The Easiest Shrimp Scampi Recipe You’ll Ever Find

Shrimp scampi is one of the quickest and easiest ways to get a delicious, impressive meal on the table — and this is one of the quickest and easiest shrimp scampi recipes you’ll ever find. Just sauté plump shrimp in a zesty white wine and butter scampi sauce and toss it with garlic, parsley, chili flakes, and linguine pasta. You’ll have an unforgettable dinner ready in less than a half hour.

Shrimp Scampi
Prep: 10 Mins | Total: 30 Mins
Serves: 4
Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
4 Tablespoons Butter, divided
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
3-5 Garlic Cloves, minced (about 2 Tablespoons, or to taste)
½ Teaspoons Red Pepper Flakes, or to taste
½ Cup Dry White Wine
Kosher Salt, to taste
Ground Black Pepper, to taste
1 Pound Large Shrimp, peeled and deveined
Zest and Juice of 1 Lemon
¼ Cup Chopped Parsley Leaves
8 ounces (½ pound) Angel hair or linguine pasta,, cooked (to serve -- reserve the coking water)
¼ Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese (Optional)
Directions
In a large pan over medium heat, melt half of the butter with the olive oil. Add the minced garlic and chili flakes and cook until they're fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the white wine, salt, and black pepper and bring it to a simmer. Allow the wine mixture to simmer for 2-3 minutes or until it is reduced by about half.
Add the shrimp to the pan and cook, stirring often, until just cooked through (about 2 to 4 minutes, depending on the size of your shrimp).
Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, and mix to combine. Add the chopped parsley.
Taste and adjust the seasoning with additional salt, lemon juice, or more chili flakes, if desired. You can also adjust the consistency of the sauce with a little of the reserved pasta cooking water, if needed. Serve over pasta and garnish with Parmesan cheese, if desired.




Here’s a little Italian lesson for you: “scampi” isn’t a way of cooking shrimp. It’s actually the Italian name for langoustines, a different type of shellfish that was originally used. When the dish was adapted stateside, Italian-American chefs started using easier-to-find shrimp instead of scampi — but they kept the old name. And now when we hear the words “shrimp scampi” our mouths start to water.

Plump shrimp sautéed in a rich & buttery, bright & lemony, herb & garlicky white wine scampi sauce, and tossed with linguine pasta. In just 30 minutes!TipHero

We left the tails on, because just look at those little beauties. (And they add lots of deep flavor to the sauce, too.) But if you don’t like pulling off tails while you slurp your pasta, feel free to use shrimp that already have the tails removed. You can also use frozen shrimp — just thaw them in cold, running water for five minutes before you throw them into the pan. We told you this was easy!

Plump shrimp sautéed in a rich & buttery, bright & lemony, herb & garlicky white wine scampi sauce, and tossed with linguine pasta. In just 30 minutes!TipHero

If you watch our video, you’ll see that even though shrimp scampi has connotations of candlelit date nights with a white tablecloth and Italian wine, there’s really nothing fancy about the cooking techniques or the ingredients — which means you basically can’t mess this up. The rich and buttery, bright and lemony, herb and garlicky flavors are bold enough for a dinner party or date night — but since our shrimp scampi just takes 30 minutes, you can also treat yourself to an Italian seafood feast any night of the week. Buon appetito!

Plump shrimp sautéed in a rich & buttery, bright & lemony, herb & garlicky white wine scampi sauce, and tossed with linguine pasta. In just 30 minutes!TipHero

Don’t miss our other favorite shrimp pasta recipes:

  1. Shrimp Alfredo Pasta
  2. Zippy Shrimp Scampi with Tomatoes
  3. Shrimp, Tomato, and Spinach Pasta
Plump shrimp sautéed in a rich & buttery, bright & lemony, herb & garlicky white wine scampi sauce, and tossed with linguine pasta. In just 30 minutes!