Asparagus is quite new to me. I discovered it probably a little over a year ago (I know…) and I used to have it in the most traditional way possible: roasted, with some cheese on top.

But the thing is that asparagus can be served in so, so many different ways.

It looks pretty all lined up in a baking tray and then in a plate as a side dish, but it also makes a really great cooking component. If you love its taste, you’ll find ways to incorporate it in different recipes.

This is how I came up with this asparagus chicken Alfredo recipe. I’m a sucker for chicken Alfredo pasta and asparagus, so why not combine them?!

Related:  Chicken Alfredo Fettuccine Pasta Recipe 

This recipe is easy and yummy and I really hope you’ll give it try!

Asparagus Chicken Alfredo Recipe

Servings: 4 | Prep. Time: 20 mins | Waiting Time: n/a | Cook Time: 40 mins | Difficulty: Medium

 Ingredients:

• 300 grams chicken breast
• 500 grams asparagus
• 50 grams butter
• 500 ml milk
• 4 tablespoons of flour
• 50 grams parmigiano reggiano
• salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste

Method:

1. Chop the asparagus, leaving the woody roots aside. Chop the flowers first and cut them in half. 
2. Saute the asparagus with half of the butter until it’s soft. 10 minutes should do.
3. Cut the chicken into bite size cubes – or whatever size you like. Add a couple of tablespoons of sunflower oil over the chicken and add the salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste.
4. Saute the chicken for about 10-15 minutes or until it’s cooked and golden-brown. 
5. In the same frying pan, you fried the asparagus and chicken, melt the butter and then add the flour. Mix it well until a soft dough if formed and cook it for about a minute to get rid of the floury taste.
6. Pour the milk in and mix until the sauce gets slightly thick. Add the parmigiano reggiano and mix it in the sauce on low heat.
7. Add the chicken and asparagus in the Alfredo sauce and cook everything for a couple more minutes.

The Asparagus

Asparagus also goes by the name of sparrow grass and if you ask me, it tastes similar to broccoli. At least it does to me. What do you think?

Asparagus is a vegetable rich in potassium, phosphorus and calcium. Funny thing: if you eat a good healthy portion of asparagus, your pee will smell probably funny because of the potassium. Just sayin’. You can read more of asparagus’ nutritional facts here.

Similar to broccoli, asparagus is not difficult to cook. But if you haven’t had it so far, you have to know if has some woody roots. 

The woody roots are difficult to cut and can’t be eaten. You can chop-guess where they end, but a very useful tip I learnt from Jamie Oliver is just to bend them and they will break where they are soft and fresh.

For this recipe in particular, I chop the heads off – also known as flowers – and chop the remaining asparagus into rings. I think this works the best for this recipe.

The Alfredo Sauce

The Alfredo Sauce is a bechamel based sauce, with yummy parmigiano reggiano in it.

You can also use double cream, but if you don’t have it on hand, it’s perfect with Bechamel sauce too. That’s how I usually have it.

A few tips about the Alfredo sauce:

• it can burn quite fast, so you want to constantly mix it on a low heat, to prevent sticking or burning
• for this recipe you want the sauce to be slightly runnier than you would usually want it. The cheese will thicken it quite a lot
• add a dash of garlic powder in it to enhance the cheese’s flavour

This recipe will give you four good portions, so it’s perfect for meal prep. It lasts very well for a few days in the fridge, so there’s an extra reason to add it to your meal prep plan.

Also, last but not least, this is a one-pan recipe. You can (and should) cook everything in the same pan. No washing, no mess. Why I like cooking this in the same pan is because all the flavours will be nice incorporated.

I really hope you give this one a try and if you do, please let me know how it turned out for you! You can get the printable recipe here.

Download the Printable Recipe