20-Minute Garlic Butter Shrimp

This lovely dish of garlic butter shrimp is ready in 20 minutes. It's perfect over cauliflower rice, spinach, or arugula.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 8

Total Time 18

Servings servings

Calories 291kcal

2 tablespoons butter unsalted
6 garlic cloves thinly sliced
½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt or ¼ teaspoon of any other salt, including Morton kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 pound shrimp extra-large, 21-25 count per pound, peeled and deveined
1 medium lemon juiced; or ½ large lemon
2 tablespoons parsley chopped

Heat the butter in a large 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until foaming, about 2 minutes.
Add the garlic cloves. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the shrimp. Sprinkle them with salt, pepper, and cayenne. Cook, stirring often, until the shrimp are pink and opaque and the garlic is browned, about 4 minutes.
Turn the heat off, add the lemon juice, and toss to coat.
Transfer the shrimp to plates and drizzle them with the remaining pan juices. Serve immediately, garnished with chopped parsley.

The butter will brown and caramelize as you cook, and will give the dish an amazing flavor. But if it browns too much, simply reduce the heat to medium.
Another trick for preventing the milk solids in the butter from burning is to add a tablespoon of olive oil in addition to the butter. Or you could use ghee (clarified butter) instead of butter.
In the video, I add the garlic together with the shrimp. However, I have found that it's better to allow the garlic to cook for a couple of minutes before adding the shrimp. This enables the garlic to brown without overcooking the shrimp.
Another recommendation is to sprinkle the dish with chopped parsley after you've plated it. Adding the parsley to the pan will cause it to wilt. It looks - and tastes - better when sprinkled on the finished dish. So in the video, I add some parsley directly to the pan, but then I sprinkle some more on the finished dish.
Provided you refrigerate the leftovers promptly in a shallow, airtight container, you can keep them for up to four days. Reheat them gently, covered, in the microwave at 50% power. Or use them cold in a shrimp salad!