The Best Grilled Asparagus Recipe (2024)

Have you ever had crispy grilled asparagus dusted in parmesan and asiago? If not, you need to try this grilled asparagus recipe. We are going to work through this simple, tasty recipe with eight easy steps. Along the way, we'll talk about how to grill asparagus in foil and on the gas grill too! Let's take a closer look.

This grilled asparagus recipe is gluten free, paleo, low carb, vegetarian and incredibly easy.

A friend of mine, Erin, showed me how to make grilled asparagus about 15 years ago in New Jersey. Up to that point, I was boiling or steaming asparagus. She showed me how to wrap the asparagus in foil and add in some balsamic for a wonderful acidity that doesn't overpower the asparagus flavor at all. I had never seen asparagus cooked like this before and I fell in love with my first bite.

All these years later, the grilled asparagus recipe is just about unchanged. When you find a simple recipe that just works, there is no need to change it. All I have done is add on some grated parmesan and asiago cheese as a finishing touch. It's really good. Give this one a try.

HOW TO MAKE GRILLED ASPARAGUS IN FOIL

We are going to put the asparagus in foil for a couple reasons:

1. We are going to add olive oil, balsamic and spices to the asparagus. The foil will keep everything contained.
2. The asparagus will cook in the oil and develop some incredible flavor very quickly.
3. We will eliminate flare-ups on the gas grill, giving the asparagus a chance to cook without being burned to a crisp or completely dried out.
4. The foil pouch also builds some steam which will tenderize the asparagus while it is cooking.

If you have heavy-duty foil and prefer using that, go ahead. I used regular foil for this recipebut typically use the heavy duty stuff. One thing to keep in mind is that the heavy duty foil retains heat longer than the thinner stuff, so if you use your fingers to open the foil pouch on the grill just be careful.

HOW TO GRILL ASPARAGUS ON A GAS GRILL

So we are going to start cooking the asparagus in foil on the gas grill. Some of the reasons are discussed in the previous section of this post. I have seen people skewer the asparagus into asparagus "rafts" that are grilled directly on the grill grate. To be honest, it looks like a lot of work to skewer all those asparagus. Bundling them in foil is just easier.

If you have a grill basket, you can use that as well. My suggestion is to NOT add the balsamic onto the asparagus in that case. There isn't any moisture in a grill basket and the sugar in the balsamic will caramelize and burn before the asparagus is done cooking.

With the foil method, I always suggest that you add the packet with all the asparagus spears pointing in a perpendicular direction to the gas grill grates. This will provide enough support for the asparagus while it is cooking and now allow for any "valleys" to form in the foil. Asparagus that get stuck in a valley between the grill grates typically burn.

We want the spears to be perpendicular as well for when we open the foil pouch. Once you open the pouch (carefully to let the steam escape), I just grab the foil in one hand and push the asparagus off the foil with the other. If you are not comfortable doing this, use tongs for the same effect. You should have no asparagus loss to the grill gods either!

Lastly, with all the asparagus spears facing the same direction, when you go to flip them it is easy to see which have not been flipped yet. Sometimes it's the simple things that make it easy.

QUICK COOKING TIP:There is a "woody" part of just about all asparagus. This part is chewy and fibrous, leading many people to not want to eat the bottom part of the asparagus. There are a couple ways to overcome this woody asparagus issue:

1. Pick up the asparagus and bend it. Where it breaks is the end of the woody section. This works best in thin and medium-sized asparagus. You can do this for each asparagus individually, but I just estimate that for that particular bunch the woody part will end right about the same spot. I line up the TIPS of the asparagus and cut off the bottom part. Saves time and usually gets all the woody part off.
2. For large, thick or white asparagus, you can use a vegetable peeler for the 3" toward the base. This is labor intensive so I typically only do this with really large asparagus... which I also don't buy very often just for this reason.

Let's check out the eight steps to make this grilled asparagus recipe.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE GRILLED ASPARAGUS RECIPE:

I'd like to thank Erin for showing me how to make this recipe. It's been a long time and I've gotten a lot of mileage from this one. I think that we had lemon chicken with that meal 15 years ago. It was really good.

What to pair grilled asparagus with? Try it withpan seared pork chopsor alongside someLemon Artichoke Chicken. Asparagus and steak work great together as well. Give myPorterhouse SteakorPan Seared Steaka try. Not into any of these? It pairs really well with fish too.

Whatever meal you make it with, I hope that you enjoy this simple grilled asparagus recipe.