Celebrate spring – or any season – with this amazingly simple recipe for lemony-garlic shrimp and asparagus with white bean puree that may find you licking the plate.
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I wish I could adequately describe this shrimp and asparagus recipe to you.
White beans, good. Asparagus, love it. Shrimp, yes. Garlic? Lemon? Yes, yes, it all seems like a nice combination, with the unique addition of the beans.
But I had no idea how good it would be as this came together. No idea.
And then when something that tastes this good, also looks this good – what?
When you plate this up, it looks like something that you’d get at a fancy restaurant. The type where if I saw the waiter bringing this I’d roll my eyes a bit, thinking it’s one of those restaurants (you know, the kind that are more into presentation…).
All I would need, though, is one bite to understand that presentation and deliciousness can go hand in hand. And as long as you’re a fan of these ingredients like me, you are going to want many bites of this. I promise.
Shrimp and Asparagus with White Bean Puree
As if flavor and presentation weren’t enough, how about simple and easy with whole food ingredients?
- Shrimp
- Fresh Asparagus (Seasonal Tip: green beans and snap peas also work well.)
- Onions
- White Beans (cooked, either canned or cooked and frozen)
- Garlic
- Lemon
- Parsley
Add some olive oil, butter, a bit of salt and pepper and maybe a red pepper flake or two and that’s the entire recipe right there.
Pretty, yummy, and uncomplicated. It just gets better.
Shrimp and Asparagus with White Bean Puree Steps
This recipe consists of three very quick steps – really.
Step 1: Briefly heat the beans with garlic, lemon juice and water and puree them right in the pan with an immersion blender (you’ve gotten yours, right?).
If all you have is a regular blender, you’ll need to transfer the beans to the blender bowl first, and it works, too, just not quite as conveniently.
Step 2: While that is heating, whisk together the dressing/topping ingredients.
Step 3: The final step is to quickly cook the onions and asparagus until just crisp-tender before adding the shrimp.
Since each step takes just a few minutes it all comes together in about 30 minutes.
To serve, place about 1/2 cup of the pureed beans on a plate, add some of the shrimp-asparagus mixture, and pour part of the dressing over the top. Beautiful.
And prepare to be amazed at your first bite. Really, truly, honestly.
You will want to serve this with a good bread (easy artisan or sourdough artisan are of course our favs) to soak up all the beany-dressing goodness. Again, trust me on this, it’s either bread or licking the plate, so make it easy on your family and guests.
You’ve probably have figured out that I’ve made this a lot. When asparagus isn’t in season any more I make it with with snow peas in later spring, and then green beans in the summer. I even made it once with small scallops. It’s all good!
Click the arrow for the full Shrimp and Asparagus recipe (with print options)!
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Dorothy says
May 23 at 2:57 pmI belong to a cookbook club. We study and sample recipes from a specific cookbook all month, then meet once a month, at a pot luck lunch, with everyone bringing a dish from their experiments.
This month’s book was a pizza cookbook, but all the recipes were boring! Who needs another pepperoni pizza? Then I read your shrimp & asparagus with white bean puree and was inspired! I cut the recipe in half and did all the prep work, but spread the bean puree over an unbaked pizza shell. Topped with tender asparagus & onions. Sprinkled on a little parmesan and topped with cooked shrimp. Baked in a hot, hot oven until the topping was bubbly and the crust was golden. OMG! Served with the lemony dressing drizzled on top. I have found my pizza offering for the pot luck Gods! Thank you for the inspiration.
Jami says
May 24 at 8:06 pmOh my goodness, Dorothy, that is inspired!! What a wonderful sounding adaptation. I will have to try it out. 🙂
Maureen says
March 29 at 9:09 amThis looks delicious! If I had shrimp in the house, I’d make it today. The substitutions sound delicious, too. I will try them all. Thank you.
Jami says
March 29 at 2:00 pmWonderful – I hope you get a chance to try it soon, Maureen!
