A simple Chinese-style asparagus salad with tender mushrooms and eggs seasoned with minimal sauce to bring out the best flavor of the ingredients themselves. The salad is refreshing yet wonderfully flavorful, rich in nutrition, low in calories, and takes no time to get ready. {Gluten-Free, Vegetarian}
I first had this asparagus salad in a Yunnan restaurant back when I was in China. I was surprised by its great flavor (you can learn more about Yunnan food here). The crunchy texture of the asparagus, the earthy umami of the mushrooms, the tender mouthfeel of the noodles, and the rich flavor of the scrambled eggs – all come together to create a perfect combination. The flavor of the fresh ingredients is enhanced by a bit of soy sauce and a few drops of sesame oil. It tastes so good!
Ingredients for making asparagus salad
The ingredients for this asparagus salad is super simple:
- Shimeji mushrooms
- Asparagus
- Eggs
- Thin vermicelli noodles
- Soy sauce
- Salt
- Sesame oil
I used the white Shimeji mushrooms, but the brown ones work just as well.
Cooking process
- Cook (or soak) the vermicelli noodles
- Blanch the mushrooms
- Blanch the asparagus
- Drain and dry the vegetables
- Make scrambled eggs
- Mix everything with the seasonings
NOTE:
- Do not overcook the vegetables. The asparagus and the mushrooms usually take less than a minute to cook through. Once done, I like to run cold tap water over them immediately so they won’t be overcooked by the residual heat. I also gently dry them with paper towels so the salad won’t be watery.
- For the eggs, I prefer to lightly scramble them and keep the texture just cooked and very tender. But you can also cook the eggs with high heat and slightly brown them. It’s delicious either way.
The seasoning might look minimal, but trust me, you will be surprised at the great flavors once you try it out. The flavor of the ingredients compliment each other and create a great taste with just a bit of enhancement. It is a salad I enjoy a lot in the spring and summer.
More delicious recipes for the summer
- Spicy Eggplant Salad (凉拌茄子)
- Ginger Green Beans (姜汁豆角)
- Summer Vegetable Bibimbap
- Mango Sticky Rice
- Chinese Spinach Salad with Peanuts (老醋菠菜花生)
Asparagus Salad with Mushroom and Eggs
Ingredients
- 1/2 bundle (25 g) thin vermicelli
- 1 pack (150 g) Shimeji mushrooms , tough ends removed and separated
- 10 (200 g) asparagus spears , tough ends removed and chopped
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 2 eggs , beaten
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon light soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
Instructions
- Prepare a bowl of tap water and set aside. Bring a pot of water to a boil.
- (Optional) Add a few drops of oil and a pinch of salt to the pot, so the veggies will be greener after cooking.
- Add bean thread noodles to the pot and stir with chopsticks to separate them. Boil until the noodles are cooked through, about 1 minute. Transfer the noodles to a plate and set aside.
- Add mushrooms to the same pot of water. Cook until mushrooms turn tender, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Transfer to a colander to cool.
- Add asparagus to the same pot of water. Cook until the asparagus is cooked but still crisp, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Transfer to a colander with the mushrooms. Rinse with cold tap water to stop cooking. Add the bean thread noodles and toss everything together. Set aside to drain thoroughly. You can further remove excess moisture by gently patting the ingredients dry with paper towels.
- Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until warm. Add egg. Scramble the eggs until just cooked through. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
- Combine asparagus, mushroom, and bean thread noodles in the same large bowl with the eggs. Sprinkle salt and drizzle with light soy sauce and sesame oil. Toss to mix well. Serve as an appetizer or side dish.
I’d have to substitute wood ear mushrooms – they are the only fungus I can eat. But I reckon it would work. Lovely fresh spring time flavours and colours in this salad.
I love the subtle earthy flavors in this dish! And such easy prep as well! I know you said this is a salad, but I love it as breakfast too 🙂
You always know how to make me drool, don’t you. 😉 This looks like a big bowl of spring goodness…
Seeing this recipe and hearing you talk about Yunnan food makes me want to go back and visit again! Yes, sesame oil works wonders in salads!
This my kind of dish. It has a bit of everything I like and it’s healthy too. Lovely recipe.
I’ve been all obsessed with asparagus lately! This salad looks awesome! When making salads, I pretty much never have a plan, like to come up with ideas at the last minute 🙂
Maggie, you are going miss the incredible food you get in China!! You’ll start posting tacos and brisket before you know it 😉 This looks fantastic and yes, though the dressing is simple, I think because you added sesame oil that’s made all the difference.
I love this salad. Totally “my kind”. 🙂
I know I will! I’m already on the track and won’t be back… Because, tacos recipe is ready and will on the blog soon!
Hello Maggie, this dish is so fresh and a snap to put together. I am so glad to see that you have been eating among all of this excitement that has been happening in your life. Take good care of yourself. Just pinned!
Just made it tonight! The flavor is quite good, but some of the asparagus pieces are really tough. This is my first time ever cooking it and afterwards I looked up some websites that advised breaking the tough ends off. I might also boil for an extra minute next time. Otherwise, I prepared this dish just like the recipe with a bit more salt.
By the way, I also cooked the broccoli recipe a week ago and it was great, though I had to add some extra salt.
Hi Luke, I’m glad to hear you tried the recipe!
Sorry, I forgot to mention about removing the tough ends of asparagus! I just updated the recipe. I boiled the asparagus for very short time, because the ones I got is so fresh and very slim. I just added a sentence in the recipe, to note about longer cooking time.
For the salt in the recipe, it’s always a dilemma for me. Personally I prefer adding more salt. But my parents prefer using less salt if possible. Also the brand of soy sauce you use might affect the saltiness too. Anyhow, I will remember to mention adjusting the salt in my future recipes.
Thanks for letting me know these! Enjoy the rest of your weekend 🙂
This is simple yet looks so delicious! Love that fried eggs and noodles are in there. Beautifully photographed too!
Looks super delicious, and simple too! I love glass noodles– this would make a perfect meal for 1 when my husband is out of town 🙂 Which is ALL the time lately. And I just bought asparagus 🙂 Love your simple way of flavoring the noodles– I am never sure quite what to do to add flavor to them. I always have sesame oil– such amazing flavor.
I’m so glad you made this! It’s already getting cold and I really needed something to bring back a little summer ^^ it’s totally delicious and I love it ?
This is sooo good, I crave it whenever I see green asparagus and I have made it many times already, thank you for sharing!!
Hi! Making this tonight. So 25g of bean thread noodles? That doesn’t seem like very much.
I just really enjoy cooking from your recipes.
Thank you
Hi Sarah, the thin noodles are quite light and they do expand a lot after rehydration. I only used a little to add texture to the dish. If you want to add more noodles you will need to add a bit more soy sauce and sesame oil to balance it out.
Simple ingredients yet very tasty. I really like it. And it is nice that it is simple to make
What a great combination of flavours and textures! Loved using scrambled eggs rather than soft/hard boiled as is often the case with Western asparagus recipes – this was so easy. Simply superb.
So happy to hear you tried out this one! And thanks for leaving a positive review 🙂
Fantastic. Mild flavor to go perfectly with pepper steak recipe.