This Lemon Garlic Butter Shrimp recipe is super quick and easy to make, and takes only a few simple ingredients. Juicy shrimp and the most delicious garlic butter sauce, all ready in less than 15 minutes. Perfect for a fast weeknight dinner or appetizer.
You may be looking for a recipe that will be sure to impress your friends, neighbors, and even your kids. Search no further, you've got to make my mom's Garlic Butter Shrimp! Yes, nonna, AKA, my mom! I'm finally visiting recipes I grew up on and sharing them here with all of you.
Jump To
- Why you'll love garlic butter shrimp
- Ingredients in shrimp in lemon garlic butter recipe
- Shrimp:
- Other ingredients
- How to make butter garlic sauce
- How to make garlic butter shrimp
- Expert tips for garlic butter shrimp recipe
- Variations for shrimp garlic butter AKA prawns garlic butter
- What to serve with shrimp with butter and garlic:
- Storing garlic shrimp recipe:
- Some other recipes to enjoy:
- Lemon Garlic Butter Shrimp
Why you'll love garlic butter shrimp
- Easy: It’s easy to make and ready in minutes!
- Delicious: The flavors are amazing - buttery, garlicky, salty, and bright with lemon juice.
- Make it your own: You can easily customize the dish by adding more or less of the seasonings, like garlic and red pepper flakes, for added flavor.
- Dinner or appetizer: It's perfect as an appetizer or main course and can be served over rice or pasta for a complete meal.
- Versatile: Serve over pasta, with a salad, or with steamed rice.
Recipes that she made with simple ingredients, but that tasted restaurant-quality. Probably because she owned a restaurant with dad (AKA nonno to my kids)and also she used to work as a chef. So any recipe I post here that I say is nonna's, is a keeper!
I'm not sure why I don't brag about nonna more often, but I really should. Nonna always served this with a big plate of pasta. There usually was a nice homemade crusty bread to soak up all of the delicious garlic butter sauce. Naturally low-carb and gluten-free, keep this recipe healthy by serving with zucchini noodles or cauliflower rice.
When I started making it myself, I would change it up and serve it sometimes with rice, or polenta, and a nice big salad or steamed vegetables. The kids just love these shrimp! It does have a hint of spice from the red pepper flakes. Leave them out if making for the kids (unless they don't mind the spice...I have one that does, and one that doesn't!).
This simple garlic butter sauce is really versatile for seafood. Go ahead and use it with scallops or wild sockeye salmon. If you are thinking of a recipe to make for guests, this lemon garlic butter sauce seem really fancy! It may seem hard to believe how quick and easy it is to make. Let's get on to nonna's recipe for how to make the BEST lemon garlic butter shrimp...
Ingredients in shrimp in lemon garlic butter recipe
Here is all you need to make this super tasty and fast shrimp recipe (full printable recipe is below).
First, let's discuss the star of the recipe: the shrimp!
Shrimp:
- Fresh or Frozen – Whatever you choose will work fine. Frozen MUST be thawed before you cook them. Do not buy precooked shrimp.
- Size – I used large shrimp, which is usually labeled 31/40 on the bag at the store. That means there are about 31-40 shrimp in a pound. If you choose different size than large, the cook time will slightly vary.
- Raw – Be sure to buy raw, not precooked shrimp. If the shrimp are pink, you're most likely buying precooked ones, so look for the raw. I bought Wild Argentinian Shrimp and they are called Argentina Pink. So even when they're raw they have a pink hue.
- Peeled & Deveined – If you can find peeled and deveined, you'll save some work and time, which makes the recipe way more convenient. If you didn't find them, you'll have to peel and devein the shrimp.
- Tails – Look for shrimp tails on, which is great if you're making these shrimp for an appetizer. If you happen to buy tails off (which is what I did for first time ever), it makes no difference on cooking time, nor on the flavor. You could cook in the sauce with tail on or off, totally up to you!
Other ingredients
- Olive Oil - I used extra-virgin olive oil. I love to use my favorite Sicilian brand, but you could use whatever brand you like. It's used to pan fry the shrimp
- Butter - Used to add a rich flavor. Use unsalted butter to keep the sodium down in the recipe. If all you have is salted butter, that's fine. Just taste the sauce as you're cooking and season with more salt, if needed. If you are dairy-free, feel free to use a vegan butter (I do like Earth Balance sticks).
