Alex Guarnaschelli's Pro Tips For Peeling Asparagus

Ready to start eating more garden greens and fresh produce now that the warmer weather is here? If you're looking for new recipes for those fresh herbs and veggies, Alex Guarnaschelli has some tasty ideas for you. She's reinvented pesto for the spring season, and you can use other herbs in her recipe if you don't have basil on hand. The celebrity chef also has a tip for using sage; she always fries it in a pan rather than eating it raw. Guarnaschelli has you covered for cooking up other fresh dishes, too. Check out this Instagram video where she details how to peel asparagus.

In the video, you can see the "Chopped" judge take a vegetable peeler and peel most of the outer layer of each stalk of asparagus. In the caption of the post, she says to peel three-fourths up the stalk, and to "peel gently without too much pressure to take off the outer layer." Combine Guarnaschelli's peeling method with Martha Stewart's rule for preparing asparagus for the perfect side dish.

If you've never thought of peeling asparagus before, you're not alone. In the comments section of Guarnaschelli's post, one person writes, "I've never done this but I do snap off the end of the stalk pretty aggressively, so I'm going to try this instead." It looks like this video also inspired a few more people to give peeled asparagus a try.

Other Instagram users have already been peeling their asparagus, and some even let folks know how they cook the veggie. One user shares, "I just peeled 2 lbs of it and made cream of asparagus soup!" Another commenter details why they peel asparagus, saying, "It cooks more even like that."

Many left comments asking why you would need to peel asparagus, and it looks like Guarnaschelli already anticipated some responses like this. At the end of her caption, she did say that you don't have to peel asparagus. But she does explain that thick asparagus is better when you take the time to peel it.

In need of some asparagus recipes? For a weeknight, try this simple roasted asparagus or learn the hands-down easiest way to prep asparagus.