In order to identify elite germplasm resource of asparagus bean applicable for genetic improvement, 243 representative asparagus bean varieties were cultivated following the split area (variety + year) test design method, followed by quantifying 28 quality characters of the pods. The heritability of the characters, correlation analysis, cluster analysis and principal component analysis were further performed. The results showed that the variation coefficients of 28 quality traits ranged from 10.34% to 66.41%. The analysis of variance illustrated that there were significant differences among varieties at most traits. Based on their characteristic data, the composition of main nutrient components in asparagus bean was listed. The broad heritability of 16 traits such as vitamin C and dry matter content was more than 80%, while that of leucine, methionine content was less than 40%. There were 98 significant correlation coefficients in a manner of pairwise comparisons, and there was a strong correlation between all amino acid components. 243 varieties were classified into five groups by cluster analysis. 42% of the varieties were clustered in group II, representing the benchmark level of asparagus bean. Group I, III and V showed high content of sugar, amino acid and protein, respectively. The varieties with extreme individual traits were scattered in group IV. Principal component analysis demonstrated that 28 traits could be transformed into nine principal components, with a cumulative contribution rate of 65%. Twenty-four elite germplasms were identified according to the comprehensive score. Collectively, this study enriched our understanding of the nutrient quality characteristics of asparagus valuable for its genetic improvement in future.