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Succulent shrimp tossed in a rich blend of melted butter, abundant garlic and fresh lemon juice, Lemon Garlic Butter Shrimp may be the ultimate 20-minute meal.
With just 6 simple ingredients, this flavorful, juicy shrimp not only makes an easy weeknight meal, but a welcome appetizer for your next dinner party or game day get-together.
Ingredients You Need to Make Lemon Garlic Butter Shrimp
- Shrimp: Medium or large raw shrimp (fresh or thawed frozen shrimp) that are peeled and deveined, ideally shrimp with tails.
- Butter: salted or unsalted butter
- Olive Oil: ideally good, extra-virgin olive oil
- Fresh Garlic: Look for a firm, fresh head of garlic with large cloves and smooth skin.
- Lemon: Ideally organic as you’ll need both juice and zest.
- Parsley: Fresh, flat leaf parsley (Italian parsley) – dried parsley is not a good substitute in this dish.
- Crushed Red Pepper
- Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Fast, easy and tasty — that’s how I would describe shrimp. It cooks in minutes and lends itself to a wide variety of flavor combinations. Here sweet, tender shrimp is pan fried and bathed in a bright, aromatic, lemon garlic butter sauce. A truly restaurant-quality meal on your dinner table in less than half an hour. Serve it with bread, pasta (see this Lemon Garlic Shrimp Pasta recipe) or rice because you won’t want to miss a drop of the rich, silky sauce.
More Must Try Shrimp Recipes
- Shrimp Piccata
- Shrimp Tacos
- Spicy Grilled Shrimp
- Shrimp Fra Diavolo
- Shrimp Creole
- Bacon Wrapped Shrimp
Perfectly Paired With
How to Make Lemon Garlic Butter Shrimp
Step 1: In a large skillet, heat butter and olive oil until sizzling. Add minced garlic and red pepper flakes; cook and stir 30 seconds, or until fragrant. Add shrimp; cook and stir until shrimp is just cooked through.
Step 2: Add fresh lemon juice and zest, and parsley; stir to coat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to platter and serve.
Lemon Garlic Butter Shrimp
Video
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 5 large garlic cloves minced
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or more
- 1 pound medium shrimp peeled and deveined, leave tails intact if desired
- 1 large lemon juice and zest
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until sizzling. Add minced garlic and red pepper flakes; cook and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add shrimp; cook and stir until shrimp is just cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Stir in fresh lemon juice and zest, and parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to serving bowl or platter and serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Very good recipe: easy to follow, straight forward, quick and delicious! Garlic added too soon. Next time I will wait until shrimp has cooked a minute. It browned too fast. Other than that, the lemon and butter are strong and flavorful on the palate in this recipe. I did stir in a few tablespoons of pasta water at the last minute to thin or lighten the sauce up a bit, to my taste. Excellent with angle hair pasta and sautéed spinach!
Hi Cat! So glad you enjoyed the recipe and made it your own.
Absolutely Delicious. I added a small splash of white wine & the flavors were amazing. Quick and delicious. Thank you!
My pleasure, Rhonda! I’m so glad you enjoyed this and added your own touch.
OH MY GOODNESS!!! I used almost every shortcut in the book and this is WONDERFUL!!! I had some frozen shrimp that a neighbor gave me when moving… dehydrated parsley… reconstituted lemon juice and lemon essential oil… minced garlic in a jar… and it was AMAZING!!!
looking forward to making it old school with fresh ingredients!!!!!
haha, wow! I’m so glad you enjoyed this, Buffy!