Kitchen notes · a little help before you start
Sautéed Garlic Asparagus with Bacon
Asparagus with crisp bacon is hard to leave alone once it reaches the table. The garlic-butter coating gives the tender stalks a savory edge, with little bacon pieces to catch alongside them.
- Prep
- 5 min
- Cook
- 10 min
- Total
- 15 min
- Original yield
- Serves 4
- Ingredients
- 7 listed
Make it part of your week
Recipe categories & planning details
- Meal type
- Dinner · Sides
- Primary protein
- Pork
- Cuisine
- American
- Preparation & total time
- Prep: 15 minutes or less · Total: 30 minutes or less
A few quick notes
1. Crisp bacon before asparagus
Cook the chopped bacon first, remove it from the skillet and wipe away grease before starting the vegetables.
2. Butter starts the vegetable stage
Add butter with garlic, asparagus and seasoning after cleaning the skillet, then saute until the asparagus is tender.
3. Return bacon at the end
Mix the crisp bacon back into the tender asparagus only after its saute, then serve the finished mixture.
Get to know the ingredients
Asparagus in thirds
Cut the asparagus into thirds before adding it to the skillet, ready to toss with garlic and seasoning.
Minced garlic
Mince the garlic before it goes in with butter and asparagus for the vegetable stage, after the bacon fat is removed.
Chopped bacon
Chop the bacon before crisping so it can be mixed back among the cooked asparagus pieces near serving.
Let’s make it
Choose your servings, then check things off as you go.
Original recipe: Serves 4. Original quantities shown.
Check ingredients as you prepare them. These checks stay on this page.
How to make it
0 of 3 steps completeMake room for Sautéed Garlic Asparagus with Bacon
Review ingredients in your pantry before anything is added. Meal plans use your household size; grocery-only additions use the servings selected above.
The last little job
Bacon through the warm asparagus
Add the reserved crisp bacon to the tender, seasoned asparagus and serve from the skillet while warm.
A little more help as you go
Italian seasoning joins the saute
Add it directly with the asparagus, butter, garlic, salt and pepper so the vegetables cook in that seasoning.
Keep the two fat stages separate
The bacon grease is wiped out first; the listed butter then becomes the fat for cooking the asparagus.
A few questions you might have
Does the asparagus cook in bacon grease?
Wipe the grease out after crisping the bacon, then use the butter with garlic and seasoning for the asparagus.
Is the bacon left in while vegetables cook?
Remove it first and keep it aside, then return it after the asparagus becomes tender in the skillet.
When should I add salt and pepper?
Add them to the asparagus at the same stage as butter, minced garlic and Italian seasoning during the saute.
Are the asparagus stalks left whole?
They are cut into thirds before the skillet stage, making shorter pieces to mix with the crisp chopped bacon.
How soft should the asparagus become?
Saute until tender during the stated short cooking window, then return the bacon and serve the mixture.
Storage & reheating safety
For cooked, perishable leftovers, refrigerate within 2 hours (1 hour above 90°F), using shallow containers for prompt cooling. Keep the refrigerator at 40°F or below, use refrigerated leftovers within 3–4 days, and reheat hot leftovers to 165°F, checked with a food thermometer. Follow any shorter package limit.
These are general safety limits, not a tested storage or freezing recommendation for this particular dish. USDA leftovers guidance · Safe cooking temperatures
Recipe source: therecipecritic.com. Ingredient names and quantities may be adapted for the pantry.
Preparation notes follow the recipe shown here.