Five-ingredient asparagus pasta is the perfect easy weeknight meal

Shoots of asparagus are a lovely harbinger of springtime — and a delicious one, too. Celebrate greener times with the snap of crunchy asparagus in this super-easy pasta dinner.

The recipe popped up on TikTok in March and has since logged millions of views and well over 100,000 likes. Food experts at TheKitchn put the viral video to the test and found it just as simple and tasty as it looks.

“From the perfectly blended flavors to the added texture the asparagus delivered, this dish was truly delectable,” writes Choya Johnson. “It was so good, I made it a second time just to make sure my taste buds weren’t deceiving me.”

What else needs to be said? Here’s the original TikTok by @kristenfaith_eats, followed by a quick recipe breakdown.

First off, select your pasta. The original TikTok uses a shape called calamarata — as you can probably guess, it looks like rings of calamari. It’s not a common style of noodle, but I can see rigatoni or penne offering a similar result.

Cook the pasta in salted water, drain, then run cold water over the colander to halt further cooking. Set it aside and start building your flavor.

Melt a chunk of butter and some olive oil over medium-high heat. The mix of the two fats will keep the butter from caramelizing (and possibly burning).

Add in minced garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, black pepper, lemon juice and asparagus spears cut into bite-sized pieces. Sauté and let everyone get to know each other.

Next up: Noodles. Dump ‘em in the pan, along with lemon juice and shredded parmesan, to taste. (A great thing about this recipe is everything is to taste — you can dial any of the ingredients up or down according to your preferences.)

Mix the noodles to incorporate, stirring for a couple of minutes, then plate it up. Dinner is served!

Johnson, of The Kitchn, recommends reserving a little water from the cooked pasta in case you need to adjust the texture of the sauce. Johnson also suggests adding in a protein, if desired.

Find detailed instructions here, then make it your own!