Easy Shrimp Scampi Recipe - How to Make Shrimp Scampi
Shrimp scampi is an easy shrimp recipe made in a sauce with butter and garlic and often served with rice or pasta such as linguine. With just garlic, butter, and shrimp, you can make an easy shrimp scampi recipe that can be served as a side dish with pasta or rice.
Servings 4 people
Calories 291kcal
Ingredients
- 2 cups Shrimp
- 4 tbsp Butter
- 2 tbsp White wine
- 4 tbsp Heavy cream - if you want a creamy shrimp scampi sauce.
- 3 tbsp Olive oil
- 2 tbsp chopped Parsley - for garnishing
- 1 tbsp Cornstarch - serves as a thickener.
- ½ tsp Lemon pepper seasoning
- 4 cloves minced Garlic
- 1 tsp Smoked paprika powder
- ¼ tsp Chili pepper flakes
- ½ tsp red Chili pepper powder
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Freshly squeezed lemon juice - or just squeeze half of a small lemon.
- ¼ tsp Lemon zest
Instructions
HOW TO MAKE SHRIMP SCAMPI
- Start by seasoning the shrimps with smoked paprika powder, lemon pepper seasoning, red chili powder, and a pinch of salt.
- Mix everything together to combine and then add 1 tbsp of cornstarch (corn flour) to the seasoned shrimp. The cornflour adds crunchiness to the shrimp scampi and also helps to prevent direct heat to the shrimp. Too much heat to the shrimp makes them firm and rubbery. Also, mix everything together and set the seasoned and coated shrimps aside.
- Place a pan on the stovetop and add 1 tbsp of olive oil to it; also, add 1 tbsp of butter and allow it to melt. First adding the olive oil helps prevent burning the butter.
- Once the butter has melted, go in with the seasoned shrimps and fry on both sides for about 1 minute 30 seconds on low heat. Too much heat to the shrimps makes them firm, rubbery, and not palatable to chew.
- Remove the shrimps from the pan when they are totally golden brown in color. If you have much amount of shrimps for your scampi, it is better to fry in batches.
Making Shrimp Scampi Sauce
- To make shrimp scampi sauce, add 3 tbsp of butter to the same pan used for frying the shrimps.
- Allow the butter to melt and then add 4 minced garlic cloves. You should be making the shrimp scampi sauce on low heat because the aim is to infuse the flavor of the garlic into the shrimp scampi sauce and not to brown the garlic.
- Just before the butter starts to sizzle, add the lemon zest, chili flakes, white wine, and cooking cream.
- To improve the flavor and taste of the shrimp scampi, add 1 tbsp of fresh lemon juice to the shrimp scampi sauce and then stir to combine.
- Also, add 1 tbsp of chopped parsley to the shrimp scampi sauce and stir; then bring in the cooked shrimps and stir again to combine with the scampi sauce, then allow your shrimp scampi to simmer on low heat for 1 minute before turning off the heat. Your homemade easy shrimp scampi is ready. You can serve it over rice or pasta.
Video
Notes
The shrimp scampi recipe can be confusing depending on your country of origin. A scampi in the United Kingdom simply refers to the edible lobster called the Dublin Bay Prawn, or Norway lobster. The scientific name for Dublin Bay Prawn or Scampi is Nephrops norvegius.
The shrimp scampi recipe does not use shrimp alone (hence, the name of this recipe is a misnomer). Shrimp recipes can be made using shrimp, prawns, or some Metanephrops (these differ from other types of lobsters in that they have equal sizes of claws).