What Is Soup, cream of asparagus and How Can I Use It?
Wondering what to do with soup, cream of asparagus? This guide covers how to pick it, cook it, store it, and swap it, plus 4 recipes to put it to work.
Key Points
- Condensed pale green cream soup with mild, grassy asparagus flavor; a vegetable-bake binder.
- Use it straight as a sauce for seafood, chicken, ham, and eggs without trimming spears.
- Cream of celery is the closest one-for-one swap for its color and grassy note.
- Warm it gently with milk, since the flour-thick base scorches on dry heat.
- Standard 10.5-ounce can keeps a year unopened; refrigerated leftovers last three to four days.
What are soup, cream of asparagus?
Cream of asparagus soup is a condensed canned soup in the cream-of family, the same kind of pantry shortcut as cream of mushroom or cream of chicken. It is a thick, pale green cream sauce carrying the mild, grassy, slightly bitter flavor of asparagus.
It can be eaten as soup with a can of milk stirred in, but like its cousins it earns its shelf space as a casserole binder and an instant vegetable sauce.
How to Use It
Straight from the can it is a thick green sauce that melts into a dish and brings asparagus flavor without trimming a single spear.
It binds Meatballs Kirkland, builds the creamy base in New Jersey Clam Chowder, and sauces seafood pasta like Salmon-Asparagus Manicotti and chicken in Crispy Chicken with Asparagus Sauce.
Its mild, green flavor leans toward seafood, chicken, ham, eggs, and other spring vegetables. A squeeze of lemon and a little black pepper sharpen the sometimes-flat canned taste.
Warm it gently with a splash of milk or broth, since the flour-thick base scorches on dry, hard heat.
Substitutes and Storage
Cream of celery soup is the closest stand-in for color and grassy flavor and swaps one for one. Cream of mushroom or cream of chicken also works in a casserole, trading the asparagus note for an earthier or meatier one.
From scratch, simmer chopped asparagus in broth until soft, blend it smooth, then thicken with a butter-and-flour roux and a splash of cream.
Cans run about 10.5 ounces (roughly 298 grams). Pass on any that bulge or leak. Unopened they keep a year or more in the pantry; once opened, refrigerate leftovers in a sealed container and use within three to four days.
Quick facts
Where to find soup, cream of asparagus: Soup, cream of asparagus are usually found in the canned goods section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.
- In Chinese
- 汤，奶油芦笋
- British (UK) term
- Soup, cream of asparagus
- en français
- soupe, la crème d'asperges
- en español
- sopa, crema de espárragos
Recipes using soup, cream of asparagus
There are 4 recipes that contain this ingredient.
Salmon-Asparagus Manicotti
Salmon asparagus manicotti: pasta tubes stuffed with ricotta, poached salmon, and fresh asparagus, baked in cream of asparagus sauce. A comforting seafood pasta dinner.
Crispy Chicken with Asparagus Sauce
Breaded chicken breasts pan-fried until golden, then topped with a creamy asparagus sauce made right in the same skillet. A 30-minute dinner served over hot rice.
Meatballs Kirkland
Meatballs Kirkland with frozen Italian meatballs in a creamy mushroom and asparagus soup sauce with mushrooms, served over buttered egg noodles.
New Jersey Clam Chowder
New Jersey clam chowder: a Jersey shore split between cream and tomato, with bacon, chowder clams, Old Bay, and an unusual cream of asparagus base. Garnished with asparagus spears.
