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This Easy Grilled Asparagus Recipe With Charred Lemon is sure to become your go-to summer side dish. It’s delicious, quick, and uses pantry staple ingredients!
Less Is More With Grilled Asparagus.
It doesn’t need toasted breadcrumbs. It doesn’t need grated parmesan. Grilled asparagus is perfect with just a little extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, and cracked black pepper—and a splash of charred lemon juice at the end. That’s it! Asparagus is just one of those vegetables that doesn’t need a whole lot of help. The grill does most of the work by infusing the spears with that coveted smoky summer char flavor, making your work minimal.
Perfect Grilled Asparagus Calls for Just Four Ingredients!
Seriously, adding just four ingredients to your spears is all you need to achieve perfectly flavored grilled asparagus. And these ingredients are pantry staples that you probably have on hand right now! Here’s what you’ll need:
- Asparagus bunch
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Sea salt
- Cracked black pepper
- Lemon
How to Grill Asparagus With Charred Lemon.
Grilling vegetables is just as easy as roasting them! But because grilled veggies taste like summer-y goodness, we prefer them during the warmer months. All you need is some tin foil and some tongs, and you’re good to go. Toss them around once in a while so they get an even char, but not too much, as you want some char to actually form on the veggies. Those grill marks aren’t just pretty—they add flavor! As for the charred lemon, when citrus fruits are heated through, they become way juicier. Additionally, the char from the grill give you a deeper flavor.
Here’s a step-by-step:
- Get that grill hot! You want high heat so the asparagus sizzles when it hits the grill.
- Wash your asparagus spears, then break the woody ends off by gently bending the spears near the bottom half—about 1-1.5 inches away from the end. The spear will snap exactly where it should. No guesswork!
- Pop the asparagus spears into a large mixing bowl and drizzle them with a bit of extra virgin olive out, then hit then with some sea salt and a generous amount of cracked black pepper. Give them a nice toss!
- Put a rectangular piece of tin foil onto the hot grill—one big enough to contain all of your asparagus, and then carefully dump the seasoned spears onto the tin foil. They should sizzle immediately. Spread them out evenly with tongs.
- Close the lid of the grill and let the spears cook for about 4 minutes, then give the spears a gentle toss with the tongs.
- Place two lemon halves straight down onto the grill grates, cut side down.
- Close the lid and let the spears cook for another 3 minutes or so.
- With tongs, flip the lemons over. They should be nice and charred and gorgeous! Place them onto a serving plate.
- When the asparagus spears are tender and bright green, transfer them to a serving plate with tongs.
- Squeeze the charred lemon juice over the spears and dig the heck in!
Useful Tools for This Recipe:
Recipe Tips + Tricks.
- Get rid of the woody ends of the asparagus by gently bending the spears near the bottom half—about 1-1.5 inches away from the end. The spear will snap exactly where it should. No guesswork!
- A nice and quick way to get your asparagus spears off the grill is to fold the tin foil over the asparagus using the tongs, creating a packet. Then transfer the foil packet to a serving plate.
- In this recipe, I’ve used thinner spears. If you’re using thicker spears, grill them for about 3-5 minutes longer. You can always check the tenderness with a fork.
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Here Are Some Awesome Recipes You Can Serve This Grilled Asparagus With:
- Grilled Swordfish Steaks With Olives and Herbs
- Za’atar Grilled Chicken Drumsticks
- Grilled Mahi Mahi
- Best Turkey Burger Recipe
- Best Chicken Burger Recipe
- Air Fryer Chicken Breasts With Mustard Sauce
Easy Grilled Asparagus Recipe With Charred Lemon
Ingredients
- 1 bunch of asparagus, This recipe uses thinner spears; see notes for thicker spears.
- 1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
- A few pinches of sea salt
- A few generous cranks for cracked black pepper
- 1 lemon, cut in half
Instructions
- Heat your grill on high. You want your grates to be really hot; hot enough that the asparagus sizzles once it makes contact with the grill.
- While the grill heats up, wash your asparagus spears, then break off the woody ends by gently bending the spears near the end of the spear—about 1-1.5 inches away from the end. The spear will snap off exactly where it should, which takes the guesswork out of getting rid of those rough ends.
- Place the asparagus spears into a large mixing bowl. Drizzle them with extra virgin olive oil, then hit then with some sea salt and a generous amount of cracked black pepper.
- Using clean hands, gently toss the spears, massaging the oil over them to ensure even coverage.
- Place a large piece of tin foil onto the hot grill (a piece large enough to contain the asparagus) and carefully dump the asparagus onto the tin foil. They should start sizzling immediately. With tongs, spread them out for an even cook.
- Close the lid of the grill and let the spears cook for about 4 minutes.
- After 4 minutes, give the spears a gentle toss with the tongs.
- Place the lemon halves cut-side down onto the grill and close the lid. Let the spears cook for another 3 minutes.
- Open the lid and, with tongs, flip the lemons over. They should be nicely charred. Place them onto a serving plate.
- Check the tenderness of the asparagus with a fork. When they're ready, they will be tender and should be bright green in color with some nice char marks.
- Squeeze the charred lemons over the spears and serve.
Great idea with the charred lemon. Will make this again. Thank you.
This right here, is my ultimate favorite side dish! So fresh and so easy to make, it’s always my go-to!
Absolutely love serving asparagus in the summer; it’s so refreshing paired with the lemon! I’ll definitely be making this as a side next week.
This easy grilled asparagus with charred lemon is a perfect side dish for my family and friends.
Okay, these were amazing! I love grilled veggies because they taste much better!
We all loved these! Perfect and convenient to make with grilled steaks.
Why not cook it all in one place, right? So happy it was a hit!
This is the ultimate summer side dish! My family loves asparagus, so I can’t wait to make this with dinner tonight!