I spy with my little eye…bacon…asparagus…pasta…Parmesan…
…and?
(Triple gold star if you can guess the secret ingredient!)
White wine.
Mmmmm.
(Did you guess it?) Actually, if you’re not a fan of cooking with wine, you can easily sub in some chicken broth and maybe a hint of lemon juice.
But this recipe was 100% inspired by leftovers in my kitchen on the Sunday afternoon that I whipped it up. And after having had friends over the night before, half a bottle of white wine was corked and calling my name. So, as I like to do, I added half of it to the pasta, and poured the rest into a small glass to drink while I cooked. Perfection.
Seriously, though, the wine ended up being the perfect ingredient to pull this simple pasta together. Let me explain…
Begin by bringing a large pot of water to a boil, and cook your pasta (I went with linguine) according to package instructions until it’s al dente.
Meanwhile, add your diced bacon to a saute pan. Cook it up in a pan until it’s nice and crispy. Then remove it with a slotted spoon, and leave the leftover (about 1 Tbsp.) grease in the pan.
(For timing’s sake, I would add your pasta to the boiling water at this point after your bacon is cooked.)
Add your fresh asparagus, and saute it in the bacon grease until it’s nice and cooked and still has a bit of a “bite”. (Try to avoid overcooking it!)
Then add the white wine, and give the bottom of the pan a good stir to scrape those brown bits off the bottom. It might not be the prettiest, but trust me, this step is so worth it and the pasta’s loveliness will recover. ;)
Let the white wine boil down for a few minutes until it is reduced by about half.
Then once the pasta is ready, drain it and add it to the pan, along with the cooked bacon and asparagus and half of the Parmesan. Give it a good toss.
Then sprinkle the rest of the Parmesan cheese on top.
And then dive in! Because I guarantee you that this pasta will disappear quickly. ;)
5-Ingredient Bacon Asparagus Pasta
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb. (8 oz.) uncooked pasta (I used linguine)
- 1/2 lb. (about 8 strips) uncooked bacon, diced
- 1/2 lb. (8 oz.) fresh aspagarus, ends trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
- 1/2 cup dry white wine (or you can double this if you’d like)
- 1/2 cup grated or flaked Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cook the pasta in a large pot of generously-salted water al dente according to package instructions.
- Meanwhile, add bacon to a medium saute pan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until crispy. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add asparagus to the pan and saute in the bacon grease for about 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cooked. Remove asparagus with a slotted spoon, and set aside with the bacon. Slowly add the white wine to the pan, and scape the bottom of the pan with a spoon to deglaze the pan and pick up all of those yummy brown bits. Continue cooking for 5 minutes, or until the wine has reduced by about half.
- When the pasta is cooked, drain it. Then add the pasta, asparagus, bacon and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese to the saute pan, and toss until combined. Sprinkle pasta with the remaining Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.
- *If the pasta seems too dry, add in 1/4 cup of the pasta water after adding in the asparagus and bacon and toss to combine.
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
you had me at bacon. looks amazing!
Delicious!
I love asparagus.
I cook sometimes pasta with cider. It’s a different taste.
made this last night and there were NO leftovers! My family loved it. I added garlic and a full cup of white wine and a few sundries tomatoes! Sooo good!!
Thanks Victoria, that’s awesome! Also, I love that you added white wine and sundried tomatoes, yum!
Delicious! The whole family loved this and it was so fast and simple to throw together!
This was pretty good. I added a clove of garlic to the asparagus and used a whole cup of white wine. The wine flavor didn’t really come through a lot for me, imo, and I accidentally undercooked my asparagus, but it was still good. Especially the bites with a little of everything in. Thanks for the delightful dinner!
Made this to take for lunch today. LOVE it. I can’t buy wine, so I used chicken stock instead. I also subbed turkey bacon for pork bacon because that’s what I had on hand, but still delicious!
I served this as a side dish for Christmas dinner tonight and it was enjoyed by all. My 13 year old picky eater not only tried it but, enjoyed a second helping. I did make one change. Instead of asparagus, I used fresh green beans or I would have been the only one interested. Thanks for making me look good one more time.
It sounds really tasty which I,m sure it is! Just my two cents.ts worth, I,m amazed at the amount of people that still eat bacon, and actually cook in the grease, Google Nitrates and Nitrjtes, they are carcinogenic! And worse when cooked, I would have to find some Organic meat to add to it!
The bacon and asparagus was a lovely combination.
Very disappointed by the wateriness of the sauce. I didn’t add any pasta water, all the liquid was from the wine. This recipe needs some kind of thickener. Cream or raw egg (like carbonara). At the very least, needs powdered Parmesan instead of grated or shaved, to thicken it.
We tried this tonight and it was excellent! Thanks so much.