Smoked Asparagus – A Unique Side To Amp Up Your Dinner

Are you letting your main dish shoulder all the responsibility for a great meal without a supporting side like hickory smoked asparagus? Not anymore! This simple dish packs a ton of flavor into minimal ingredients!

Best way to Smoke Asparagus

As with many subjective questions, it depends. Here are some options you can use. You may wish to base your choice on what equipment you already have.

• In a gas grill using a smoker box or pellet tube smoker – This is what I chose as I have a gas grill. It appears that the smoker box/pellet tube smoker is optional. That being said, having one makes the smoking process significantly easier to manage and control as opposed to just throwing wood chips in the bottom of the grill and hoping for the best. It’s also easier for clean up.
• Putting the asparagus in a smoker – The downside is you have to already own a smoker.
• In a pellet grill – The advantage is that you don’t need a separate smoker box/pellet tube smoker, since you can just use the fragrant wood pellets instead of charcoal.

Can you use a smoker box/pellet tube smoker in the oven?

Yes, you technically can. I would advise opening a window and turning on your exhaust fan.

Evidently, using a smoker box in the oven yields a much more mild smoke flavor, and the food ends up more steamed than smoked, so very tender with lots of moisture left in it.

In addition, you will need some elbow grease to get your pans clean afterwards, which is why I opted to use an outdoor gas grill.

For more info on smoking food in the oven, here is an article from the Washington Post by someone who mastered it through trial and error and shared his experiences.

Tips for Smoking Asparagus

Smoking asparagus so that it cooks fully, without letting it burn, is a full contact sport. I used a higher temperature and a lower cook time. As an alternative, you could cook your asparagus longer at a lower temperature for a stronger smoke flavor.

By itself, if the grill is set to a certain temperature, once you shut the lid it stays at that temperature consistently.

The medium setting on my (relatively small) grill is 300° F, so I started out just below medium at 275°. Once I ignited my pellet tube smoker and set it inside, with the asparagus, I shut the lid.

The temperature went up to 300° very quickly, and then a couple minutes later to 400°. Having the pellet tube smoker inside the grill had a massive impact on the temperature.

I opened the lid to let some of the heat out, then shut it again. A few minutes later, the thermometer said 500°, but the asparagus did not appear to be burning or even cooking particularly quickly. While I opened the lid a few more times to reduce the heat, the average cooking temperature stayed around 400°.

I had half a bunch of an older batch of asparagus spears that were quite large and sturdy, and half a bunch of a new batch, which were quite slender.

The smaller spears of asparagus were bright green with a bit of crunch right around the 10 minute mark of cooking, much like how you’d find asparagus served at a restaurant.

However, the larger spears took 18-20 minutes to be fully cooked and tender. I wouldn’t go too far for more than about three minutes at a time to ensure nothing burns.

Hickory Smoked Asparagus Ingredients

Before you begin, you will need:

Edible Ingredients

• 1 bunch of fresh asparagus
• Olive oil or cooking spray
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste
• A lemon or lemon juice, to taste

Tools

• Wood chips or pellets (I used hickory, but you could also try mesquite or apple. For a smoker box, you are supposed to use wood chips, while for a pellet tube smoker, you are supposed to use wood pellets. I picked up hickory chips, and my husband picked up a pellet tube smoker, and that combination worked just fine.)
• Grill basket, oven safe cast iron skillet, or disposable aluminum foil pan – optional but will save your veggies from taking a tumble through the grates and getting burnt. You could also just use aluminum foil to make a small nest for the asparagus.
• Smoker box or pellet tube smoker (optional, depending on your set up – see above)
• A long lighter
• A grill or smoker

How to Make Smoked Asparagus on a Gas Grill

First, Prep the Asparagus

1. To begin, wash your asparagus and trim off the ends. If you’d prefer not to try to saw through the ends, you can snap off the ends instead. Get close to the bottom, where there is more white than green, and just bend the spear. The dry end will snap right off.
2. After that, place your asparagus in a grill basket. I did two layers. It’s probably best to not overfill the basket so everything cooks evenly.
3. Spritz the asparagus with cooking spray or drizzle on some olive oil.
4. Then, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. (The citrus should be added after cooking for best results.)

Next, Prep your Smoking Station and Get Cooking

1. First, fill your pellet tube smoker or smoker box with hickory wood chips. Usually there is a line showing how full it should be.
2. Turn on your grill or smoker to 275° F.
3. Using a long kitchen lighter, ignite the wood chips in the pellet tube smoker/smoker box. This make take several attempts until it fully catches.
4. Once the grill is at the correct temperature and the smoker box/pellet tube smoker is consistently putting out smoke, place your smoking device inside the grill, on top of the heat source.
5. After that, place the grill basket full of asparagus in the grill on the opposite side from the heat source. We want the veggies to cook with indirect heat so they don’t burn.
6. Close the lid and cook for 10-20 minutes (10 minutes for slender asparagus, 18-20 for large asparagus), checking the asparagus every few minutes as the heat increases. (See above for details, but even with the grill at the lowest setting, the heat from the pellet smoker tube caused the temperature inside the grill to go up quickly and dramatically. My average cooking temperature was around 350-400° F.) Shake the basket halfway through if desired.
7. Taste test your asparagus, and when it is done to your liking, remove the basket from the grill and set aside to cool. Turn off the grill (or cook another course) and close the lid so the smoker extinguishes itself.
8. Squeeze fresh lemon juice over your smoked asparagus, add salt and pepper if desired, and serve! Enjoy!

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Variations on this Smoked Asparagus Recipe

Feel free to add additional veggies to your grill basket for more flavor. Onions, garlic, shallots, red peppers, and/or portobello mushrooms would all be delicious with this smoked asparagus.

You could also add pineapple or mango for a sweeter twist on this dish.

I kept my seasoning very plain, but you could use butter, hollandaise, harissa aioli, balsamic reduction, a cream sauce, or any sauce you like for a richer taste.

If you are cooking this smoked asparagus alongside something else on the grill, feel free to add a coordinating seasoning to the veggies, like a rub or similar spice blend.

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I hope you enjoyed this recipe for smoked asparagus!