Blanched Asparagus With Garlic Aioli

Blanched asparagus with garlic aioli comes together in about 15 minutes. It's a perfect side dish for roasted lamb kabobs, hawawshi minced meat pita sandwiches, kafta burgers, chicken tawook, and slow-roasted lamb shanks.

Blanched asparagus is a quick way to prepare asparagus by parboiling raw asparagus spears. Serve with a garlicky lemon aioli dipping sauce that takes 5 minutes to whip up.

What I Love About This Recipe

I love how simple and delicious this recipe is. Depending on how much you like garlic, you can heavily dip or lightly dip the blanched asparagus in the aioli sauce. It's an excellent meal prep recipe or family gathering recipe.

Ingredient Notes

• Asaparagus: I recommend fresh asparagus with either thin or thick stalks. The asparagus I bought for this recipe was the 2.25 lb package from Costco.

• Mayonnaise: Any type of mayonnaise works for this recipe.
• Garlic: I recommend using fresh garlic cloves for this recipe.
• Lemon: Fresh lemon juice makes the best garlic lemon aioli.
• Olive oil: I really like Californian extra virgin olive oil or Greek extra virgin olive oil.

See the recipe card at the bottom of the post for quantities.

How To Make Asparagus And Aioli

This blanched asparagus with garlic aioli is a two-part recipe. I prefer eating the asparagus once it's cooled off, so I make it first. If you prefer hot asparagus, make the garlic aioli first.

Blanch The Asparagus

Wash the asparagus spears. Cut the ends off of the asparagus spears. On the stovetop, boil 2" (5 cm) of water in a wide pot that has a lid. Once the water is boiling, lower ⅓ of the asparagus spears using a slotted spoon into the hot water.

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Cover the wide pot with a lid. Boil for about 30 seconds to a minute until the asparagus stalks change colors.

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Remove with a slotted spoon onto a paper towel-lined plate. Repeat with the remaining asparagus spears.

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Make The Garlic Aioli

Mash the garlic, salt, and pepper using a mortar and pestle. Alternatively, use a garlic press and add salt and pepper to the pressed garlic.

Hint: Do not chop the garlic. It needs to be really thinly mashed in order to blend into the mayo aioli sauce.

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Add the mayonnaise and lemon juice to the mashed garlic mixture. Mix well with a spoon.

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Add the olive oil while continuing to mix with a spoon until fully blended.

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Serve the garlic aioli with blanched asparagus.

Tips and Tricks

• Use a wide pot with a lid. The asparagus spears will reduce in length once you chop off the bottom 1.5". Make sure the pot is wider than the spears, so the asparagus can lay flat in the boiling water.
• Remove the asparagus when you see the change in colors. Raw asparagus (photo on the left) will turn to a darker color green (photo on the right) once it's blanched.
• Mash the garlic or use a garlic press. Don't use a knife to mince the garlic, because even with your ninja knife mincing skills, you will have chunks of garlic in the mayo aioli sauce. Unless that's what you are going for, I highly recommend crushing the garlic into a paste like texture so that it evenly blends into the aioli sauce.

Variations and Substitutions

• Reduce the amount of garlic. If you are not much of an intense garlic person, reduce the garlic. It's easy to add more garlic if needed.
• Add some chili oil to the garlic aioli for spice.

Equipment

Using a chef's knife and cutting board, chop the ends off of the asparagus spears. Mash the garlic with salt using a mortar and pestle. Squeeze the lemon using a lemon squeezer. Blend the garlic aioli sauce in a bowl. Boil the asparagus in a wide pot with a lid.

Storage

Store the blanched asparagus in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Keep the garlic aioli separate in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the fridge. I don't recommend freezing either the blanched asparagus or the garlic aioli.

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