and generally texturally unappealing. For very thick asparagus, we recommend trimming the ends AND using a vegetable peeler to peel the outer layer, which tends to be very fibrous in larger asparagus.
There’s no “best way” as asparagus can be cooked with great results in a number of ways. Boiling, steaming, roasting, sautéing, grilling and deep frying are all great options depending on what you’re looking for!
Eating 5-6 medium size asparagus spears is generally appropriate for a side dish.
Related
Looking for other side dishes? Try these:
Pairing
These are my favorite main dishes to serve with this asparagus recipe:
📖 Recipe
Easy Sautéed Balsamic Asparagus with Parmesan
Equipment
- 1 Large sauté pan
Ingredients
- 3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
- 1 Bunch of Fresh Asparagus
- ¼ cup Dry White Wine
- Pinch Kosher Salt and Black pepper
- 2 teaspoons Balsamic Vinegar
- ½ teaspoon Lemon Juice
- 4 Tablespoons Grated Parmesan Cheese divided
Instructions
- Clean your asparagus in water to make sure they don’t have residual dirt or sand. Snap one asparagus, line it up with the rest of the bunch and then simply cut the remaining asparagus at the breakpoint of the first with a chef’s knife. Measure out the remaining ingredients so they can be added easily while cooking the asparagus.1 Bunch of Fresh Asparagus
- Put a large sauté pan over medium to medium-high heat and add the butter. Once bubbling, add the asparagus and cook, turning a couple of times. Cook the asparagus for 90 seconds. They won’t be done yet, but you are getting them started.3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
- Add the white wine and cook until it has stopped smelling of alcohol - about 1-2 minutes. Add the salt and pepper, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice, stirring often for about a minute. Remove from the heat and stir in half of the Parmesan cheese. Serve and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan!¼ cup Dry White Wine, Pinch Kosher Salt and Black pepper, 2 teaspoons Balsamic Vinegar, ½ teaspoon Lemon Juice, 4 Tablespoons Grated Parmesan Cheese
Nutrition
Food safety
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
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