This shrimp scampi recipe makes easy appear elegant with juicy shrimp bathed in a garlicky, lemony butter sauce. Dish it up as an appetizer or serve as a main with pasta, zucchini noodles, or over rice.
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“Made this tonight for our second time. Gosh, this is such a great recipe and it’s so simple. Everyone loves it.” -Linda, FoodieCrush reader
You Need Just 1 Pan and 30 Minutes to Make This Garlicky Shrimp Scampi
At first glance, this homemade shrimp scampi looks downright decadent. But in reality, it’s the poster child for simplicity, because it takes just minutes to prepare.
It’s elegant but effortless and is a no-brainer for a quick and delicious dinner. Whether you serve it as shrimp scampi pasta for a super quick weeknight meal or serve it to company for a chic nod to your faux fancy cookery, I love this recipe because the ingredients can always be stocked in the pantry and freezer for a sizzling bite any time.
Plus, it’s a versatile dish that can be served over rice, pasta, zucchini noodles, or just with some crusty bread (the perfect vehicle for all of that luscious buttery garlic sauce).
Enjoy!
Heidi’s Tips for Recipe Success
Use frozen shrimp for ease. “Fresh is best” almost always applies to any recipe, but this is the exception. Make shrimp scampi with frozen shrimp for ease and to save some money.
Flash frozen shrimp is best. To ensure you’re getting the freshest shrimp possible, skip the seafood counter’s ice rink of thawing shrimp (it was originally frozen too, and how long have they been sitting there??) and go for a bag of flash-frozen shrimp so you can thaw it yourself.
Wild-caught shrimp tastes the sweetest. For the best flavor, choose wild-caught shrimp. I prefer the large 21/25 Key West pink shrimp for its sweet flavor.
Avoid using acids like lemon juice or vinegar in the shrimp marinade. Similar to ceviche, these ingredients will “cook” the shrimp. Sitting in an acid-based marinade for too long could also make the shrimp mealy.
Ingredients in Shrimp Scampi
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
- Frozen shrimp — Choose a frozen shrimp with the shell and tail still on, then shell and devein yourself. You can keep the tail or remove it. Shrimp still in the shell have more flavor and are cheaper.
- Garlic — Choose fresh garlic over the jarred stuff. I prefer to press mine instead of mincing.
- Red pepper flakes — Deliver a balanced heat.
- Extra-virgin olive oil — A fruity extra virgin is my choice.
- White wine — Adding white wine to this scampi’s olive oil, butter, and lemon juice sauce gives it a depth of flavor that won’t ever leave you boozy woozy. See, the wine’s alcohol cooks out and evaporates while simmering, making it perfectly okay for kids or those who abstain to eat.
- Butter — Salted or unsalted work equally fine and thicken the sauce.
- Lemon juice — Always use fresh lemon juice in this recipe.
- Kosher salt — Isn’t as strong as table salt.
- Parsley — Use flat-leaf or regular parsley. Mince it fine for just the right bits of brightness.
How to Make Shrimp Scampi with Frozen Shrimp
- Thaw and prep the shrimp. Thaw the shrimp by giving it 5 to 10 minute dunk in cold tap water, then remove the shells and devein.
- Marinate the shrimp. Toss the shrimp with a little olive, garlic, kosher salt, and red pepper flakes. Let it hang out for about 20 minutes to give the flavors time to penetrate the shrimp.
- Cook the shrimp. Shrimp cooks quickly, so don’t walk away from the skillet. Give them about 1 minute to 90 second on either side and remove to a plate to prevent them from overcooking.
Heidi’s Tip: If your shrimp taste tough or rubbery, you overcooked them. I suggest setting a timer as soon as the shrimp hit the hot pan so you know when to flip them. You’ll know they’re cooked when they’re opaque in color and the tails have curled in on the heads.
- Make the scampi sauce. To the now-empty skillet, melt the butter and garlic, cooking just until fragrant. Stir in the wine and lemon juice, letting the sauce simmer gently until thickend.
- Whisk in additional COLD butter. This is the secret to creating a rich and creamy scampi sauce.
- Toss it all together. Return the shrimp to the pan and cook just long enough to reheat. Sprinkle with fresh parsley before serving.
Heidi’s Tip: Whisking the cold butter into the warm sauce emulsifies the sauce and thickens it as the butter melts. It’s a French technique similar to the classic beurre blanc, and creates a satiny-smooth, velvety textured garlic butter sauce you’ll be licking with a spoon.
FAQs
Never set frozen shrimp on the counter to thaw; you’re just asking for trouble when you do that.
