Juicy, tender shrimp are baked in a beautiful rich and garlicky sauce in this garlic lemon butter shrimp recipe.
In just under 15 minutes, you’ll be able to get this delicately flavored, versatile dish on your dinner table.
And if you’re starting off with my garlic lemon butter sauce- you’ll need just 10 minutes of cook time!
Seafood has recently become a big part of my kitchen, especially shrimp.
I put my last batch to use and whipped up a sticky, saucy honey sriracha shrimp bowl for dinner, and everyone loved it, which inspired me to try some more shrimp recipes.
But this time, I really wanted to go for a shortcut recipe- one that comes together quickly, with simple ingredients.
I quickly scanned my refrigerator, found my lemon butter garlic sauce, and then there was no turning back.
Jump to:
- What's So Great About the Recipe?
- Ingredients For the Garlic Lemon Butter Shrimp Recipe
- How to Make Garlic Lemon Butter Shrimp
- Substitutions & Variations
- 💭Top Tip
- Equipment
- How to Store the Leftover Butter Garlic Shrimp
- Tips & Tricks to Nail the Recipe
- How to Serve Lemon Garlic Butter Shrimp
- FAQs
- Related Recipes
- Garlic Lemon Butter Shrimp
What's So Great About the Recipe?
If you like seafood, you’ll love this lemon garlic butter shrimp. Team it up with some of your favorite pasta or noodles, and you’ve got yourself a complete meal.
Plus, it is quick and easy - great for a rushed weekday meal.
And that’s exactly what I love the most about it- its simplicity and effortless flavor.
Ingredients For the Garlic Lemon Butter Shrimp Recipe
You’ll need just a few pantry staples for this garlic butter shrimp recipe.
Shrimp: I used fresh shrimp to make this recipe, and kept the shell and tail on. You could choose to remove the shell and tail and even use deveined shrimp if you want to.
Butter: You’ll also need some butter for the sauce. You can choose to use salted or unsalted butter depending on your personal taste preference.
Lemon juice: I would recommend using fresh lemon juice as opposed to the bottled variety. The flavor with fresh lemon juice is just incredible.
Garlic: Fresh garlic is another absolute must. You can use granulated garlic or garlic powder if that’s what you prefer, but the texture that you’ll get with chopped or minced garlic is unbeatable.
Parsley: Lots of chopped fresh parsley is another must. It really adds so much color and freshness to the dish.
Seasonings: To season the shrimp, I used salt, pepper and red chili flakes. You could try using other seasonings of your choice too. I love the idea of using my homemade garlic bread seasoning.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to Make Garlic Lemon Butter Shrimp
Got all your ingredients ready? Here’s what you’ll need to do to make the baked lemon garlic shrimp.
You can prepare the lemon garlic butter sauce in advance and store it. To do this, melt about 2 tablespoons of butter in the microwave. In the melted butter, add the garlic, some freshly squeezed lemon juice, lemon zest, chopped parsley and some salt and pepper.
Step 1: Start by preheating your oven to 350 F. Prepare the lemon garlic butter in a bowl.
Step 2: Next, add in the red pepper flakes and give it a good mix.
Step 3: Pour this garlic butter sauce over your shrimp in a baking dish, add some lemon wedges and mix well.
Step 4: Bake until the shrimp are cooked through. It should take about 10 minutes.
Serve and enjoy!
Substitutions & Variations
- For some extra lemony, citrusy flavor, add a bit of lemon zest too!
- If you love spicy shrimp, you can also add some cayenne or paprika into the mix. A pinch or two of homemade Peri Peri seasoning is also a great choice.
- To make the dish healthier, you can also use a mixture of olive oil and butter as the base, instead of using just butter.
- For some extra lemony deliciousness, you can also choose to use lemon infused olive oil.
- For a unique kick of flavor, you can use hot honey butter instead of regular butter.
- If you don’t have fresh parsley, you could use almost any other fresh herb of your choice. Dill, cilantro and chives are some great choices.
💭Top Tip
The time you’ll need to cook the shrimp depends on their size. Smaller shrimp, naturally take less time to cook as opposed to larger shrimp, which can take up to 15 minutes to get nice and juicy.
Equipment
How to Store the Leftover Butter Garlic Shrimp
If you have any leftovers, you’ll need to cover them up and refrigerate them for up to a day.
I wouldn’t recommend storing the shrimp beyond this point.
You can reheat shrimp in the microwave or in a pan on low heat with a little splash of water if you want to.
Tips & Tricks to Nail the Recipe
- Remember to arrange the shrimp in a single layer in your baking dish. This will ensure that the shrimp are all cooked through perfectly.
- Remember not to overcook the shrimp - you might want to check them around the 10 minute mark.
- I used fresh garlic for this recipe, but you could also use some Air Fryer roasted garlic instead if you want the dish to have an extra smoky and savory flavor.
- Another great idea to bring in a bit of flavor variation is to use a compound butter of your choice. A herby compound butter like pesto butter or a spicy one like cajun butter are both great choices.
How to Serve Lemon Garlic Butter Shrimp
I almost always make garlic butter shrimp teamed up with my angel hair pasta. The flavors are so bang on delicious- who can resist a good lemon garlic shrimp pasta?
Remember to add the juicy shrimp into the pasta along with some pasta water to the pan and cook until the shrimp comes together.
You can also pair it with some Air Fryer Parmesan asparagus or any other pan fried or baked veggies of your choice. And of course, garnish the pasta with some lemon wedges too!
This unbelievably easy recipe also tastes great teamed up with some lemon rice or cauliflower rice if you’re into low carb recipes.
If you have any leftover shrimp, you can also add it to your bowl of salad and spoon some basil gremolata or any other salad dressing of your choice over it for a bit of deliciousness.
FAQs
You can! Just remember that you’ll need to thaw the shrimp first before you use it for the recipe. Also make sure you drain all the liquid away and pat the shrimp dry before adding it to the garlicky lemon butter sauce.
You can also make this lemon garlic shrimp recipe in a pan! Simply heat the garlic lemon butter in a pan or a large skillet over medium-high heat, add in the raw shrimp and cook for 7-10 minutes.
This lemon garlic butter shrimp recipe is similar to shrimp scampi, but it isn’t the same. With shrimp scampi, you’ll need to cook shrimp in some white wine.
Related Recipes
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Garlic Lemon Butter Shrimp
Ingredients
- 1 lb shrimp medium sized
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoon garlic chopped or minced
- 1 tablespoon parsley chopped
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon red chili flakes
Instructions
For the garlic lemon butter sauce
- Start off by making the lemon garlic butter sauce. To do this, melt about 2 tablespoons of butter in the microwave. In the melted butter, add the garlic, some freshly squeezed lemon juice, lemon zest, chopped parsley and some salt and pepper.
For the lemon garlic butter shrimp
- Start by preheating your oven to 350 F. Prepare the lemon garlic butter in a bowl.
- Next, add in the red pepper flakes and give it a good mix.
- Pour this garlic butter sauce over your shrimp in a baking dish and mix well.
- Bake until the shrimp are cooked through. It should take about 10 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy!