- Shrimp - If you can find really great fresh shrimp, use them. Frozen is very convenient. I like to use large or extra-large shrimp that is shelled and deveined. Tails on or off, whatever you find at the market is fine. With the tails on, it's nice to pick up if you're serving the shrimp as an appetizer. The shrimp I found actually were tails off and I didn't realize until I was defrosting them. But typically I buy shrimp tails on. I chose these Wild Argentinian Shrimp because they are wild.
- Salt - Used for seasoning. I like to use sea salt.
- Garlic - The more the merrier for this dish! You could use store-bought minced garlic, but fresh is so much better. I mince my own fresh garlic and have it in oil in the fridge.
- Red Pepper Flakes - Used for a slight kick of heat. Make it as spicy, or not as spicy, as you prefer!
- Lemon Juice – I prefer to use freshly squeezed lemon juice as it gives the best flavor. It brightens up the dish. I also add some slices to the sauce as it's cooking.
- Parsley - Fresh Italian parsley is really nice and finishes off the dish with a subtle freshness. If you have regular parsley, that's fine too.
First thing you'll want to know is...
How to make butter garlic sauce
There aren't that many ingredients to make this amazing garlic butter shrimp, so be sure to gather them together before you start cooking. The frozen shrimp I found are called Wild Argentinian Shrimp-Argentina Pink. They were a gorgeous color even before cooking.
This sauce comes together in just a few minutes! The hardest part is mincing the fresh garlic. Once you have the garlic prepped, it is super fast!
- Heat pan: Heat your saute' pan on medium-high heat. If you're using a cast-iron skillet, medium heat may be hot enough to work with this recipe.
- Add butter: Melt the butter.
- Add oil: Once it's almost melted, add in the oil. If you do not want to use olive oil, you could cook the shrimp in just butter. It's up to you! Add in fresh lemon juice.
- Season: Add in the salt and pepper. If using lemon slices, add them in.
How to make garlic butter shrimp
This sauteed shrimp comes together in just minutes! So let's get onto the rest of the steps. You can find the full printable recipe below.
- Add garlic: As soon as the butter and oil is simmering, add in the garlic.
- Saute shrimp on one side: Add shrimp in a single layer keeping them separated so they cook evenly, and cook for a couple of minutes.
- Flip shrimp: Use a spatula to flip over the shrimp, and baste with the garlic sauce. When almost cooked, add in some fresh parsley, reserving some for serving.
- Parsley: When almost cooked, add in some fresh parsley, reserving some for serving.
- Serve: Plate up and serve shrimp with the garlic butter sauce, a sprinkle of fresh chopped parsley, and lemon wedges.
Expert tips for garlic butter shrimp recipe
- Spice: If you like more heat, add chili flakes to the mix.
- White wine: If you like, add white wine while cooking for a fragrant flavor.
- Fresh herbs: Use fresh herbs like basil, oregano or thyme instead of parsley.
- Shrimp: It's super important that you use RAW, and not precooked shrimp. If you can find peeled and deveined shrimp, it will make this recipe even faster to make.
- Fresh or frozen: Doesn't matter if you use fresh or frozen shrimp, just as long as it's not precooked. IF you get a hold of really nice fresh shrimp, use those. If you use frozen, be sure to thaw them out overnight in the fridge or same day in some cold water. Do not defrost shrimp in warm or hot water, only cold water.
- Tails: I happened to find (not intending to)shrimp with the tails off. You could remove tails before you cook them, or leave them. It doesn't affect how they cook, and you're not eating them. If you're using them as an appetizer, it makes it easy to pick up the shrimp by the tail.
- Quick cook time: Since shrimp cook up in no time at all, you have to have all your ingredients gathered up to start the recipe. If you forget one thing, you may end up looking for it and have chewy, overcooked shrimp.
- Don't overcook: Be sure to not overcook the shrimp. Shrimp typically turn white or opaque pink color and they start to curl into a "C" shape. As soon as that happens, remove them from the heat. ! Be sure to keep a good eye on them while you make this quick recipe.
Variations for shrimp garlic butter AKA prawns garlic butter
- Serve this amazing lemon butter garlic sauce with salmon, scallops, or flounder.
- If you want it spicier, substitute the red pepper flakes with cayenne peppers or even jalapeños.
- For more lemon flavor, add some lemon zest to the pan.
- If you don't have fresh parsley on hand, use some fresh marjoram or thyme.
- Instead of garlic, try adding some minced shallots for a milder flavor.
- Add white wine while cooking for a fragrant flavor.
- Instead of fresh parsley, use fresh herbs like basil, oregano,fresh marjoram or thyme.
What to serve with shrimp with butter and garlic:
- Before you start the sauce, you could cook up some pasta. Spaghetti would go great with this shrimp sauce!!
