Chicken Free Steamed Asparagus with Olive Oil & Lemon
Bright, grassy asparagus gets a simple but stunning treatment here — steamed just until tender and vivid green, then finished with a drizzle of good olive oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon. The whole thing comes together in under ten minutes, making it one of the easiest elegant sides you can put on the table. Steaming rather than boiling keeps the spears from going limp and waterlogged, so you get that satisfying snap with every bite. The lemon zest, if you choose to use it, adds a fragrant citrus punch that takes the dish from simple to genuinely impressive. Every single ingredient here is naturally plant-based and completely free of any poultry, so there's no label-checking or substitution stress involved — just clean, honest produce and pantry staples. It pairs beautifully with almost anything, from a weekend brunch spread to a weeknight dinner plate that needs a fresh, bright counterpoint.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
- 1 ½ lb fresh asparagus, tough ends snapped off
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt, or to taste
- 1 tsp lemon zest (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Pour about 1 inch of water into a large skillet or wide saucepan and set a steamer basket inside. Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat.
- 2
Arrange the asparagus in the steamer basket in a single layer. Cover and steam until the spears are bright green and just tender when pierced at the thickest point with a paring knife, 4–6 minutes for medium spears or 6–7 minutes for thick spears.
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