Shrimp Scampi
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You won’t believe how easy this comes together in just 15 minutes – perfect for those busy weeknights!
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reasons to make shrimp scampi
- Quick cook time. With a short ingredient list and a few easy steps, you’ll have this fancy meal on your dinner table in less than 30 minutes start to finish, perfect for busy weeknights and weekend company.
- Restaurant-quality. This is truly restaurant-quality, if not even better, with bigger, better-quality shrimp.
- Versatile. Shrimp scampi can be served over pasta or rice, or served alongside crusty bread and a light salad.
types of shrimp
Wild caught shrimp vs. farmed shrimp
Farmed shrimp are raised in controlled environments, whereas wild caught shrimp have been caught in their natural habitats by fishermen. Wild caught shrimp is generally preferred over farmed shrimp primarily due to taste.
Frozen vs. fresh shrimp
Unless you reside in a coastal area, the “fresh shrimp” on display at your local grocery store have already been previously frozen at sea. Frozen shrimp offers ultimate freshness (flash-frozen as soon as they are caught) and flexibility, using only what you need for dinner. Bottom line, frozen shrimp will taste better and cook better.
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.
tips and tricks for success
- Know your shrimp size. Shrimp size is calculated on number of shrimp per pound. The smaller the number, the larger your shrimp. There are about 40-50 medium shrimp per pound.
- Buy frozen shrimp. For superior quality and freshness, using frozen shrimp is ideal (but avoid the bags with freezer burn), opting for a quick thaw under cold running water.
- Choose a wine you will drink. A dry white wine (pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc) is great here – it does not have to be anything fancy or overpriced. Just something you don’t mind sipping on since you will have an open bottle.
- Serve with crusty bread. Serve with all the homemade crusty bread for dipping, sopping and dunking!
what to serve with shrimp scampi
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.
The lemon juice helps balance out the flavors and richness of the butter.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 1 day.
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
Equipment
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.
Video
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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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!
How many calories per serving?
Nutritional information is provided only for select and new recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, I recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”) to obtain such information.
Love your blog. Found this recipe from Pinterest and it looked good but after trying it, my family and I felt it had way too much lemon juice. I literally made the scrinched up sour face with each bite. I tried watering it down with chicken broth but it still did not have the traditional scampi flavor I was hoping for. I hate to complain but just felt like a few of the measurements are off.
Thank you for your feedback. Perhaps you used an abnormally large lemon? The lemon taste should not be overpowering. And as always, you can add lemon juice, to taste, to suit your preferences a little better. Isn’t that the beauty of home cooking? 🙂
Love this! How would I go about using chicken over shrimp? I know shrimp cooks much faster than chicken but want to change it up a little
You may have to adjust cooking time as needed to ensure that the chicken is completely cooked through.
With a webpage of that name, my expectations were high. And my expectations were met!!! It was simple and simply delicious! Thank you. My search for a shrimp scampi recipe is now over!
Can the Shrimp Scampi be made ahead of time and reheated? if so, any suggestions?
Jdy, this is really best when served immediately.
I want to see an updated pic of Butters, TOO CUTE!!! Gonna try this scampi recipe 🙂
Helene, you can see updated pictures of Butters and Ollie on Instagram: https://instagram.com/butterscorgigram/. We are also on snapchat now at chungahrhee.
Hello! Found this recipe on yummly and made it for dinner tonight. I love the flavors! Tasted so delicious, however, I couldn’t get the juices to coat the pasta well resulting in a kind of bland noodle. The shrimp had tons of flavor though. Can you please help?! Also love the story you put in about your pet :)!
Thank you for trying my recipe! But I’m sorry to hear that the pasta was not well coated. Did you follow the recipe exactly as written without any substitutions?
Love the puppy!!!!!
I find the dish to be a little lemony. Will use less lemon juice next time. But tit was a great dish! My mouth is on fire, to much crushed pepper
VERY GOOD! Super easy to make and very a flavorful. I will say that when I made it, it did not make very much, just two servings, but perhaps I did something wrong. I really enjoyed this and will make again!
I am curious. Every Scampi recipe I have had includes Garlic, but yours doesn’t include this ingredient. Not sure if I could make it without garlic!
Sandy, 3 cloves garlic is actually included in the recipe.
I love your website! I was just wondering if you used raw shrimp in this recipe? Thank you so much!
Yes, raw shrimp should be used.
Would it be okay if they are already cooked?
I recommend tripling all ingredients if the entire recipe is tripled. It is also best to use uncooked shrimp – but as always, please use your best judgment.
Thank you, just came from the store, i thought that it would probably be the best idea to follow your recipe exactly.
cooked this for my husband tonight and he loved it, he had seconds, thanks for sharing.
I found this on pinterest and made it for dinner last night with a few substitutions. It was amazing! Check out my changes and additions at Thestepfordhomesteader.wordpress.com. Thanks for a great recipe!
Can anyone tell me what type of white wine is best? Does it have to be cooking wine? Or could it be like a basic moscato?
I recommend using dry white wine for this recipe. You can read more about The 5 Best White Wines for Cooking for further reference.
I made this for dinner tonight and it was absolutely delicious! I will be making it often! Thanks so much for sharing!
Simple ingredients, delicious result. Excellent recipe Chungah! You should also try this with a little ouzo instead of wine. You’ll love it!
Wonderful post!
Panos and Mirella
YUM!
Chungah,
Loved this. One night I did it with shrimp, another night I did some crab meat, both were terrific! I also did it with some dried parsley, worked just as good (after adjusting the amount needed). Your website has taken #1 for my go-to site, so far everything I’ve tried has been absolutely delicious!
I’m definitely not a good cook by any means, so I was nervous when searching for something to make for my boyfriend for our Sunday dinner date. I came across this, it looked easy and didn’t require a lot so I gave it a shot! And needless to say I he was a happy man!! It was great and so simple. The only suggestion I have is, if your not a spicy person go easy on the red pepper flakes.. Thankfully we both don’t mind a kick to our food. I did add a little more butter to the pasta once it was all in together. I highly recommend for a quick dinner! Thanks for the recipe:)