- Serve with steamed jasmine rice.
- Try our irresistible freshly baked garlic bread and dip it right into the sauce!
- Enjoy it with our panzanella Toscana.
Storing garlic shrimp recipe:
As soon as the sauce has cooled down, you could store any leftovers in an airtight container or glass container for up to 2 days. I do not recommend freezing and reheating this cooked recipe. The shrimp will be way too rubbery if it's frozen and reheated. Best to enjoy this recipe as soon as you make it.
For this recipe, I like to use a combination of butter and olive oil to cook the shrimp. For some recipes, you could use just oil. Also, there may be recipes that you could use all butter to cook the shrimp. A combo of the two works nicely.
Shrimp only need to be cooked 2-3 minutes on each side, flipping with a spatula halfway. Keep in mind, it depends on what size shrimp you bought, but it typically takes 4-6 minutes to cook up.
Frozen shrimp need to be defrosted in water before beginning to cook them. If you don't thaw them, you will have rubbery, chewy shrimp. It takes 15 minutes to thaw them in a bowl of cold water.
You don't need to wash shrimp. Just drain them from the water they were defrosting in and pat them dry before cooking them up.
You need to devein a shrimp of the black vein, as that is the shrimp's digestive tract. If you leave it in, it can have a grainy texture.
I do not recommend using precooked shrimp. It's so easy to cook up shrimp (from fresh or frozen).
Prawns and shrimp are different creatures, but prawns is sometimes used (incorrectly)to call shrimp. If you can get a hold of prawns, go ahead and make the recipe same way. Cooking time may vary, depending on how large the prawns are.
One option is to defrost the bag in the fridge overnight, next day, drain them in colander and pat them dry before cooking. If you're defrosting day of, you could submerge the bag of shrimp in cold water and let them defrost for 15-20 minutes (drain and pat dry when defrosted). Or take out the portion of shrimp you need, and defrost in cold water (drain and pat dry when defrosted). Be sure to NOT defrost in warm or hot water, as it will start cooking them and could cause bacteria growth.
Yes, they do. In the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand “prawn” is the word used to describe prawns and shrimp.
Yes, of course! Read all about the difference of shrimps and prawns here.
Some other recipes to enjoy:
Did you make this? Please RATE THE RECIPE below:)
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Lemon Garlic Butter Shrimp
Equipment
- 1 large saute pan
Ingredients
- 1 pound shrimp large or jumbo, shelled + deveined
- 4 Tablespoons butter unsalted
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice freshly squeezed
- ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste
- 4-6 cloves garlic minced, more to your taste
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ¼ cup fresh parsley chopped
Instructions
- Shrimp: If shrimp frozen, defrost in cold (not warm or hot) water for 15-20 minutes. Drain and pat dry with paper towels before cooking. Make sure they are completely defrosted.
- Heat pan: Heat your saute' pan on medium-high heat. If you're using a cast-iron skillet, medium heat may be hot enough to work with this recipe.
- Add butter: Melt the butter.
- Add oil: Once it's almost melted, add in the oil. If you do not want to use olive oil, you could cook the shrimp in just butter. It's up to you! Add in fresh lemon juice.
- Season: Add in the salt and pepper. If using lemon slices, add them in. Add in crushed red pepper flakes, if using.
- Add garlic: As soon as the butter and oil is simmering, add in the garlic and some fresh parsley (reserving some for serving).
- Saute shrimp on one side: Add shrimp in a single layer keeping them separated so they cook evenly, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the shrimp turns pink.
- Flip shrimp: Use a spatula to flip over the shrimp, and baste with the garlic sauce. Cook for 1-2 more minutes, or until turns pink and starts to start to curl into a "C" shape. Remove immediately from heat when other side is cooked, or it will get chewy.
- Serve: Plate up and serve shrimp with the garlic butter sauce, a sprinkle of fresh chopped parsley, and lemon wedges.
Nutrition Disclaimer
Please keep in mind that the nutritional information presented below is an approximation and may vary depending on the exact ingredients used.
Annie says
I used some extra-large shrimp with the tails on and the sauce is really so tasty! The kids loved it with pasta!!
Jules says
I made this last night for some friends that came over and I doubled the recipe. It turned out so nicely! The sauce was really quick to make. I tried to find the shrimp you used because they have a nice color. I ended up using extra-large shrimp (tails on) and we pulled the tails off.
Suz says
Really enjoyed this shrimp and I added extra garlic and a splash of wine! DELICIOUS!
Lora says
Thank you for taking the time to let me know you enjoyed the shrimp. Great idea to add a splash of wine!!