17 Asparagus Recipes That Positively Scream Spring

After a particularly long winter, these bright, fresh recipes will have you clamoring to eat greens.

Asparagus performs at its best with little effort: It retains its bright-green hue, delicate flavor and crisp-tender crunch when cooked quickly. Raw or roasted, blanched or sautéed, it pops up in a number of dishes that involve minimal labor, allowing the stalks to shine. When it comes to spring asparagus — and, perhaps, cooking in general — less is more.

1. Pan-Seared Asparagus With Crispy Garlic

Ali Slagle incorporates crunch in this three-ingredient side in a brilliant way, lightly frying thinly sliced garlic in olive oil that she then uses to cook the asparagus for even more garlicky flavor. Pair it alongside a simple fish or chicken for a lovely weeknight meal. KRYSTEN CHAMBROT

Recipe: Pan-Seared Asparagus With Crispy Garlic

2. Asparagus-Feta Pasta

Feta and yogurt add verve to this creamy 25-minute pasta from Melissa Clark, which also works as a pasta salad. Mint gives it all a sweet herbiness, and scallions provide bite. KRYSTEN CHAMBROT

Recipe: Asparagus-Feta Pasta

3. Tofu Marsala With Asparagus

Kay Chun riffs on chicken Marsala, the Italian American classic, by swapping in tofu for the meat. She also cleverly uses several kinds of mushrooms to lend nuance to the earthiness, which is balanced by snappy asparagus. KRYSTEN CHAMBROT

Recipe: Tofu Marsala With Asparagus

4. Easy Air Fryer Asparagus

The air fryer is an especially apt place to cook asparagus stalks, yielding crispy edges with very little oil. Tara Holland lets you finish the stalks as you like, with salt or lemon zest, Parmesan or red pepper. KRYSTEN CHAMBROT

Recipe: Easy Air Fryer Asparagus

5. Caramelized Corn and Asparagus Pasta With Ricotta

My easy pasta recipe is suited to climates where it already feels like summer. It requires a quick sauté of sliced asparagus, sweet corn kernels and scallions, while turmeric provides earthy notes and sunny hues. Ricotta adds richness, tempered with tanginess. For springier notes, swap the corn for thinly sliced fennel, or skip it entirely and pile on any fresh herbs you have handy.

Recipe: Caramelized Corn and Asparagus Pasta With Ricotta

6. Narjissiya With Asparagus, Halloumi and Sumac

Reem Kassis gives this Levant dish of sunny-side-up eggs a springy infusion with asparagus. Pita croutons contrast the softer elements (the aforementioned egg, sumac oil and seasoned yogurt) for a meal that’s welcome any time of day. KRYSTEN CHAMBROT

Recipe: Narjissiya With Asparagus, Halloumi and Sumac

7. Quick Shrimp and Asparagus Stir-Fry

Genevieve Ko cracks the code on frozen shrimp in this lightning-fast dinner recipe. By dry brining them with salt for just a minute, she sets them up to be especially juicy and snappy, their light sweetness countered by the grassy asparagus stalks. KRYSTEN CHAMBROT

Recipe: Quick Shrimp and Asparagus Stir-Fry

8. Creamy Asparagus Pasta

Eric Kim smartly and subtly elevates this creamy asparagus pasta with the addition of umami in two forms: Dasima (also known as kombu) flavors the noodles and broth, while roasted seaweed imparts an extra dash of brininess. Enlivened with rice vinegar and enriched with sesame oil, this dish is full of flair — and as sophisticated as weeknight meals come.

Recipe: Creamy Asparagus Pasta

9. Grilled Asparagus With Miso and Olives

Yotam Ottolenghi pulls out all the stops for a recipe that pairs asparagus with two briny, umami-filled ingredients. Grilling adds smokiness as well, but, for all its layered flavor, this recipe is by no means a project. It’s ready in 25 minutes and perfect alongside roast chicken or tucked into a salad. KRYSTEN CHAMBROT

Recipe: Grilled Asparagus With Miso and Olives

10. Asparagus, Goat Cheese and Tarragon Tart

Melissa Clark calls her tart recipe “simple yet stunning, effortlessly chic and company-ready.” She opts for convenience here, using store-bought puff pastry slathered with a tangy goat cheese mixture, then showcasing fresh asparagus on top. “If you can manage to trim all the asparagus to the same length, this tart will be especially neat and orderly looking,” she writes, though patterns would be equally welcome.

