Creamy Asparagus Casserole with Fresh Asparagus

This creamy asparagus casserole is loaded with cheesy Parmesan sauce and topped with crispy French-fried onions. Ready in 30 minutes, the ultimate easy side dish!

Like most people, I grew up with a few holiday dishes that were “must haves” for holiday meals. As I’ve grown and started to host holiday meals at my house, I’ve had a lot of fun mixing up traditional family recipes with new dishes, such as this Creamy Asparagus Casserole made with fresh asparagus!

My inspiration for this creamy Asparagus Casserole was Green Bean Casserole. But I didn’t want to do the traditional canned soup or canned veggies thing. I wanted to use fresh asparagus and a cheesy homemade sauce instead.

When I make roasted asparagus, I top it with hollandaise sauce, breadcrumbs, and Parmesan cheese. It’s the perfect flavor pairing, so why not borrow from those flavors to make it into a casserole side dish for the holidays?

Asparagus feels like an elevated alternative for the holidays or steak night.

But this casserole is still creamy, comforting, and delicious! It’s the perfect side dish for the winter months. Something a bit exciting, but still cozy and reminiscent of a holiday classic.

This easy casserole has simple ingredients! The asparagus is cut into small pieces to help it cook quick and even, then baked with a creamy Parmesan sauce over the top.

Have more asparagus to use? I recommend my Sesame Sautéed Asparagus, Five Cheese Baked Asparagus, or Cheesy Puff Pastry Asparagus Bundles.

Asparagus Casserole Ingredient Substitutions

This simple casserole recipe has several ingredient substitutions that you can use! 

• Instead of the cream cheese, you can use a can of cream of mushroom soup or heavy whipping cream.
• Substitute any kind of shredded cheese for the Parmesan cheese. 
• Substitute Panko breadcrumbs, Italian seasoned breadcrumbs or crushed Ritz crackers for the fried onions.
• Yes, you can use fresh green beans in place of the asparagus stalks. I think it’s just as good!

Serving Suggestions

Serve this delicious side dish alongside your Easter ham and this yummy Pineapple casserole!

I think this easy side dish is also fitting for Thanksgiving dinner.

Storing Leftover Asparagus Casserole

Store leftover asparagus casserole in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Reheat gently, preferably in the oven.

I hope that you love my asparagus casserole recipe! I know it’s a bit different, but I promise it turns out delicious. If you give it a try, I’d love to know how it went in the comments!

Creamy Asparagus Casserole

Yield: 8

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 18 minutes mins

Total Time: 33 minutes mins

Author: Michelle Goth

You'll love this easy asparagus casserole recipe! Tender asparagus spears are baked with a cream sauce, then topped with Ritz crackers or fried onions.

5 from 2 ratings

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Ingredients

 

½x1x2x

• ▢ 2 pounds asparagus, fresh, cut into 2-inch pieces
• ▢ 1 tablespoon lemon juice

For the creamy sauce:

• ▢ 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ▢ 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• ▢ 8 ounces cream cheese, softened, cubed
• ▢ 1 cup 2% milk
• ▢ ½ cup Parmesan cheese
• ▢ 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon black pepper

For topping:

• ▢ ½ cup French fried onions or crushed Ritz cracker crumbs, for topping

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. 
• Quickly blanch the asparagus in a boiling pot of water for 2 minutes. Transfer asparagus to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.
• Grease a 2.5-quart casserole dish.
• Arrange asparagus in the bottom of the dish; squeeze lemon juice on top and toss to evenly coat the asparagus.
• In a small saucepan, melt butter on medium heat. Once melted, add flour to the melted butter and stir vigorously to form a paste.
• Reduce heat to low, add cream cheese and milk. Melt the cream cheese, stirring often to prevent the mixture from burning on the bottom of the pan.
• Add Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, salt, black pepper. Stir for 2–3 minutes on low heat, bringing to a gentle simmer until the sauce starts to thicken.
• Pour sauce over asparagus, sprinkle the top of the casserole with fried onions or crushed cracker crumbs. 
• Bake for 15–18 minutes, or until asparagus reaches desired level of doneness and the cracker crumbs are golden brown. 

Notes

If you have extra thin asparagus (or extra thick asparagus), you may want to subtract or add a few minutes from the bake time!

Serving: 1, Calories: 195kcal, Carbohydrates: 9g, Protein: 8g, Fat: 15g, Saturated Fat: 9g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Trans Fat: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 43mg, Sodium: 351mg, Potassium: 323mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 5g, Vitamin A: 1405IU, Vitamin C: 7mg, Calcium: 166mg, Iron: 3mg

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