Sugar Grilled Beef and Asparagus Kebabs are extra delicious with sweet and salty steak bites and fresh spring asparagus. This is always a hit at our backyard gatherings!
Grilling season has ramped up around here, where you’ll find us grilling almost daily. I love what that big open flame under searing hot grates does for the flavor and aroma of a meal. There is no better way to eat all summer long!
These Sugar Grilled Beef and Asparagus Kebabs are extra delicious with sweet and salty steak bites and fresh spring asparagus. You’ll want to include these kebabs on your menu every weekend, all summer long. So good!!
Here’s another grilling recipe that incorporates the goodness of fresh seasonal produce: Farmers Market Grilled Flatbread Pizza. We LOVE it!!
* This is a sponsored post, created in partnership with Michigan Asparagus.
The asparagus you see on these sugar grilled beef and asparagus kebabs came straight from the fields of Oceana County, Michigan, along the shores of Lake Michigan.
People consider this region of Michigan to be the asparagus capital of the world. It offers great weather conditions and a sandy loam soil mix that allows asparagus to flourish.
I recently traveled to this area to visit with Michigan Asparagus and take in their spring asparagus harvest. It was so very interesting!
Meet John, the Executive Director of Michigan Asparagus, and all-around asparagus authority. If you have a question about this beautiful vegetable, this is your guy. He fully lives and breathes asparagus.
In this photo John is standing beside trenches of soil waiting to be planted with asparagus crowns. I takes about four years for an asparagus field to mature. The field will continue to produce asparagus for up to fifteen years before needing to be replanted. John said that mature roots can sometimes reach lengths of 25 feet!
John showed us how to pick asparagus with a single-person machine.
All Michigan asparagus is hand-snapped. That means they harvest all asparagus by hand, breaking it off at the ground rather than cutting it. This creates a natural break in the stem, giving consumers more usable asparagus and less fibrous ends.
The Michigan asparagus harvest runs from early/mid May to late June. New asparagus spears emerge every day, and under ideal conditions may grown 1/2″ per hour. Asparagus grows so fast that fields are sometimes harvested twice a day. Isn’t that crazy?!
About 120 farm families grow the fresh asparagus that Michigan is famous for.
We met with Dwight and Melissa Fuehring of Fuehring Farms, 4th generation asparagus farmers. When their spring asparagus harvest is wrapped up, they move on to their tart cherry orchards during the summer, and then to their Christmas trees and greenery in the winter.
This machine allows much more work to get done, with five people harvesting at the same time.
Just look at all those perfectly snapped spears of fresh asparagus!
I also was able to see how fresh asparagus is packed and shipped at Todd Greiner Farms, with Todd and Sarah Greiner.
The Greiners also keep extra busy outside of asparagus season, farming asparagus, zucchini, sweet corn, field corn, sweet and tart cherries, hard squash, peaches, apples, plums, ornamental gourds, pumpkins, and Christmas evergreens.
It’s always a learning experience to get out in the field and see how fresh food gets from the farm to our tables.
The finale to my short time in Michigan was an afternoon at Silver Lake, a body of water separated from Lake Michigan by the sand dunes you see in the distance. We were at the home of Gina Ferwerda of Nom News. This photo was taken from her deck – not a bad view to wake up to and go to bed with each day!
Gina was the perfect hostess for the day, as she comes from a family of asparagus farmers and is so very proud of her area’s contribution to fresh asparagus on our tables. At her home, Gina showed us how to make a fresh asparagus pizza crust and a scrumptious asparagus guacamole.
Beef and asparagus recipes
Both Gina and I agreed that the #1 way we like to eat asparagus is with beef. And I know you’ll agree that these sugar grilled beef and asparagus kebabs are a beautiful way to enjoy this combination.
My family loves this easy flavor twist on grilled steak. Overall, the seasoning is sweet, but there’s also a great saltiness from Lawry’s seasoning. I grew up on that seasoned salt. You just can’t go wrong in using it to flavor grilled steak and skillet fried potatoes!
Sugar Grilled Steak Kabobs with Asparagus
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh Michigan Asparagus spears, medium to large in diameter, cut into 1¼" lengths
- 1 large sweet yellow onion (such as Vidalia), cut into 1¼" pieces
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1½ pounds beef steak, cut into 1¼" pieces (We like to use ribeye. New York strip, top sirloin, and chuck eye steak are also good.)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons Lawry's Seasoned Salt
- 1 teaspoon Morton kosher salt, divided
- 1 teaspoon black pepper, divided
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, drizzle one tablespoon of the olive oil over the asparagus and onion pieces. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Fold to evenly combine.