Patti says
March 29 at 4:06 amHi Jami,
This recipe sounds delicious! I love all the ingredients and am always looking for something new to make with fresh asparagus in the spring. The most surprising this was the beans. I typically go for rice or pasta but this is a nice new twist that I can’t wait to try.
Jami says
March 29 at 2:02 pmI know – the beans are so different, though we do love a good bread to sop it up with, so it’s not totally low-carb at our house, though it could be. 🙂
Angie Rose says
March 28 at 5:33 pmI find any recipe that involves lemon and garlic my absolute favorite! Something about those flavors make my mouth water. I’m planning on starting an asparagus garden bed this year. I love how it’s a perennial crop, and we have such a short growing season here in New England so it’s perfect. Your recipe looks like something straight from a restaurant! I definitely need to invest in an immersion blender. So many things on my to-do list this year! I bet this would be delicious with scallops as well. I might just surprise my boyfriend with this recipe! Thank you for the delicious ideas and cooking motivation 🙂
Jami says
March 28 at 8:32 pmGo for it, Angie – I think you (and your boyfriend) will love it, too!
Michelle Marine says
March 28 at 12:36 pmYour recipe looks delicious, Jami! And I think I’m about to run off to my garden to see if I have any asparagus peeking up yet!
Jami says
March 28 at 8:31 pmYes – those first spears are so exciting to see in spring!
Shelly says
March 28 at 9:41 amThis is a delicious meal and for it to be ready in about 30 minutes is great. I can’t wait until I find a good deal on asparagus to give this recipe at try.
Jami says
March 28 at 8:29 pmHope you enjoy it, Shell!
Diane Williams says
March 28 at 8:35 amSpring recipes like this make me want to get right out there and start in the garden. I can’t WAIT until it gets warm enough to harvest our asparagus crop for delicious dishes like this one.!
Jami says
March 28 at 8:29 pmI know! I will have to be satisfied with purchased asparagus this year,though. 🙁 It will be one of the first things I grow in the new place we end up, for sure.
Jill says
August 27 at 3:59 pmSo good! I added a handful of flat leaf parsley (since I used white asparagus) and mushrooms then topped with gorganzola!
Jami says
August 28 at 11:28 amYour additions sound lovely, Jill – thanks for sharing!
Jami @An Oregon Cottage says
February 11 at 1:27 amRenee: Yeah! Though I don’t think anyone in my family would mistakenly call it dessert. 🙂
Renee says
February 9 at 5:39 amAbsolutely amazing! My husband and kids raved about it. David slipped and called it “dessert.” So nice when I can make them all that happy!
Rachel says
July 14 at 12:18 amLove this recipe! Found this link from Kayln’s Kitchen. My husband and I ate it up! My 2 year old ate some too. 🙂 We used cannellini beans and we were out of parsley so we used fresh dill instead. Wonderful!
Jenelle says
May 28 at 7:13 pmThis looks amazing! I can’t wait to tyr it!
Jenelle
dale311 says
May 27 at 1:00 amThis looks super delicious! I love asparagus.
[email protected] An Oregon Cottage says
May 26 at 10:58 pmSarah- Yes, those were great northern. I did look at the page, and it’s good to know the differences, though, I too like them, use all the white beans interchangeably. The great northern’s are usually the cheapest white bean in the bulk bins, which is why I buy them. 🙂
Candi- Try this with scallops, or even go out on a limb and try it with chicken pieces. I still think it would be a great flavor!
Jean says
May 26 at 9:54 pmOh my goodness, Jami – I’m so thrilled that you posted this – it looks lucious and I can’t wait to try it. Thanks!
Sarah says
May 26 at 2:08 pmThis looks and sounds delicious! We get navy beans from our farmer’s market and I wasn’t sure if they were the same as the beans you are using.
While trying to figure it out, I found this page comparing different white beans. It looks like you are using great northern beans, right?
Candi says
May 26 at 8:39 pmWow!!! That looks so good! Now if I could just get the hubs to eat shrimp like that!