This Spanish-inspired recipe of lightly boiled asparagus is served with a sofrito of red bell peppers, onions and garlic sautéed in lashings of olive oil. It’s a great side dish to a main or a sharing plate at a dinner party. If you’re looking for recipes with bell peppers and onions or an asparagus recipe, this dish is a winner! It’s gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, paleo and Whole30.
Lightly Boiled Asparagus
Asparagus is a fantastic vegetable – full of hormone-balancing nutrients, fibre and antioxidants – and it’s especially lovely in season. It’s also very pretty with its pointy, dragon skin like spears and looks great with bright colours.
One of the easiest ways to prepare asparagus is boiling it, which sounds super boring but what I mean by that is ‘a lightly boiled asparagus’. You essentially want to blanch the vegetables to heat them through but to retain some of the crunch and that gorgeous green colour. Boiled asparagus can be a great base for something exciting!
Once it’s done, serve it right away with a delicious sauce such as my Spanish red pepper sofrito.
Sofrito Of Red Bell Peppers & Onions
Because asparagus itself has a pretty neutral flavour, it’s a great vehicle for sauces and punchier ingredients such as hollandaise, garlic aioli and so on.
I thought it would work really well with slowly cooked onions, bell peppers and garlic, and the olive oil infused with the flavours of those foods. This mixture is also known as sofrito and is the base of Spanish paella.
Sofrito takes 10-15 minutes to cook so that vegetables can soften and caramelise, giving you the most delicious umami sweetness.
I wanted to keep it as a vegetarian and vegan asparagus recipe but if you are an omnivore, you can add bits like chopped chorizo or bacon to the cooking sofrito mixture. Both work really well with asparagus.
What To Serve With Asparagus
Enjoy this dish warm or cold, and use it as a side dish with any main. It would go well with fish, chicken or any meat or as a colourful potluck dish at a dinner party.
For a vegetarian or vegan meal, serve this asparagus dish with quinoa or brown rice and lentils or with some plant-based burgers or sausages. It’s also lovely as is with some toasted sourdough rubbed with garlic and drizzled with olive oil.
PS. Leftovers are great in an omelette!
More Recipes With Asparagus
Full Recipe
Find the full list of ingredients, instructions, and a nutritional breakdown below. If you have questions or cook this recipe, please let me know in the comments, and make sure to rate this recipe so it’s easy for others to find.
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Spanish Asparagus With Red Peppers, Onion & Garlic
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Side
- Method: Sauteed
- Cuisine: Spanish
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This Spanish-inspired recipe of lightly cooked asparagus served with onions, red peppers and garlic sautéed in lashings of olive oil. I love it as a side with fish or steak, and it works great as a potluck dish. If you’re looking for recipes with bell peppers and onions or an asparagus recipe, this dish is a winner! This asparagus recipe is vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, paleo and Whole30-friendly.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons of olive oil
- ½ large onion, finely diced
- 1 large red bell pepper/ capsicum, finely diced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 garlic clove, finely diced
- 2 bunches of asparagus spears, hard ends chopped off
- ½ juice of lemon
Instructions
- Add the onion, peppers, olive oil and salt to a medium frying pan and heat over medium heat. Sauté for 10 minutes, stirring regularly, until the onions and peppers are really soft and slightly caramelized.
- Add the garlic and stir through for a minute, turn the heat off and set aside.
- In the meantime, bring a pot of water to a boil and add the asparagus. Season with half a teaspoon of salt. Cook for 2 minutes, then strain and set aside.
- Serve the asparagus cold or quickly reheated in the pan, with the onion and pepper mixture spread over the top. This dish can be either hot or cold.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 164
- Sugar: 4.8 g
- Sodium: 585.8 mg
- Fat: 14.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 9.7 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 2.5 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Keywords: Asparagus, Bell Peppers, Onions, Spanish Recipes, Side Dish
Love that vibrant sauce on top of the asparagus! And it’s such a great way to get it a lot of veggies in one sitting.
★★★★★
YAAASSS, full of color and flavor and asparagus is in season!
★★★★★
I just picked up asparagus for a decent price this weekend and I can’t wait to use it! We won’t see it local here until May, but I just had to get some! I love this idea and I know my kids would too – I think I’ll use it for this! Thank you!
★★★★★
Oh boy, what a great way to serve asparagus…one of my favorites this time of year!! This is a unique preparation too…I love it!
★★★★★
Yum! We make something similar and it’s always a hit. Thank you!
That onion, red pepper topping looks so delicious! What a great idea!
★★★★★
Firstly, I love how colourful this is! And I love asparagus too, so new ways to eat it, especially as it comes into season here soon, are always good!
Yum – those red peppers look delicious!
YUM! They look so flavorful and delicious ! Totally love it !
★★★★★
I have a bunch of asparagus in the fridge just waiting to make this. Looks so delicious!
★★★★★
Loving the look of this vibrant and nutritious side!
Um, where did you add the lemon?
Drizzle over at the end, it’s optional. I will clarify in the instructions 🙂
Quite good but I found that adding some Chorizo (mild) and smoked paprika took it to the next level.
★★★★