Roasted asparagus crostini is such an easy appetizer! Lightly toasted bread is topped with creamy ricotta cheese, pesto and perfectly roasted asparagus. Simple, fresh, and perfect for entertaining. Jump to the Roasted Asparagus, Ricotta and Pesto Crostini Recipe or read on to see our tips for making it.
Easy Asparagus Crostini
This crostini recipe is simple and fast. We love using asparagus, but other veggies work, too — roasted cauliflower and roasted broccoli are two of our favorites substitutes.
Most asparagus we buy at the store have pretty thick, woody stalks. We like our asparagus tender and those thick, woody stalks don’t really help us with that. To deal with this, we peel them. Run a vegetable peeler down each stalk before cooking and you’ll be on your way to some seriously tender asparagus. You can see more about prepping and roasting asparagus here.
Roasting asparagus so that it is perfectly tender is easy. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper then bake in a hot oven. You’ll know they’re ready when the tips just begin to brown. Depending on how thick the stems are, you are looking at 15 to 20 minutes.
When you’ve got the asparagus roasted, the crostini comes together fast. Spread some ricotta and pesto over baguette slices then top with a couple pieces of asparagus. For the pesto, we love making our own — here’s our homemade pesto recipe. If you don’t have the time or fresh basil available, store-bought works well, too!
More Easy Appetizer Recipes
- Chili Lime Baked Shrimp Cups — Wonton wrappers are baked in the oven until crisp, filled with arugula, a lime sour cream, and then topped with a big juicy chili-lime baked shrimp.
- Fresh Tomato Bruschetta — How to make our favorite homemade bruschetta with tomatoes and basil. Plus, five easy tips for how to make it best.
- Easy Hummus Recipe — This is my favorite hummus recipe! With a few simple tricks, you really can make creamy smooth homemade hummus and yes, we really do think it’s better than store-bought.
- Easy Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms — How to make quick and easy stuffed mushrooms with cheese, garlic, and sweet onion.
Recipe updated, originally posted April 2012. Since posting this in 2012, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear. – Adam and Joanne
Roasted Asparagus, Ricotta and Pesto Crostini
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
For these easy asparagus crostini, we smear lightly toasted bread with ricotta cheese, pesto and roasted asparagus for a simple and quick appetizer. When you buy your asparagus, look for bunches that have thinner stalks, if you can only find thick-stalked asparagus, use a vegetable peeler to peel away the outer layer of asparagus as this can be a bit tough. You can also swap the asparagus for other roasted vegetables — we love using cauliflower or broccoli.
You Will Need
1 pound fresh asparagus
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Fresh ground black pepper
1 baguette, cut on diagonal into 1/2-inch slices
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
4 tablespoons basil pesto, see our homemade pesto recipe
Directions
- Roast Asparagus
1Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
2Rinse asparagus and pat dry. Trim about 1/2-inch from the stalky ends. Place trimmed asparagus onto the baking sheet and toss with olive oil, and then lightly season with salt and fresh ground black pepper. Spread into a single layer. Bake until the tips begin to brown and the stalks are tender, 15 to 25 minutes depending on the thickness of your asparagus.
- Make Crostini
1Just before serving, add bread slices to a clean baking sheet and bake in the oven until they begin to toast around the edges, 2 to 4 minutes .
2Spread ricotta cheese onto each bread slice. Spread about 1 teaspoon of pesto over the cheese and top with a few pieces of roasted asparagus.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
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Adam and Joanne… what a great website you’ve created – thank you! I made the tahini and the hummus following your recipes and they are absolutely delicious, a world of difference from the stuff found in the stores – thank you, again! And, I spent at least 2 hours looking at other recipes in your website. I like the simplicity of the ingredients and the freshness of it all. I’ll be trying many of your recipes in the near future. i also much appreciate your tips which change a recipe from good to outstanding (i.e. mixing the tahini and lemon juice well first before adding the other hummus ingredients). Thank you! With obvious gratitude and best wishes to both of you – Ana
Asparagus never looked so good!
That asparagus crostini is looking good!
Thanks Kevin!
Mercy! I’m printing this off as I’m posting the commenting. We are huge fans of roasted asparagus at Casa Elen. Can’t wait to try this, but asparagus hasn’t really arrived in our neck of Canadaland yet. 🙂
Yummm and it’s one of our fav veggies
Ours, too!