Recipe: Asparagus, Goat Cheese and Tarragon Tart

11. Turmeric-Black Pepper Chicken With Asparagus

As flavorful as it is easy, this recipe from Ali Slagle is bright, fresh and impossibly fast. Gather your ingredients — you’ll need a bunch of asparagus, some boneless chicken thighs and a lime, plus a modest list of pantry staples — and sauté them in minutes. Crisp and quickly cooked, the asparagus stays satisfyingly snappy in this sweet stir-fry.

Recipe: Turmeric-Black Pepper Chicken With Asparagus

12. Sheet-Pan Gnocchi With Asparagus, Leeks and Peas

In this sheet-pan recipe, Susan Spungen complements roasted asparagus with leeks and peas, but explains that “you could experiment with your vegetable choices: Cut delicate vegetables in larger pieces and firmer vegetables in smaller pieces so they cook at similar rates.” Scallions, carrots or fennel would all be welcome.

Recipe: Sheet-Pan Gnocchi With Asparagus, Leeks and Peas

13. Lemony Orzo With Asparagus and Garlic Bread Crumbs

Ali Slagle pares asparagus pasta down to the essentials with this popular five-star recipe: Lemon, olive oil, garlic, herbs, panko bread crumbs and Parmesan are all the orzo and asparagus need to shine. Depending on the weather or your mood, you can enjoy this dish warm as is, or at room temperature for an approach that feels more like pasta salad.

Recipe: Lemony Orzo With Asparagus and Garlic Bread Crumbs

14. Sheet-Pan Pizza With Asparagus and Arugula

Covered with ample amounts of asparagus, arugula and fresh parsley, this recipe from Susan Spungen offsets a rich ricotta-and-mozzarella base with a garden of green garnishes. The results are as springy as they are stunning.

Recipe: Sheet-Pan Pizza With Asparagus and Arugula

15. Pasta Primavera With Asparagus and Peas

Melissa Clark’s five-star recipe is a favorite for good reason: “This simple pasta primavera uses a combination of the earliest vegetables available in spring — asparagus, peas and spring onions — making it a true celebration of the season,” she writes. Simply sauté the greens until crisp-tender, then toss them with pasta, crème fraîche, Parmesan and herbs, and the results are flawless.

Recipe: Pasta Primavera With Asparagus and Peas

16. Grilled Corn, Asparagus and Spring Onion Salad

This hearty vegetable salad from Pati Jinich introduces asparagus to the heat of the grill and is ideal for any warm-weather cookout. She chars the vegetable along with spring onions and corn, then covers the mixture in salsa preparada, “an easy-to-eat sauce where umami, citrus and heat converge.” The recipe steers past delicate spring flavors, embracing a bold, punchy combination of salt, chile and lime for a salad that can stand alone or stand up to any number of grilled meats.

Recipe: Grilled Corn, Asparagus and Spring Onion Salad

17. Lemony Asparagus Salad With Shaved Cheese and Nuts

This salad from Melissa Clark involves topping very verdant steamed asparagus with a quick dressing of lemon, shallots, herbs, nuts and Manchego — but its ingredients are also endlessly adaptable. Any allium, hard cheese, vinegar will work wonderfully. That’s the thing about spring asparagus: It’s not fussy, and needs little more than some olive oil, salt and pepper to delight.

Recipe: Lemony Asparagus Salad With Shaved Cheese and Nuts

Follow NYT Food on Twitter and NYT Cooking on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest. Get regular updates from NYT Cooking, with recipe suggestions, cooking tips and shopping advice.