Name: Lemon Garlic Shrimp
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 12 min
Ingredients: 1 ¾ lbs large or extra large shrimps (or prawns) (peeled and deveined); 2+ 2 tablespoon butter; 1 tablespoon olive oil; 4 cloves garlic (finely chopped/minced); Salt and pepper to taste; ½ teaspoon red chili flakes; Juice of 1 lemon; 1 tablespoon water (if needed) (can use 2 tablespoon dry white wine instead ); Fresh parsley for garnish

This lemon garlic shrimp is perfect dinner recipe that can be served in less than 15 minutes. Perfect for busy days when you are aiming to make fast and easy dinner. And the buttery lemon garlic sauce is sensational.

When you are pressed on time throwing a meal together can seem like a daunting task. Not when you are cooking lemon garlic butter shrimp.

If you can get your hands on cleaned and deveined shrimps, this recipe couldn’t get any easier! You can’t beat 10 minutes time to cook up a fast and healthy dinner.

Let’s not forget this is one delicious dinner! Especially the sauce, which btw needs a special mention. We call it simple-sensational-sauce!

The fresh zestiness from lemon, unbeatable flavors of garlic and the richness from butter makes it truly mind-boggling!

Lemon Garlic Shrimp

Cooking shrimps right and having fresh ingredients is the key to making the best lemon garlic shrimp dinner. Feel free to customize the seasoning. Salt and pepper always works with shrimp. A bit of red chili flakes gives that extra heat.

In place of red chili flakes, you can use –

Italian seasoning
Cajun Seasoning
Jerk Seasoning
Curry Powder as well.

Lemon Garlic Shrimp Ingredients

Large Raw Shrimp – Ideally use large or extra-large shrimps. If you can get your hands on fresh deveined and cleaned shrimp (with tail on or off), go for it. Frozen shrimps? Yes go for it!

Butter – Salted or unsalted will work. Use as much or as little you like. Butter adds richness to the sauce and makes shrimps.

Olive oil – A mix of olive oil and butter is my go-to combo.

Garlic – Use fresh garlic for best flavor and taste. Mince garlic with knife as fine as you can.

Lemon Juice – Freshly squeezed lemon juice only. Don’t go for bottled stuff.

Salt And Pepper – Use seasoning as per taste.

Red Chili Flakes – For extra heat add red chili flakes. Instead of red chili flakes you can use Italian seasoning, Cajun seasoning, Jerk spice, or curry powder. Your choice!

Fresh Parsley – loads of it! Adds bright, freshness and herby flavor to the dish. The color contrast of bright green parsley against pretty pink/red shrimps is so appetizing!

ingredients for lemon garlic shrimp recipe

Variations And Substitutions

Lemon garlic butter shrimp is one of the most versatile recipe. You can change the seasoning depending on what you love.

If you want to jazz up the flavor, add a few tablespoon of dry white wine. It enhances flavor.

Want a rich saucy shrimp, use only butter(substitute olive oil with butter).

For extra heat, red chili flakes does the trick. The amount of red chili flakes used isn’t going to make the dish too spicy. The spice levels are within the levels you can handle. If you don’t like heat at all, omit it.

For other flavor choices, substitute red chili flakes with Cajun, Italian or jerk seasoning. You can also use curry powder instead if you like the flavor.

a white oval plate of lemon garlic shrimp

How To Make Lemon Garlic Butter Shrimp With Step-By-Step Pictorial

There are two ways to cook lemon garlic shrimp recipe. You can bake it in oven or cook in skillet on stove top.

This recipe uses stove top method of cooking.

Clean and devein shrimps if they aren’t already cleaned. Leave the tail on if you prefer (it looks pretty). Rinse shrimp under running tap. Pat the shrimps dry.
Melt butter in hot skillet. Add olive oil along with butter.

Saute finely minced garlic in butter-olive oil mix. I always prefer to saute garlic in oil, as it releases all it’s wonderful flavors into the oil. Do not brown garlic. Simply saute until garlic is fragrant. Alternatively – use garlic powder instead of fresh garlic.

Add cleaned shrimps to the pan.

Add all seasonings now – salt, freshly pound (or crushed) pepper, and red chili flakes. If using garlic powder, add it at this stage.
Stir to coat the seasoning even.

Let it cook on for about 2 to 3 minutes or until shrimp is bright reddish or pink in color.

Flip and cook shrimps for 2 minutes until it just begins to turn pink.

Add butter and lemon juice. Cook while stirring until butter melts and shrimp is cooked through.

Remove pan from stove. DO NOT over cook shrimps. You want to keep shrimp delicate, juicy not rubbery and gummy.
Check for seasoning. Adjust salt and pepper if it needs extra seasoning.
Garnish with loads of fresh finely chopped parsley.