This Asparagus Kielbasa Bow Tie Pasta is a fresh and easy Summer lunch or dinner recipe that everyone will love!
This post and recipe is sponsored by Michigan Asparagus. I was compensated for my time but all words and opinions are 100% mine.
It’s no secret that we love asparagus around here. Asparagus is one of those vegetables that we pick up from the grocery store or the Farmer’s Market every week and use it in recipes about twice a week. We use it in sheet pan meals, we steam it with a bit of butter and garlic powder, and we even grill it during the summer.
Last week, Michigan Asparagus sent me a huge box of freshly harvested Michigan Asparagus. With a box full of fresh Michigan Asparagus, I got to work in the kitchen creating another great way to use asparagus, and that’s in my light Asparagus Kielbasa Bow Tie Pasta!
I love working with Michigan Asparagus each year to create amazing recipes for y’all and to showcase their beautiful asparagus! Asparagus season is somewhat short, and sometimes (like this year) it gets even smaller due to frost and cold temperatures, so we like to use it as much as we can while it’s fresh from the fields!
Not only is it great in fresh recipes like this one that I’m sharing with y’all today but we also love asparagus because it has no fat, no cholesterol, and very little sodium. It’s also considered a “Clean 15” food. That means that asparagus has a low pesticide load and is one of the safest conventionally grown crops to eat!
Also a little random fact:
Did you know that Oceana County, Michigan is nicknamed the “asparagus capital of the world”?! They are also home to the National Asparagus Festival held every June!
So let’s chat about this Asparagus for a second. These are the stalks of asparagus that we’re using for this Asparagus Kielbasa Bow Tie Pasta recipe.
You’ll notice on your stalks of asparagus that the end is somewhat rough and tough. You’re going to want to remove that before cooking.
Just bend the stalk of asparagus towards the end and snap off the end. Use that as a guide to chop the rest of the stalks of asparagus or just snap the ends off of each stem like I do.
Toss those ends into the trash or compost pile.
For this recipe, I like to snap my asparagus into 2 or 3 parts, depending on how tall the asparagus stalk is. .
As you can see in the photo above, the asparagus stalk on the left is the one straight from the store/market, the middle is a stalk that I’ve snapped the end off of and the right asparagus is where I’ve snapped it into 2 parts to use for the recipe.
I’ve got the full recipe below for y’all, but here’s a quick over view of how this light and easy summer pasta recipe comes together.
We’re starting off with some olive oil and garlic. Then we’re adding the sliced kielbasa to the pan just to brown it a bit and heat it up. Kielbasa should already been fully cooked when you buy it, so don’t worry about the short “cooking time” for it in this recipe.
Then toss in some cherry tomatoes that have been sliced in half. You just want to cook these for a minute or two until they’ve started to burst a bit.
Now it’s time for the asparagus. You’ll find out in the recipe below that we use the pasta water to cook both the asparagus and the pasta! (Not together haha)
Then the cooked pasta goes in with a simple toss to combine everything together and your meal is done!
This Asparagus Kielbasa Bow Tie Pasta is 100% perfect alone for a lunch or dinner! I normally have about 1 cup of this for lunch and then if we’re having it for dinner or if I’m super, super hungry, I’ll have 1 cup of this pasta and a small salad along side of it.
Double the amount for lunch or dinner and you’ve got the serving size that my husband loves.
Thomas also loves to add big shavings of Parmesan cheese to this pasta dish too! I love that idea as well! I mean who doesn’t love cheese! haha
You can leave that part out if you’re not a fan, but we really do love the addition of the cheese.
- Salt the water AFTER it comes to a boil. Salted water takes longer to boil
- Make the pasta water salty “like the ocean” – it’ll add more flavor to the pasta
- Make sure to snap the ends off of the asparagus and toss those into the trash or compost pile
- Save time and dishes by cooking the pasta and asparagus in the same water (but not together). Remove the pasta with a slotted spoon when it’s done cooking and then add the asparagus to the boiling pasta water for about 5 or so minutes.
Asparagus Kielbasa Bow Tie Pasta
This Asparagus Kielbasa Bow Tie Pasta is a fresh and easy Summer lunch or dinner recipe that everyone will love! Asparagus Kielbasa Bow Tie Pasta
Ingredients
Instructions
You can also find them online on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest!
Now take a look at this amazing giveaway from Michigan Asparagus! It’s a $1000 giveaway, y’all!!!
LindY G Sherrod says
Mmmmm this looks sooo good, a perfect HOT weather meal. Another winner my dear. Also want to thank you for the e-book.
Sister From the South,
LindY
Debi says
I make something like this but use red pepper slices and I drizzle some soy sauce over it.
Angie says
ooo sounds good. I don’t cook with red peppers because my husband is allergic but I love the soy sauce idea!
stella says
I just fixed Kielbasa yesterday next time I fix it I am going to use this recipe
Susan D says
Oops! I meant to leave my instagram link but my clipboard still had the Michigan Asparagus link on it… i clicked enter too fast! My instagram is www .instagram.com / saucheyr/
We can’t get enough Asparagus in this house, it’s a favorite of the whole family, and it’s so versatile.