Abstract The use of non-organic, environmentally friendly solvents such as water is essential for recovery of useful products from construction sector wastes, including asphalt concrete. Here, hydrothermal water was utilized to recover asphalt from asphalt concrete in a batch-type reactor (autoclave) of internal volume 500 mL. We found that the optimum recovery conditions were to refrain from stirring during treatment but utilize continuous stirring during cooling under the following parameters: 3 h, 2 mL/g, 300 °C, and 450 rpm as treatment time, water ratio, temperature and stirrer speed, respectively. These conditions allowed recovery of asphalt from residues of asphalt concrete to produce recycled fine aggregate of asphalt content smaller than 0.5%.