Shrimp Scampi

Name: Easy Shrimp Scampi
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 4 tablespoons butter; 1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic; 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes; 2 lb. large shrimp (16-20 per lb., shelled and deveined); 2 tablespoons dry white wine; 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt; 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice; 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley; 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

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Shrimp scampi is a simple, fresh, and flavorful way to prepare shrimp. When making this recipe, your top priority as a chef is to avoid overcooking the dish.

This tasty dish is ready in just 20 minutes. You can serve it as is or on top of spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles.

Shrimp scampi served on a white plate with a napkin.

This easy shrimp recipe is ready super fast, and its flavor combination is incredibly fresh and flavorful. This is one of my favorite weeknight dinners, and also one of my favorite ways to prepare shrimp. (Another excellent one is baked shrimp).

Butter, garlic, white wine, and lemon juice combine into a delicate-yet-flavorful sauce that perfectly complements the mild flavor of shrimp. Leftovers are great too, as long as you take care to reheat them very gently.

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Ingredients
Instructions
Expert tip
Frequently asked questions
Variations
Serving suggestions
Storing leftovers
Related recipes
Recipe Card

Ingredients

Here's an overview of the ingredients you'll need to make shrimp scampi. The exact measurements are included in the recipe card below:

Butter: I like to use creamy European butter, but any butter will be great.
Minced garlic: Mince it yourself or use the stuff that comes in a jar. Both work.
Red pepper flakes: They don't make the dish spicy - they merely add a layer of flavor.
Large shrimp: Peeled and deveined. I like to use tail-on shrimp simply for aesthetic reasons.
White wine: You can make the dish with or without it. I do feel it enhances the flavor of the sauce.
Kosher salt and black pepper: If using fine salt, you should reduce the amount you use, or the dish could end up too salty.
Fresh lemon juice: Do use freshly squeezed juice. It makes a difference.
Chopped parsley: Adds not just a splash of color but also another layer of fresh flavor.

The ingredients needed to make shrimp scampi.

Instructions

Making shrimp scampi is surprisingly easy. Scroll down to the recipe card for detailed instructions. Here are the basic steps:

You start by briefly sautéing the garlic and red pepper flakes in butter.
Next, add the shrimp, wine, and kosher salt. Cook until the shrimp are fully cooked - this only takes about 5 minutes.
Off heat, stir in the lemon juice, parsley, and black pepper, then serve!

A six-photo collage showing the steps for making shrimp scampi.

Expert tip

As with most shrimp recipes, the most important thing when making this recipe is to avoid overcooking the shrimp.

Once you add them to the saucepan, cook them just until they turn pink and opaque, then remove them immediately from the heat and serve. When overcooked, they become dry and rubbery.

Frequently asked questions

What is shrimp scampi?

It's an Italian-American dish of shrimp tossed in a simple-yet-exquisite sauce of butter, garlic, and white wine. As it turns out, it's not a classic Italian recipe at all. The original Italian dish is simply called "Scampi."

Scampi, or langoustines, are small crustaceans with pale pink shells. They look like tiny lobsters. A traditional way of preparing them in Italy is to sauté them with olive oil, garlic, onion, and white wine.

Immigrant Italian cooks in the United States used what was available to them instead of langoustines, which was shrimp, but they kept both names.

This resulted in the somewhat weird name of this dish, which would literally translate to "shrimp lobster."

What is the sauce made of?

Since this is a variation of the traditional Italian recipe, there are quite a few ways of making the sauce. All of them are excellent! Honestly, I never met a shrimp recipe that I didn't like (unless the shrimp were overcooked).

In my tasty version, the sauce is made from butter, garlic, white wine, and lemon juice. I season it with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and parsley.

This delicately flavored sauce is ideal for shrimp. It highlights their mild flavor rather than overpowering it.

It's not that spicy shrimp are bad - they are in fact excellent. But there's something about pairing delicately flavored seafood with a delicate sauce.

Can you make this recipe without wine?

Absolutely! I do feel that the small amount of wine I use in this recipe adds great flavor, and it's fun to drink that same wine with the meal.

But if you're not a fan of wine, you can simply omit the wine and leave the rest of the recipe as is. It would still be delicious.

Variations

I love this recipe as is and almost always make it as written. But in case you'd like to vary the basic recipe, here are a few ideas for you:

Use good olive oil instead of butter.
If you don't have lemon juice, try using ½ tablespoon of white wine vinegar.
You can use cilantro instead of parsley. It has a stronger flavor, but if you like cilantro, I think you'll enjoy it.

Serving suggestions

This saucy dish is often served on top of pasta, or with crusty bread. But it’s just as good on cauliflower rice, spaghetti squash, or served on its own with a spoon for the sauce.

Sometimes I serve this dish with its marvelous sauce on a bed of raw baby spinach leaves. The warm sauce wilts the spinach leaves just enough to have them perfectly cooked. The whole dish is sublime.

Storing leftovers

You can store the leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. Reheat them very, very gently, to avoid drying them out. If you use the microwave, reheat them covered and use the microwave on 50% power.

Shrimp scampi served on a white plate with a fork and a napkin.

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