Frozen shrimp thaws in about 10 minutes when submerged in COLD tap water. You might have to change out the water once or twice if you’re thawing a lot of shrimp.
Choose a drinkable wine that’s on the drier side such as a sauvignon blanc or even a chardonnay.
If you prefer skipping the wine, substitute half chicken broth and half water in lieu of the wine.
If your sauce is at all watery, there might be too much moisture in the pan from the shrimp. After thawing the frozen shrimp in cold water, pat them dry with a clean kitchen towel, taking care to remove all excess moisture.
This also ensures a golden sear on the shrimp. If they’re damp, the shrimp will steam when they touch the hot pan rather than sear.
“Scampi” is the Italian plural for “Scampo,” which is a larger type of langoustine (a shrimp-like crustacean native to Scotland that’s actually in the lobster family.)
Most American versions of garlic shrimp scampi just use shrimp, as I do here.
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below, leave a comment to tell us what you think, and tag me on Instagram @foodiecrush.
The BEST Shrimp Scampi Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound wild caught large shrimp with shells
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil , divided
- 4 cloves garlic , pressed or minced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 4 tablespoons butter
- ⅓ cup white wine or chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice , or ½ lemon
- 1 tablespoon minced parsley
Instructions
- Prep the shrimp. Thaw the shrimp in cool water and remove the shells then devein the shrimp. Discard the shells, rinse and drain the shrimp then transfer to a small bowl.
- Marinate the shrimp. Drizzle the shrimp 2 tablespoons olive oil, half of the garlic, ½ teaspoon kosher salt and the red pepper flakes. Toss to coat and set let sit for 20 minutes for flavors to build.
- Cook the shrimp. In a large skillet, warm 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the shrimp and garlic mixture to the skillet, spacing evenly in the pan. Cook for 1 to 1 ½ minutes then flip the shrimps over when they begin to become opaque. Cook for 1 more minute or so, watching so the shrimp turn golden but don't brown too much and the garlic doesn't burn. Transfer the shrimp to a small bowl or plate. If you have browned bits of garlic, move the skillet from the heat and remove the browned garlic as it will be bitter.
- Make the sauce. Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in the skillet over medium heat and add the remaining garlic. Cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant then stir in the white wine and lemon juice. Cook for 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens and reduces by half, stirring occasionally.
- Finish the dish. Add the shrimp with any juices back to the pan and stir in the last tablespoon of butter and ½ teaspoon kosher salt or to taste. Sprinkle with the minced parsley, stir, and cook for 1 more minute. Serve warm with sourdough bread for dipping, or over pasta or rice.
Notes
Nutrition
What to Serve With Shrimp Scampi
- Carbs — creamy polenta, lemon rice, steamed white rice, lemon fettuccine, lemon asparagus risotto (or make shrimp scampi with zucchini noodles)
- Salad — Caesar salad, shaved parmesan arugula salad, Italian salad
- Bread — garlic bread or garlic rolls
More Shrimp Recipes to Try Next
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Whitney
This was so easy to make and absolutely delicious. I will definitely make this again.- Even my 14 year old son loved it!
Justina
Haven’t made this yet but plan to tonight! If I put it over pasta, what ingredients would I double?
Hayley
Hi Justina! We’d suggest making a pound of pasta to go with this, but you shouldn’t need to double any of the ingredients. We hope you enjoy!
Beck and Bulow
I loved this dish, it felt so fresh. However, I did not like the salad dressing at all, it was too much and clashed with the main dish I felt. As with other recipes, I thought the portion size was small, more for 2.5-3 people rather than 4 (I am small and the other 2 people were 2 11-year old boys so hardly big eaters)
BobM
I thought it was very good, but I too, thought the serving size was small.
Beat
I love Heidis recipe. Best Scampies ever!!!
Beat
Greetings from Switzerland
Ody
My go to shrimp scampi dish from now on. Super delicious!
Happy to hear that Ody!
Charlie
This was an excellent meal. I made it just like it was printed but took the advise of the referral of the oil and garlic with red pepper chips for 2 hours marinated. My company just loved it
Pam
Hi Heidi – I like the idea of the zoodle & pasta combo. When you do that, do you blanch the zoodles first, or do they go in raw? Wondering too if placing the zoodles in the colander for when the hot pasta gets poured in might be a good shortcut?
I give them a quick zap in the microwave but blanching or steaming would work great too.
Lynn
Shrimp Scampi is one of my favorites and I’ve been making it for decades. I tried this recipe last night and it is by far the BEST! Marinating the shrimp makes a huge difference in this dish.
