Asparagus Salad with Easy Dijon Vinaigrette

Delicious Asparagus Salad with juicy tomatoes, creamy avocado, toasted almonds and hard boiled eggs. Tossed in super easy Dijon mustard and olive oil dressing, this warm salad is perfect for spring!

You can enjoy this asparagus salad recipe alone or with your protein of choice, like this baked salmon in foil, air fryer lamb chops, or lemon chicken recipe.

I’ve already shared recipes for roasted asparagus, broiled asparagus, air fryer asparagus, and now this fully-loaded asparagus salad.

It’s asparagus season, my friends! Fill your bodies with vitamins K and C, folate, and fiber while you can afford asparagus. Asparagus ranks super low in residue pesticides year after year, making it a great faux organic vegetable to eat in spring. When, as we all know, local produce is so hard to come by.

Ingredients in this asparagus salad recipe are simple. Dijon vinaigrette ties everything with a punch of flavor in each mustard grain.

Hard boiled eggs add a boost of protein and natural creaminess, just what you want in healthy egg recipes. We have crunch, juiciness, and warmth going on here. You can add cooked pasta or quinoa to make this asparagus tomato salad a complete meal.

The absence of creamy dressing means you can take this cold asparagus salad outdoors, too! Perfect for grill season to serve alongside grilled salmon, grilled chicken breast, or shrimp skewers!

Ingredients for Asparagus Salad

• Asparagus: Thickness of asparagus spears doesn’t matter much as we will cut them anyways.
• Fruit and veggies: Tomato, avocado and green onion. Grape or cherry tomatoes will hold their shape better. Also make sure avocado skin is brown but not too soft to the touch. Green onion adds a zing and just screams “Spring!”.
• Hard boiled eggs: Once you learn how to cook hard boiled eggs in Instant Pot, you are never going back to the stove top method. You can also scramble about 1/3 cup egg whites instead.
• Nuts: Slivered or sliced almonds look pretty and taste delicious roasted. Also pine nuts, pepitas and pecans would be great!
• Dijon vinaigrette: Extra virgin olive oil, lemon zest and juice, soy sauce, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper. You can use yellow mustard as well.

How to Make Asparagus Salad

Asparagus salad recipe is a salad where veggies are chopped, eggs hard boiled and your simple favorite dressing combines them all together.

• Boil asparagus for 60 seconds if it is thin and for 3 minutes if the stalks are thicker. Drain, fill pot with ice and cold water to stop the cooking process and let sit.
• Toast almonds in preheated skillet for 3-5 minutes or until fragrant. Don’t walk away, watch and stir often to prevent delicate nuts from burning.
• Make dressing by whisking olive oil, lemon zest and juice, soy sauce, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Alternatively, you can shake it in a glass jar with tight lid. Works well if you want to double the recipe and use leftovers throughout the week.
• Combine all salad ingredients in a large bowl: Add drained cooked asparagus, eggs, tomato, avocado, almonds, green onion, pour dressing on top and gently stir. Egg yolk will make salad creamy, so if you care about the look add eggs after stirring.

How to Store and Trim Asparagus

When you bring asparagus home, don’t throw it in the produce drawer or leave it in tight sealed packaging (like Costco). Trim 1 inch from the ends, fill a tall jar with cold water, and place the asparagus bunch in it. Then store in the door of refrigerator for up to 1 week.

When ready to cook, trim asparagus by snapping the end of one spear and cutting the remaining asparagus the same length.

More Tips

• Don’t over cook asparagus: Drain and shock in ice cold bath while it’s still bright green!
• Skip the yolks: If you want to keep asparagus avocado salad colorful and less messy, use only egg whites and save egg yolks for a snack or avocado egg salad.
• Incorporating leftovers: If you have any cooked asparagus leftovers, use them in this cold asparagus salad recipe. Also substitute some of it with any leftovers from making balsamic grilled vegetables.

Serving Suggestions and Variations

Let me say that I love warm asparagus salad. Cold is good too but nothing compared to warm egg yolk “marrying” Dijon vinaigrette and coating the vegetables. And with a crunch of toasted nuts. Mmmmmmmm.

• Vegetarian full meal: Because this salad covers all food groups, I like to serve it alongside quinoa, brown rice or whole wheat pasta.
• With simple lean protein: If you are looking for a protein addition, try baked chicken breast or Instant Pot chicken breast. You could always ditch the chicken too in place of baked salmon or tuna zucchini cakes.
• Tuna asparagus salad: Add a can of tuna or salmon to up the protein content, drain and flake with a fork first.
• A slice of fresh rustic bread will go so well with asparagus tomato salad! Oh, summer, where are you?

