Liz’s Kitchen: Trisha’s Asparagus Bundles Recipe

This is my goto recipe when I need to impress or just have something tasty. I saw this years ago when I was living with my grandma. We would watch the Food Network almost everyday and Trisha's Southern Kitchen was one of our favorites. She would say "Liz, I think we could pull this one off" and I would run to the store and start cooking it for us. Trisha's Asparagus Bundles were by  far was our favorite recipe we ever tried. I would make this for her all the time and whenever I would go home to visit. Our last meal together before she died was pork chops and asparagus bundles. You will not regret making these...ever! Bacon, brown sugar and butter are three things you can never go wrong with.

Asparagus Bundles 

• 2 pounds fresh asparagus, ends trimmed
• 12 slices bacon
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees! Then, clean your asparagus and trim off the bottoms. I normally put 5-6 pieces of asparagus in a bundle depending on the size of them asparagus. you just have to eye it. Take the bundle and place it in the bacon and wrap the bacon around the bundle. You want to cover as much of the stem as possible leave the tops uncovered. Make sure you keep the bacon taught. Trisha calls for a toothpick but I just place the end down and have had no problems.

Place the bundles in a lightly spayed dish and give a little room between them. I'm only making four bundles here because as good as they are two bundles is normally the serving size.

Now it's time to make your sauce. Melt the butter in a sauce pan, once the better is melted add the brown sugar, garlic salt, pepper and soy sauce.

Stir the sauce really well and let it come to a boil. Make sure to keep a close eye on this because you can very easily burn your sauce and you will have to start over because that is not a taste you want. You want the sauce to decently thick, once you start to see those bubbles its a good idea to stir a little bit.

Pour the hot sugar mixture over the bundles making sure to cover as much of the bacon and tops as possible. It will all settle out and cook but you want to get that bacon covered. Transfer the dish into the oven.

You'll want to let them cook until they look wilted and the bacon looks cooked. This normally takes around 25 minutes but you'll want to use your best judgement on how your bacon looks! Pull it out of the oven and serve hot! I sometimes like to spoon the sauce over the bundles after they're plated!

Pro tip: These are also really great for brunch. Put and over easy egg over two bundles and pour yourself a Bloody Mary or Mimosa. I actually bonded with Garth over this idea, it was like I blew his mind. Trisha said she might use that on a future episode and would mention my name. If it ever happens I will be beside myself! Check out Trisha's full recipe HERE!

Can't wait for you to try it!