- In a medium bowl, drizzle remaining tablespoon of olive oil over the beef pieces. Fold to coat.
- In a small bowl, combine sugar, Lawry's, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle half of the sugar mixture over the beef. Fold beef to coat. Sprinkle remaining sugar mixture over the beef and fold again.
- Add beef, onion, and asparagus pieces to skewers, alternating pieces. Place assembled kabobs on a large rimmed jelly roll pan for easy transport to the grill. These can be assembled a few hours prior to grilling – just cover and refrigerate, and remove from refrigerator 30 minutes prior to grilling.
- Heat grill to high heat, about 500°F. Scrub the grates clean and then oil well (see Notes).
- Place kabobs on hot grill grates and cook for about 1½ minutes on first side, until you see good char marks. Using a tongs, flip kabobs over and cook for another 1½ minutes or so. This will give you medium-rare steak, although total cook time will depend on actual grill temperature and size of beef pieces.
- Remove kabobs to a serving platter and let rest for 5 minutes. Enjoy hot.
Notes
Nutrition Information:
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For more information about Michigan Asparagus, visit their web site. Also find them on these social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Michigan Asparagus has sponsored this post. I was honored to get out in the fields of beautiful Michigan, to take in their spring asparagus harvest and share my experience with you. All opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that help make this site possible!
These look delicious! Thanks for linking to my cauliflower risotto.
Do you think you could assemble these & freeze until ready to grill?? Would love to take these camping!
I never knew asparagus looked like that growing! So cool.
Taking in this harvest was such a great experience!
I had no idea that Michigan produced so much asparagus!! What a wonderful look behind the scenes — and I love these kebabs, this perfect for grilling season!
For me, asparagus is how I mark the start of summer. We usually don’t get it in stores until late May/early June and as soon as I get my hands on some, I’m obsessed. It may be my favorite vegetable. So great to get the behind the scenes of the harvest. These kabobs (and that pizza that’s pictured above) look amazing!
I live for fresh spring asparagus! Happy Summer to you, Brian!
That sugar on the steak sounds so good, especially grilled. And with asparagus even better.
You’d LOVE this, Mom. We could make it together next week! xo
This looks absolutely amazing. I’m across the border from you in Ontario. We cross the border often to shop and I love the asparagus over there.
This recipe is sheer perfection. Asparagus with beef is incredible. The perfect combination.
My brother is visiting us right now and I made asparagus for dinner the other day. I guess it was his first time eating it. He freaking loved it. I’ve made it two more times since. We made him an asparagus lover. Yeah!
I love that you turned your brother on to asparagus!
I would devour these! Asparagus is my favorite in the summer!
How have I never thought to put asparagus on a kebab?! I LOVE this idea!! Totally trying to next week!
It is spring/summer grilling perfection!!!
These look Great!, Its totally going on my recipes to try list! Our asparagus season was a but late in Minnesota this year and we have our own patch but it was great to see how it actually gets to the store!
How wonderful that you have your own asparagus patch!
100 percent worthy of my pee smelling funny for hours afterward. These look incredible, and this post proves my theory: everything tastes better with a backstory!
These look so tasty! LOVE that you added asparagus!
We are heading to the farmers market for the first time this season this weekend and I couldn’t be more excited to load up on asparagus!! Love living in Michigan!
You’re a lucky duck!
What a great idea to put asparagus on kebabs! These will be happening soon!
GAH! Michigan has the best produce. Definitely trying this soon!
So. Much. Fresh. Awesome. Produce!!!
Wow, I’m definitely going to have to make these! They look incredible!
I truly enjoyed today’s post!Ran over to Nom News and signed up for her blog.Am almost 56,yet had not had asparagus until 2 years ago.While in the hospital with a small bowel obstruction!LOL!Am from Wisconsin,lived along the Lake Michigan shore for 12 years.Manitowoc,and always wanted to take the ferry across that I think goes to Michigan.Live in Arizona now,so maybe on a trip back.Am homesick!Anyway,love the recipe as well.Your posts always remind me of so many things I experienced growing up in Wisconsin.Actually was engaged to a farmer at one time!Always thought that I would be perfect for that position!Just not THAT farmer,haha.Thanks again
Thank you so much, Teri. I hope you enjoy many more spears of asparagus!
This sounds awesome! I would eat this for dinner in a heart beat. I had no idea how asparagus was harvested. That’s seriously incredible.
Seeing the harvest in action was awesome!!
Why have I never put asparagus on my kebabs before?!
You MUST try it!!
Sweet and salty kebabs? Heaven!