Looking for more fully-loaded salad inspiration? Try this grilled chicken salad, healthy taco salad, or shrimp and avocado salad.

How to Make Ahead and Store

To make ahead: In a salad bowl add prepared asparagus, tomatoes, green onion and eggs. Refrigerate covered for up to 2 days. Make salad dressing and store in a glass jar with lid for up to 7 days. Olive oil in the vinaigrette will solidify refrigerated, so place it in a bowl with hot water for 10 minutes to melt, then shake well. When ready to serve, dice avocado, toast almonds and combine all salad ingredients.

You can also keep toasted nuts in dry cool place for up to 1 week. If you store them in the fridge with other ingredients, almonds will lose the crunch. And diced avocado will turn brown.

Refrigerate leftovers covered for up to 24 hours.

More Asparagus Recipes

• Chicken asparagus stir fry
• Chicken and asparagus recipe

More Salad Recipes

• Strawberry spinach salad
• Tomato cucumber lettuce salad
• Spinach salad recipe
• Cucumber and tomato salad
• Avocado spinach salad

Or check out this list of healthy salad recipes or my collection of healthy egg recipes!

Asparagus Salad with Easy Dijon Vinaigrette

Delicious Asparagus Salad with juicy tomatoes, creamy avocado, toasted almonds and boiled eggs. Tossed in super easy Dijon mustard and olive oil dressing, this warm asparagus salad recipe is perfect for spring!

4.91 from 10 votes

Servings 8 servings (side dish)

Calories 299

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

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Ingredients  

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Asparagus Salad

• ▢ 4 hard boiled eggs sliced
• ▢ 2 lbs asparagus
• ▢ 4 medium tomatoes sliced
• ▢ 2 large avocados diced
• ▢ 1 cup slivered or chopped almonds
• ▢ 1/4 cup green onion finely chopped

Dijon Vinaigrette

• ▢ 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• ▢ Zest of a lemon
• ▢ 1/2 lemon, juice of 2 tbsp
• ▢ 1 tbsp soy sauce
• ▢ 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• ▢ 1/4 tsp salt
• ▢ Ground black pepper to taste

Instructions 

• Hard boil the eggs on the stove or make Instant Pot hard boiled eggs, so easy.
• In a large pot, add 3/4 cold water and bring to a boil (you can use the same pot you used for cooking eggs previously). While water is coming to a boil, trim asparagus by snapping the end of one spear and cutting remaining asparagus with a knife the same length.
• Then chop asparagus spears into 2 inch pieces, add to boiling water, and cook for 60 seconds if it is thin or for 3 minutes if the stalks are thick. Pierce with a knife or fork and stop cooking while vegetable is still bright green.
• Drain asparagus, return to the pot and fill it with cold water and ice to cover. This will stop the cooking process. Set aside.
• Preheat ceramic non-stick skillet on medium heat and add almonds. Cook until fragrant and toasted, stirring occasionally. About 3-5 minutes. Set aside.
• In a small bowl, add olive oil, lemon zest and juice, soy sauce, mustard, salt, pepper and whisk with a fork.
• In a large salad bowl, add drained cooked asparagus, eggs, tomato, avocado, almonds, green onion and pour dressing on top. Gently mix to combine.
• Serve salad alongside Instant Pot quinoa, Instant Pot brown rice or whole wheat pasta. If you are looking for a protein addition, try baked chicken breast, Instant Pot chicken breast, or something with a little extra flavor like this lemon chicken. You could always ditch the chicken too in place of baked salmon or tuna zucchini fritters.

Notes

• Store: Refrigerate leftovers covered for up to 24 hours.
• When you bring asparagus home, trim 1 inch from the ends, fill a tall jar with cold water, and place the asparagus bunch in it. Then store in the door of refrigerator for up to 1 week.
• Don’t over cook asparagus: Drain and shock in ice cold bath while it’s still bright green!
• Skip the yolks: If you want to keep salad colorful and less messy, use only egg whites and save egg yolks for a snack or avocado egg salad.
• Incorporating leftovers: If you have any cooked asparagus leftovers, use them in this salad. Substitute some of asparagus with leftovers of balsamic marinade for grilled vegetables.
• Tuna asparagus salad: Add a can of tuna or salmon to up the protein content, drain and flake with a fork first.
• Asparagus bean salad: Add a can of low sodium rinsed and drained chickpeas or some Instant Pot garbanzo beans. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1cup | Calories: 299kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 82mg | Sodium: 202mg | Fiber: 9g | Sugar: 5g

Course: Salad

Cuisine: North American

Author: Olena Osipov

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