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Garlic Butter Asparagus Pasta is made with orzo pasta and fresh asparagus, tossed in a garlic butter sauce and parmesan cheese. It’s an easy 20-minute, cheesy side dish!
Easy Orzo Pasta With Asparagus
This Asparagus Pasta recipe is heavenly. I mean, smother anything in garlic butter sauce and it’ll automatically taste great, but this pasta is next-level delicious. Just look at that layer of golden orzo and beautiful, bright green asparagus covered in buttery amazingness… is your stomach rumbling yet?
When I need a quick side dish that I know everybody will eat, I whip up this simple mix of cheesy asparagus and tender pasta. It goes with just about any meal you can think of – chicken, steak, fish, you name it. You can even serve it by itself as a light dinner, if you want!
However you want to enjoy it is just fine, as long as you give it a try. You will not regret digging into this parmesan pasta with asparagus, which you can make in just 20 minutes by the way! Prepare to be blown away by the cheesy garlic butter goodness!
(Also… If you’re looking for another cheesy asparagus pasta recipe, check out this Creamy Chicken Asparagus Pasta and Cheese Recipe!)
What Makes This Asparagus Pasta So Good?
There are a lot of orzo pasta recipes out there, so why make this one? Good question! Here’s why I’m so in love with this asparagus pasta recipe:
- Cheesy and Buttery. I just can’t stop talking about how fantastic this garlicky, cheesy veggie pasta tastes. I don’t know about you, but if I could enjoy a parmesan garlic butter sauce every day, I probably would!
- Quick. As mentioned above, you can make this pasta in 20 minutes! Plus, most of the ingredients are probably already in your pantry or in the fridge.
- Healthy. Look at all that fresh asparagus! This pasta side dish is a great way to encourage your kids to gobble down veggies.
Recipe Ingredients
Let’s talk about what you need to round up to make this pasta! Keep in mind that you can find the exact quantities for each ingredient in the recipe card below.
- Pasta – I like to use orzo in this recipe, but you could also use another small pasta like penne.
- Asparagus – Just use the tips for this dish (cut the asparagus about 2 to 3 inches from the top).
- Butter – Salted and unsalted both work – if you use salted, just reduce the amount of salt you add in later.
- Garlic – I like to mince garlic cloves because it provides the strongest flavor, but you can use store-bought minced garlic or even garlic powder in a pinch.
- Parmesan Cheese – Grated parmesan cheese tastes best here, but you can use pre-shredded parmesan if you’re in a hurry.
- Milk – I prefer to use skim milk, but 1 or 2% milk can be substituted.
- Seasoning – Keep it simple with salt, pepper, and some fresh parsley!
How To Make Garlic Butter Asparagus Pasta
This asparagus pasta is one of those side dishes that forces me to go back and steal just one more bite (make that TEN) while I’m packing it up to put away in the fridge. But, before that, here’s how it all comes together (note that you can find the full set of directions in the recipe card as well!):
- Prepare the pasta. Cook the orzo according to the package directions, adding the asparagus tips in for the last 2 minutes of cooking time. Then, remove everything from the heat and drain.
- Add butter to a skillet. Next, stir in the garlic and cook it for 5 minutes. Continue to stir so that the garlic doesn’t burn.
- Combine the ingredients. Then, stir in the prepared orzo and asparagus stalks, along with the cheese, milk, parsley, salt, and pepper.
- Enjoy. Cook everything for 1 more minute, garnish with parmesan cheese, and finally, serve!
Tips & Recipe Variations
Pretty simple, right? I only have a few more tips and tricks to share with you before you get started on the pasta:
- Cut the asparagus. If you snap the asparagus, you’ll lose more of the stalk than just the tough part that you’re trying to get rid of. Slicing the stalks allows you to be more precise when you cut them 2-3 inches from the top.
- Use thin asparagus. The thinner the stalks are, the easier they are to eat with pasta. That being said, you can absolutely use thick asparagus if you prefer.
- Add lemon juice. If you want some tangy, zesty flavor thrown in with this pasta, add some fresh lemon juice!
What Goes With Asparagus Pasta?
Like I mentioned above, this asparagus pasta recipe can be served with practically any main course! Here are some of my favorite pairings:
- Chicken: Parmesan pasta is perfect on the side of a simple chicken dinner. Try it with something like this Easy Baked Chicken Breasts recipe!
- Steak: Pasta with asparagus is also a great side dish for some juicy steak. Air Fryer Steak Bites and Mushrooms would be a good option!
