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Fettuccine Alfredo with blanched fresh asparagus, sautéed mushrooms, perfectly cooked pasta, and a lemon garlic parmesan cream sauce for an amazing dinner. This spring pasta recipe is loaded with vibrant vegetables and the most amazing flavor.
Why this recipe works:
- Feeds a crowd: This delicious pasta dinner recipe makes a ton of food. Not feeding an army? Cut all of the ingredients in half!
- Amazing flavor: From the heavenly garlic infused alfredo sauce with the perfect amount of lemon and basil to the tender asparagus and sautéed onions and mushrooms, this meal has a little bit of everything.
- Tons of veggies: Pasta with cream sauce can be a heavy meal, but there are so many vegetables in every bite with this recipe! It’s a great balance between rich decadence and vibrant fresh. Same goes for my Asparagus Galette where the fresh asparagus balances out the richness of the gouda and the buttery flaky pie crust.
Ingredients needed to make this recipe:
- Vegetables: Fresh asparagus, mushrooms, onion, garlic, lemon and fresh basil.
- Pasta: Thick fettuccine noodles work best. You can use dried pasta like I did for this recipe or you can make homemade fresh pasta.
- Alfredo sauce: Butter, heavy cream, and parmesan are all you need.
How to blanch the asparagus:
You can add raw asparagus to recipes, but it will not taste the best and will likely need to be cooked to the point where it gets mushy. With the proper preparation and a quick blanch, you will create the most vibrant green, tender, delicious asparagus you will ever eat! I use this same process when I make my Spring Vegetable Frittata and my Sautéed Spring Vegetables.
- Trim: Cut the bottom inch off of the asparagus.
- Peel: Peel the lower third of the asparagus stalks. This will remove any of the hard woody outer layer. Any kind of peeler will work, but Oxo makes a specific asparagus peeler that I love.
- Cut: for this recipe, I like to cut the stalks into pieces that are one to two inches long.
- Blanch: Get a large pot of boiling water and add the asparagus. Allow to cook for about a minute before draining.
- Ice bath: Immediately transfer the blanched asparagus to a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.
- Drain: Once the asparagus has cooled, remove it from the ice bath until you’re ready to use. Not only can you incorporate blanched asparagus into recipes like this pasta dinner, but you can add them to salads, omelets, etc.
How to make Asparagus Mushroom Fettucine Alfredo:
- Sauté: Cook the onions and mushrooms in butter. Then add the garlic. Since there is a lot of butter, they vegetables won’t get to the point where they sear, but they will begin to stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Add the heavy cream: Once it starts to bubble around the edges, reduce the temperature. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and fresh basil.
- Add the parmesan: I highly encourage freshly grating the parmesan from a block using a microplane. Not only will it melt quickly, but it will taste the best.
- Add asparagus: Add the blanched asparagus to the sauce and heat through.
- Combine with pasta: Stir the sauce and veggies into the cooked pasta.
Cooking tips for best results:
- Timing: Plan on cooking the pasta at the same time as the sauce. If using dried pasta, plan for 8-10 minutes of cooking time once the water comes to a roaring boil. If using fresh pasta, it will only take a couple of minutes to cook.
- Asparagus notes: For the most tender vibrant green asparagus, it’s best to blanch it first. Also, this recipe uses A LOT of asparagus, so feel free to cut the amount in half. I find thick stalks work best for this recipe.
- Pan size: I used an All-Clad 3-quart sauté pan to cook the veggies and the sauce and they barely fit once the asparagus was added. Next time I will use a 12″ pan or will cut the amount of asparagus.
- Reheating leftovers: Alfredo pasta recipes can be reheated, but they need to reheated gently to prevent the cream sauce to turning into oil. Either reheat in a covered pot over low heat or in the microwave at 50% power, stirring frequently.
Other great cream sauce pasta recipes:
- Cajun Chicken Alfredo
- Ham and Pea Pasta Carbonara
- Swedish Meatball Pasta
- Spicy Pasta with Shrimp
- Dozen Veggie Pasta Primavera
- Creamy Meyer Lemon Pasta
- Instant Pot Orecchiette Pasta with Kale and Ricotta
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Fettuccine Alfredo with blanched fresh asparagus, sautéed mushrooms, perfectly cooked pasta, and a lemon garlic parmesan cream sauce for an amazing dinner. This spring pasta recipe is loaded with vibrant vegetables and the most amazing flavor.
