
Side dishes · Vegetable sides
Roasted asparagus
Spring's ten-minute side: asparagus blistered at high heat with olive oil, lemon and parmesan. The vegetable that needs the least help getting eaten.
- Time
- 15 min (5 prep + 10 cook)
- Servings
- 4
- Per serving
- 103 kcal
- Protein
- 3 g
Both directions are legitimate — the score measures fullness per calorie, not virtue. Every version is the same dish, rebalanced.
Ingredients
- 1 lb green asparagus, woody ends snapped500 g
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil20 g
- 1/2 tsp salt3 g
- 1/4 tsp black pepper1 g
- 1/2, juiced lemon15 g
- 3 tbsp grated parmesan (optional)20 g
Every ingredient links to its food page — same data, same score, same formula.
Steps
- Heat the oven to 220°C. Snap one spear to find where the woody part ends; cut the bunch there.
- Toss with oil, salt and pepper on the tray, in one layer.
- Roast 8–10 minutes depending on thickness — tips blistered, stems just tender. Limp asparagus is over-roasted asparagus.
- Lemon over the top, parmesan if using, serve immediately.
Why this score
solidly fillingLow energy density — a lot of food for the calories.
Three routes to fullness — one is enough
What pulls it down
Computed on the finished dish, not an average of the parts: 412 kcal goes into the pot, 559 g of ingredients comes out as ~420 g of food → 98 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water, and energy density is the score's biggest lever — so we show the math. Full formula here.
Per
- Calories
- 98
- Protein
- (13%)
- 3 g
- Fat
- (58%)
- 6 g
- Carbohydrates
- (29%)
- 7 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 364 mg
Percentages are the share of calories from each macronutrient.
Computed from the ingredients' USDA data — nothing typed by hand. Every number is traceable, every score recomputable.
More side dishes
Photo: AI-generated. Nutrition and score are computed from the ingredients with the published formula — this recipe hasn't been kitchen-tested by us yet.