Roasted Asparagus With Lemony Breadcrumbs

A quick spring side dish we always look forward to, asparagus with lemon is a great combination, as this easy recipe proves. The oven takes care of roasting the asparagus, cooking it at high temperature concentrates its flavor and guarantees a tender—not mushy—texture. Meanwhile, you cook the panko in butter on the stovetop, adding lemon juice and zest at the end, then spread the buttery, lemony crumbs over the platter of roasted asparagus spears. That’s it. Grab some asparagus and a lemon; you already have the olive oil, butter, and panko in your kitchen. This dish couldn’t be simpler or more delicious—and you should make it for dinner tonight.

How to Prep Asparagus for Roasting

Asparagus can be cooked whole or cut into smaller pieces, depending on how you are going to use it. For roasting, we leave the stalks whole.

Washing Asparagus

Asparagus should be soaked and swished in water to dislodge any soil or grit.

Trimming Asparagus

Trimming asparagus is easy. You can do it by hand or use a cutting board and a chef's knife.

Every asparagus stalk has a breaking point—a spot at the thicker end of the stalk where an inch or more of the tough, fibrous end will naturally break away from the rest of the sweet, tender top. Every stalk in a bunch tends to have a similar breaking point. 

Hold one spear and give it a good snap. That will give you an indication of where to trim the remaining spears. You can continue trimming them by hand or line up the asparagus and use a chef’s knife to remove the fibrous ends from the rest of the bunch.