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 pounds asparagus ends trimmed, bottoms peeled, cut into 1" pieces (thick stalks recommended) *note: this is A LOT of asparagus and can easily be reduced by half
- 1 pound fettucine
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 8 tablespoons butter
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 24 ounces mushrooms sliced
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 lemon Meyer lemons recommended if available, zested and juiced
- 1 bunch fresh basil leaves sliced thin
- 1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese finely grated from a block
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Blanch the asparagus:
- Prepare the 2 1/4 pounds asparagus by trimming the ends, peeling the bottom half (optional but recommended), and cut into 1 inch pieces.
- Boil a large pot of water and prepare a large bowl of ice water.
- Add the asparagus to the boiling water for 1 minute, then immediately drain and add to the ice bath. Once they have chilled, drain the asparagus from the ice bath.
Cook the pasta:
- Boil a large pot of water with 1 tablespoon kosher salt. Add 1 pound fettucine to boiling water and cook al dente. Before draining, scoop out at least a cup of salted pasta water to thin sauce later, if needed. Drain pasta and keep warm.
Make the Alfredo sauce with vegetables:
- Add 8 tablespoons butter to large sauté pan and heat over medium high heat. Add diced 1 yellow onion and 24 ounces mushrooms, stir to coat in butter, and let cook until they start to stick to the pan, stirring only to prevent burning. Add 4 cloves garlic, stir, and allow to cook until slightly browned.
- Add 2 cups heavy cream. Stir well and scrape the bottom of the pan to release anything that stuck. Once it starts to bubble around the edges, reduce heat to low and stir in the zest and juice from 1 lemon and 1 bunch fresh basil.
- Add 1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese and stir until sauce thickens and parmesan melts.
- Add blanched asparagus, stir, and cook until heated through.
- Add alfredo sauce with vegetables to drained pasta in large pot. Stir to combine. Add small amounts of salted pasta water to thin, if desired. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm with additional grated parmesan.
Notes
- Timing: Plan on cooking the pasta at the same time as the sauce. If using dried pasta, plan for 8-10 minutes of cooking time once the water comes to a roaring boil. If using fresh pasta, it will only take a couple of minutes to cook.
- Asparagus notes: For the most tender vibrant green asparagus, it’s best to blanch it first. Also, this recipe uses A LOT of asparagus, so feel free to cut the amount in half. I find thick stalks work best for this recipe.
- Pan size: I used an All-Clad 3-quart sauté pan to cook the veggies and the sauce and they barely fit once the asparagus was added. Next time I will use a 12″ pan or will cut the amount of asparagus.
- Reheating leftovers: Alfredo pasta recipes can be reheated, but they need to reheated gently to prevent the cream sauce to turning into oil. Either reheat in a covered pot over low heat or in the microwave at 50% power, stirring frequently.
Nutrition
Calories: 648kcal, Carbohydrates: 52g, Protein: 22g, Fat: 41g, Saturated Fat: 25g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 172mg, Sodium: 1314mg, Potassium: 760mg, Fiber: 6g, Sugar: 6g, Vitamin A: 2426IU, Vitamin C: 17mg, Calcium: 326mg, Iron: 5mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did you make this? Leave me a comment below
Love this, it seems like a lot of work but once you do it a few times it is quite easy and yummy comments by all (including kids)
I recent. sign up for your recipe. I have enjoy]ed some of your recipes. Recently I found an asparagus past recipe and wanted to make it. However I could not print. //////////why is your site difficult to print your recipe.
I’m sorry about that! I had a temporary issue that lasted several days where the print button in the recipe card was there and functional, but you just couldn’t see it! So, basicially, useless. As soon as I caught the issue it was fixed but you might have stumbled across my recipe during that period of time. Please try again and I apologize for that!
Hi Krissy, My name is Dee and I have just signed up for your News Letter. Are we allowed to print the recipes that you post on Web? As a newbie I do not know the rules as to what we can do or not to do. Thank you for posting some very interesting recipes
Yes! I had an issue with my print button for a few days where it wasn’t visible but it’s fixed now. Just scroll down to the recipe and find the print button. I do that all the time myself, too! Thank you so much for asking! The main thing food bloggers don’t want are for people to paste the entire ingredient list and instructions on social media and we REALLY hate those apps that scrape our sites and steal our content. But the print button is definitely there for you to use!
Where is the tab for printing the recipe?
Super sorry. There was an issue with my print button for a few days but it was fixed as soon as I saw it was gone (it was actually there but you couldn’t see it…. super helpful, right?). Anyway, the print button is back and working in the recipe card. Sorry about that!