Shrimp Scampi
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You won’t believe how easy this comes together in just 15 minutes – perfect for those busy weeknights!
This may be hard to believe but this really comes together very quickly. The only time consuming part may be peeling the shrimp, but if you’re short on time, you can purchase the pre-peeled ones. Hey, I’m not one to judge – I’ve done that on several occasions, especially on those super busy weeknights.
Ingredients
Linguine
Linguine is always our go-to since it holds onto all that lovely saucy goodness but you can also substitute spaghetti or fettuccine.
Butter
For richness and creaminess, of course.
Shrimp
Peeled, deveined and thawed overnight (or a quick 5-10 min thaw under cold running water).
Garlic and red pepper flakes
For maximum flavor. You can increase the amount of red pepper flakes for extra heat and spiciness.
White wine
A dry white wine is great here (pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc).
Lemon juice/zest
A little bit of acid goes a long way to help balance out the flavors and richness of the butter. Freshly squeezed is always the way to go (over the bottled stuff).
Parmesan
Add your finishing touches with a healthy dusting of freshly grated Parm.
Once your shrimp is ready to go, you’ll cook your shrimp in a bit of butter, deglazing your pan with wine (or chicken stock) and freshly squeezed lemon juice, and then tossing in that cooked al dente linguine. You can garnish with some freshly grated Parmesan and serve right out of the pan.
It’s quick, it’s simple, it’s fast, and it is so so good. Serve with all the crusty bread and leftover white wine for a complete meal.
Tools For This Recipe
Large cast iron skillet
Shrimp Scampi: Frequently Asked Questions
You can thaw frozen shrimp overnight, transferring it from the freezer to the fridge the day before. For a quick thaw, you can run them under cold water until completely thawed, about 5-10 minutes. Pat them dry as thoroughly as possible to remove any excess moisture (so they can brown nicely and evenly).
Chicken stock can be used for white wine as a non-alcoholic substitute.
Shrimp Scampi
Ingredients
- 8 ounces linguine
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or more, to taste
- ¼ cup white wine*
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Melt butter in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add shrimp, garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until pink, about 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in wine and lemon juice. Cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly reduced, about 5 minutes; remove from heat.
- Stir in pasta, lemon zest and parsley; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately, topped with Parmesan.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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We doubled the linguine, switched the white wine for chicken broth, and didn’t put in the lemon juice. It wasn’t very good! Thank you!
I just made this dish so easy. I added capers to the pan.just the right touch. Yummy
Made this for dinner tonight. I used just a dash of red pepper flakes, and oregano instead of parsley. OMG, we fought for seconds, and my son even soaked up the sauce with bread just to get more of it. They are asking for more already!!
This is so easy and very yummy! I made this for shrimp scampi lasagna….also, very yummy. Butters is too cute for words
This was so easy, used egg noodles instead of linguine, and additional butter in pasta before adding shrimp. Will use again, big hit.
TOO MUCH LEMON overpowers all the other flavored.
Janet, you can always reduce the amount of lemon as needed to suit your desired taste preferences.
Love the flavors and ingredients in this dish! Reminds me of an aglio olio I made with prawns (:
I will be trying your recipe sometime this week. It looks pretty traditional but with the addition of the pepper flakes, I’m sure my husband and I will like it even more. As far as your puppy, he looks adorable and I wanted to give a little advice. I don’t know if anyone else suggested this or if I’m being too pushy, but having gone through a few puppies, I would recommend getting a “Kong” type toy, or something like a heavy rope, so that he can chew on those instead of your personal stuff. Maybe you’ve already bought these items,, or have the equivalent, I don’t know your situation or experience, just thought I’d throw it out for consideration. Our current (Rottweiler mix) was a big chewer as a puppy and it took some persistent distracting before we broke her of chewing our furniture!
I signed up with you a couple weeks ago, determined not to keep printing chicken recipes, but your recipes look so nummy I haven’t been able to resist :-))) Thank you.
I love the pictures of your dog you posted here, thank you so much! And as always thanks for the great blog and email recipes.