Allyson
Delicious, quick & easy. Our 8 year old twin grand daughters loved it.
Of course, Alaskan Shrimp is the Best!
Glad you all enjoyed!
Claire
“Hey Heidi,
Your recipe reminds me that I used to be very scared of shrimps. Now, I eat them at every single opportunity. Your Shrimp Scampi will be my next adventure; what do you think about using ginger as a spice?”
Beck and Bulow
Then I removed the fish and started the grill. When stabilized at the minimum temperature I put the fish back in and heated to a meat temperature of 130. Loved the result.
Christy Todd
This was amazingly good. I have tried other recipes with virtually the same ingredients but have not had the success that I had with this recipe. The tips about marinating the shrimp for a bit and removing the shrimp while the sauce thickens made a big difference. I also think the red pepper flakes added a little kick and flavor.
I’m glad you enjoyed Christy!
Pria
I made this with Linguine pasta and I’m never using another recipe!
My made a few tweaks but the base recipe remains the same:
I used the same ingredients called for in the recipe to season the shrimp but I added a pinch of freshly cracked black pepper and used extra garlic.
I used less lemon juice because I think the recipe calls for a tad too much. I suggest that you start with a little at a time and add as necessary.
I used more salt, Italian seasoning and pepper flakes than the recipe called for after I added the shrimp to the sauce. The sauce could be a bit bland so it needs seasoning up. Taste and add the salt, Italian seasoning and pepper flakes accordingly.
With these changes, the final product tasted like it was straight out of a fine-dining restaurant.
I’m glad you enjoyed Pria!
Nancy
Have made this twice and served over whole wheat angel hair pasta with a side salad.
Excellent!
Yay! It IS delish with pasta for sure. Thanks Nancy.
Denise Miscavage
This has become a go-to favorite for my husband and me. I’ve made it for guests, including kids, and it’s a hit every time. I add lemon zest from one lemon and a whole lemon’s worth of juice. Tonight, I added basil and oregano from my deck herb garden, along with the fresh parsley,. I make it with bucatini pasta, which soaks in all the deliciousness. I also try to marinate the shrimp for at least an hour. So good. And pretty!
I’m so glad you love it Denise. It’s a good one for company because it’s so easy. Bucatini is my husband’s fave too.
Jennifer
Question, if I bake or broil the shrimp since I am making 10lbs for a party rather then sauté it how would I thicken it up?
To thicken, allow it to reduce a bit longer and add more butter off heat. The cold dairy will thicken the sauce.
Kate
I can’t cook anything but I followed this super easy recipe and it came out great! I am hopeful that I can do it again! Thank you for sharing and I look forward to trying more of your recipes!
So glad it came out nicely!
Barbara
Without a doubt, the BEST recipe I have found to date! I used garlic infused oil to marinate the shrimp but followed the rest to the T. I love the flavor from this. Thank you so much for sharing this!
So glad you liked it!
Michael Collins
I tripled the garlic, used wine and sprinkled a little bit of fresh parmesan on it wit jalapeno cornbread!!!
It’s a keeper!!!!
Mary Ellen Van Bommel
This is an easy dish to make and is tastey. I followed the recipe except for the parsley because I did not have fresh parsley. I was also cautious with the red pepper flakes but the medium flakes I had were fine. I used a Chardonay and lemon juice and it was plessant tasting that way. I served it on linguine which we liked. A recipe I will use again!
Maria
I love this recipe! I do it all the time. It’s one of my family’s favorite. I also use it over roasted eggplant, when I want to avoid carbs, as in pastas, breads and rice.
Thank you for sharing!
WStreeter
Sooooo just want to say…..AMAZING flavors. I made this for dinner one day. My GF and I both tried it, our eyes opened wide, we looked at each other and we were just blown away.
So glad to hear you both liked it!
Nancy
Made as directed and served over whole wheat angel hair pasta with a tossed salad.
Everyone loved it. Excellent!
So glad it worked for you all!
Nicole
This is the best shrimp scampi recipe I have ever come across. It was so delicious. I marinated the shrimp for about an hour and I added a little more butter and garlic since we like our scampi with a lot of sauce. My husband is already asking for me to make it again! Thanks for such a great recipe.
Happy to hear you liked it!
Coleen
Made this tonight. Added broccoli. It was excellent but the timing was a little off; took a few minutes longer to cook… perhaps your pan was hotter than mine. Hubby loved it! A definite keeper
So glad you both enjoyed!