This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
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!
Tried tonight and everyone loved it. Only thing I did different was I added a small container of cherry tomatoes. I put them right after the shrimp so they cooked just until they started to bust open. It added a great little sweet bite and a nice addition to the sauce. Served over pasta for the win!!
I’m so glad this was a hit, Fred! And thanks so much for your cooking notes – cherry tomatoes are a nice addition, especially right now when they’re at their summer peak.
Looked for a new recipe. This was the first one I found. Made my shrimp in and it was absolutely delicious!! Would recommend anyone try it!
I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed them!
Very good. I added the shrimp first though and let it cook for a few mins then added the garlic and pepper so the garlic didn’t burn. Then i removed the shrimp and added the lemon and let it reduce then added the shrimp back to toss in sauce.
I’m glad you’re enjoying the recipe, Kat. Thanks for your cooking notes.
does this go well with rice?
Hi Aza! Yes, absolutely!
Looking forward to trying this. Saw a similar pic and was on the hunt for a recipe. So glad I found this one. Thank you!
My pleasure! Hope you love it.
I have tried so many scampi recipes but many seem to be swimming in butter. I make more of a sauce if putting over pasta, but at times I just want shrimp. This recipe is the best. Tons of garlic, simple and delicious. I have shared it with lots of friends. Thank you!!
This is wonderful to hear, Patti! Thank you for coming back to let me know.
So good! And simple. Served over linguine noodles and a side salad with a glass of white wine. Took less then 30 minutes from start to finish, simple cleanup and my partner loved it. Will add this to our menu rotation!
This is wonderful to hear, Jennifer! Thank you!
This shrimp is calling my name, Marissa! We just got back from Charleston, SC, and I think I ate my weight in seafood down there. Even so, I’m ready for this recipe now! It looks amazing!
Hope you had lots of fun in Charleston, David! As a fellow seafood lover, I know you’ll enjoy these!
The combination of shrimp, oil/butter, garlic, lemon, and herbs means an ultimate summer vibes to me! Can imagine having this meal, outside (let’s pretend these horrible mosquitoes don’t exist haha!), with some bread and wine. Perfection!
You’ve described my ideal summer meal, Ben. (Less the mosquitos of course!)
I’ve made this a few times and flavor is good overall. I am wondering if anyone knows why mine is so runny? Is it supposed to be?
Garlic butter and shrimp…sign me up, Marissa :-)) They look lipsmackingly delicious!