Garlic Butter Shrimp

Garlic Butter Shrimp is easy to make, uses on hand ingredients and is ready in just 15 minutes. The buttery garlic sauce is seriously divine with the plump shrimp and makes a delicious dinner served over pasta.

 

Easy shrimp recipes are something of a favorite of mine. And yours, too, it seems!

Honey garlic shrimp is just 5 ingredients and 10 minutes to make and the sauce is addictively delicious!

Mediterranean shrimp skillet is full of fresh colors and flavors, while easy shrimp creole has a rich tomato sauce. These shrimp fajitas are a one skillet, 20 minute meal that's so flavorful.

I also love making spicy roasted shrimp for a quick appetizer or to use for rice bowls, wraps and more.

Today’s recipe for garlic butter shrimp is going to be a new favorite!

It’s so easy to make, uses simple, on hand ingredients that you’ve probably always got in your kitchen and it’s ready in just 15 minutes.

And that buttery sauce with the shallots and garlic is seriously divine with the plump shrimp.

And the little hit of lemon juice at the end just brightens the dish and cuts the richness. (It’s the whole “acid” part of the salt-fat-acid-heat arrangement.)

This is a well balanced, seriously tasty shrimp dish that you’ll be happily coming back to time and time again.

Perfect for a quick weeknight dinner or one of those days where you’re staring down some shrimp in the freezer and trying to figure out what to do with it. Been there, many a time.

And now, problem solved.

OK, let’s get cooking.

Now, I’ve got some notes, tips and substitutions coming up below on how to make garlic butter shrimp. Just tryin’ to be helpful.

If you want to jump on down to the recipe, simply scroll right on through the rest of the text. The recipe card is near the bottom of the page, above the comments section.

Ingredient Notes

• Shrimp: I used a pound of extra large shrimp, which come 21-30 a pound. You can substitute another size shrimp, but you’ll need to adjust your cooking time.
• Shrimp prep: The shrimp need to be completely thawed (more on that in a minute) as well as peeled and deveined for this recipe. Please plan accordingly. (You can ask your seafood counter to prep these for you if needed. Or buy the peeled and deveined frozen shrimp that are ready to go.)
• Shrimp tails: You can leave the tails on the shrimp if you prefer. It adds some extra flavor while cooking, but can be a bit more fussy for eating. Up to you.
• Shallot: I prefer this over a regular onion because of the milder flavor to pair with the shrimp.
• Red pepper flakes: These add a little oomph but not a ton of heat. You can increase if you want a spicy kick, or you can substitute black pepper in place of the red pepper flakes if you don’t want any heat.

And like I said, this is super easy to make.

Just sauté the shallot and garlic in butter, add the shrimp and season it right in the pan. Finish cooking the shrimp, add the lemon juice and you are done!

Now, I’ve got a few notes and tips for you on the shrimp. I know seafood can be intimidating, but shrimp is actually really easy to work with.

Tips on buying shrimp

– I buy frozen shrimp, which is actually fresher than “fresh” shrimp in the grocery store case. Wait, what?! Yup. The shrimp they have on display in the seafood case is almost always frozen shrimp that they’ve recently thawed. So buying it still frozen is a better move. Unless you can get it from a boat!

– I love, love getting my shrimp already peeled and deveined – saves so much time. Highly recommend if you can find it that way.

– I prefer the 21-30 size shrimp, but you can use your favorite size. Just adjust the cooking time to ensure they are just cooked through and not overcooked.

And if your shrimp are frozen when you want to cook this, no problem.

How to thaw frozen shrimp:

1. You can place frozen shrimp in the refrigerator (in a well sealed container) overnight to thaw.
2. You can thaw frozen shrimp quickly by placing them, frozen, in a colander and rinsing them in the sink with cold water for 2-3 minutes, until they are completely defrosted.

Since the first option takes a little more planning and foresight, I’m often in camp number two. And it works great every time.

OK, let’s get ready to eat!

Serving Ideas

• Garlic butter shrimp is great served with pasta to help soak up that delicious sauce. We love spaghetti or another thin noodle.
• You could also serve this with rice if you prefer.
• Or you could pair it with some crusty bread for mopping up the sauce.
• Feel free to add some hot sauce at the table if you’d like some extra heat.
• A steamed or sautéed veggie like green beans, asparagus or broccoli would be a good pairing. Or just a big green salad.

Last thing, what to do with leftovers. 

Leftover seafood doesn’t keep or reheat that great, so this is really best served as soon as it’s made.

That said, you can store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 2 days and reheat over medium low heat on the stove until warmed through.

Make sure to keep some sauce to reheat and serve with it. And just be careful not to overcook the shrimp when reheating or they’ll get rubbery.

There you go! A 15-minute shrimp dinner that you’ll be turning to again and again.

And stay tuned because I have another quick shrimp recipe coming up for you soon. (Update: Check out this lemon garlic shrimp!)

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Happy cooking and enjoy!

XO,

Kathryn