Love your new Baby. They just melt our hearts. I love making anything with shrimp and the kids go crazy. Thank you
Cooked this tonight. It’s a keeper! Thanks for the easy and delicious recipe.
This is actually the third recipe from damndelicious.net that I have tried. They have been delicious. Thank you for a wonderful resource of recipes.
I will be preparing this for the first time tonight. Should I peel the shrimp before cooking?
Yes.
Oh my god. Words can’t even. How can you post this recipe and NOT tell people how spicy it is? Everyone is fixated on the corgis but did any of you actually make this recipe? I took one bite and immediately had to down some milk and bread. Shrimp scampi is supposed to be buttery and lemoney with a hint of white wine. This taste like the spiciest dish you can order at an Indian restaurant. I just wasted so many ingredients on a dish I can’t eat. Imagine if I’d given a bite to my child without tasting it first. He would literally be crying this is so spicy. 0/5 stars.
Oh no! I’m so sorry that this recipe did not turn out the way you had imagined. I only post recipes that have been successfully tested in my own kitchen, and as you can see from the comments here, many of these readers have had great outcomes in the final dish as well. However, I understand that we all have different taste preferences, and I really appreciate your honest feedback. I will be sure to reduce the amount of red pepper flakes in the ingredient list.
Well “red pepper flakes” is traditionally not used in shrimp scampi. In fact I have personally never seen a recipie for shrimp scampi with red pepper flakes before seeing this one.
Dan, you can simply omit if you are not a fan of the extra spice. This is just our take on shrimp scampi to make it our own. You can, of course, improvise to your liking. Isn’t that the beauty of home cooking?
And I’ve never made scampi WITHOUT red pepper flakes!!
I’ve made this recipe several times now and don’t be afraid to adjust as needed! I personally didn’t find it spicy but for anyone sensitive to spice I’d recommend leaving out the red pepper flakes since they are known to be spicy. I always come back to this recipe for shrimp scampi as it’s delicious! I’ve also made it with zucchini noodles and chicken broth when I was doing low carb and it was equally delicious!
That’s pretty rude.
I’m not big on spicy food. Made this recipe numerous times and never over spiced. Follow instructions. I don’t believe it’s the fault of the author. Your comment was pretty dramatic. You made it.
1/4 TSP of red pepper flakes was over the top? For the whole dish? Imagine going to an actual Indian restaurant…
If you are an experienced cook you can look at the amount of red pepper called far and judge as to how spicy it will be.
This will be my first time cooking with lemon zest. I usually omit but i actually have lemons tonight so im going to give it a shot. How much lemon zest are we talking? Should it be fine or curled? I have no idea how it week affect the taste.
I recommend fine.
Tried your dish tonight, great flavor but somewhat spicey and not enough sauce.
Gail, you can always double or triple the sauce as needed to suit your preferences.
So last week I went to Applebee’s and was bemoaning the revelation that they no longer carried my favorite dish, Shrimp Scampi Linguine. I scroll through one of Buzzfeed’s pasta lists, and what do ya know! This appeared there, and it made me smile that it was by you because so many recipes that have caught my eye happen to be from your blog. It was funny, because actually I was thinking of sending you a message and asking if you could make an equivalent to that. xD I know they usually cooked some cut up zucchini and tomato in it, do you have any suggestions for how to cook those? I am a novice cook and know nothing. :/
That sounds amazing! But without having tried this dish myself, it’s really hard to say how they prepared it. I may just have to go there myself to give it a try. 🙂
Hi, I have to triple the recipe to get enough for guests, but i only have enough shrimp for one portion. Will that be a problem?
Your dog, Butters, is really adorable. Did you name him that because you like cooking with butter so much. Shrimp scampi normally has more butter than this in it, right? I’m excited to give your recipe a try, though. It won’t be as greasy as other kinds I’ve tried to make.
Love this recipe! I added the red pepper flakes, spinach and mushrooms!! Its a big hit at my house. Thank you
This is my FAVORITE scampi recipe I’ve found. It’s so easy! I use broth every time in my sauce, ’cause I’m usually drinking my wine too fast to use it in a recipe. Thanks!