- Fish: Something like this Air Fryer Salmon would pair so well with cheesy asparagus pasta.
- More Veggies: If you want to make this pasta side dish into a light meal, you could mix in some Easy Oven Roasted Vegetables with it.
How to Store and Reheat Leftovers
Should you have any leftover pasta, go ahead and save some for later – it makes a great lunch for school or work! Here’s how to do that:
- To Store. Keep any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
- To Reheat. The best way to reheat this pasta is in a skillet with a touch of oil over medium-low heat, because this will help the asparagus crisp up a little. If you’re not worried so much about the texture of the asparagus, though, you can just use the microwave.
More Easy Asparagus Recipes
Ready to try some more asparagus side dishes? These are some of my favorites!
- Grilled Asparagus With Lemon Dressing and Feta Cheese
- Oven Roasted Asparagus
- Grilled Asparagus
- Creamy Asparagus Pasta Recipe
- Asparagus With Lemon Butter Sauce
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Garlic Butter Asparagus Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry orzo
- 1 pound fresh asparagus, , tips only (cut the asparagus about 2 to 3-inches from the top)
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 3 garlic cloves, , minced
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons skim milk
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
- salt and fresh ground pepper, , to taste
- shredded parmesan cheese for garnish, , optional
Instructions
- Prepare orzo according to the directions on the package.
- Add the asparagus tips to the orzo the last 2-minutes of cooking.
- Remove from heat and drain.
In the meantime prepare the garlic-butter sauce.
- Add butter to a skillet and melt over medium heat.
- Stir in garlic and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until lightly browned, stirring very frequently. Do not burn the garlic.
- Add orzo and asparagus to the skillet; stir in the cheese, milk, parsley, salt and pepper.
- Cook for 1 minute, or until heated through.
- Remove from heat.
- Garnish with parmesan cheese.
- Serve.
Video
Notes
- To Store. Keep any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
- To Reheat. The best way to reheat this pasta is in a skillet with a touch of oil over medium-low heat, because this will help the asparagus crisp up a little. If you’re not worried so much about the texture of the asparagus, though, you can just use the microwave.
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
Just made this for dinner tonight, Katerina! So easy and SO good! This is definitely a keeper for us!
That’s so awesome!!! Thank you *thiiiiiiiiis* much, Michelle! ♥
Making this again!!!! I pinned it when I first made it. Was looking at my pins for a good side dish for roasted chicken and saw this and was like YES! This was delicious!!! Thank you!!
I’ve made this several times. We were all shocked to discover we like asparagus! At least, when it’s covered in garlic and butter…
This recipe is amazingly simple and amazingly delicious. Thank you so much!
Just love it when someone posts a delish/easy/fun recipe. Even more so because of the fact you embrace everyone’s ‘tweaks’ to your recipe. My tweak would be to use cream instead of skim milk and add some shrimp in there. Can’t help myself, I’ll eat those lovely crustaceans every chance I get. I’m thinking this with a loaf of crusty bread and a tossed green salad w/a vinaigrette would be great for date night. THANKS for such a great recipe.
CHEERS, CC
My husband made this for us one night last week. We loved it and gobbled it all. He told his work colleagues about it and now it has spread throughout his company. Everyone who has made it loves it and has made it more than once! So have we!
Thanks, Katerina for such an easy and delicious meal. Last night we used the rest of the asparagus from the first try and threw in slices of chicken sausage for a really yum one pot dish!
That is all kinds of awesome! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
How gorgeous is this spring pasta – perfection!
I added grape tomatoes and orange bell peppers to sautee with the garlic. makes it really colorful.
I bet that was SO good!!
Orzo and asparagus sound like the perfect combination. I’ll be trying this yummy looking recipe soon!
consider my pizza dinner plans changed! How could I pass up asparagus with orzo and garlic butter – SO good!!
This looks really wonderful, Katerina! I find I am using orzo more in place of rice or traditional pasta. So I’m always looking for new recipes. The asparagus makes this a perfect spring meal. And I’m all for a delicious dish that comes together in 20 minutes! : )
Hi! Why do you use only the tips of the asparagus and what do you do with the bottoms?
Hi Olivya! The very bottom of the asparagus is stringy, so you don’t want to use that. But, in this particular recipe I only use the tips so you don’t have to cut it while eating. But, if you want to use all of it without the very bottom, the recipe will still taste great, you’ll just have to possibly use a knife to cut it up when eating.
If you need a recipe to use up the rest of the asparagus, make this soup – it’s sooo good! 🙂 https://diethood.com/asparagus-soup/