Classic Shrimp Scampi

Name: Classic Shrimp Scampi
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons butter; 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; 4 garlic cloves, minced; 1/2 cup dry white wine or broth; 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste; 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste; Freshly ground black pepper; 1 3/4 pounds large or extra-large shrimp, shelled; 1/3 cup chopped parsley; Freshly squeezed juice of half a lemon; Cooked pasta or crusty bread

By Melissa Clark

Updated Feb. 3, 2025

Total Time: 15 minutes
Rating: 5(16,181)
Comments: Read comments

Scampi are tiny, lobster-like crustaceans with pale pink shells (also called langoustines). Italian cooks in the United States swapped shrimp for scampi, but kept both names. Thus the dish was born, along with inevitable variations.

This classic recipe makes a simple garlic, white wine and butter sauce that goes well with a pile of pasta or with a hunk of crusty bread. However you make the dish, once the shrimp are added to the pan, the trick is to cook them just long enough that they turn pink all over, but not until their bodies curl into rounds with the texture of tires. (Watch the video of Melissa Clark making classic shrimp scampi here.)

Featured in: A GOOD APPETITE; Shrimp Scampi, A Classic Open to Interpretation

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

2tablespoons butter
2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4garlic cloves, minced
½cup dry white wine or broth
¾teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
⅛teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
1¾pounds large or extra-large shrimp, shelled
⅓cup chopped parsley
Freshly squeezed juice of half a lemon
Cooked pasta or crusty bread

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

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Step 1
In a large skillet, melt butter with olive oil. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add wine or broth, salt, red pepper flakes and plenty of black pepper and bring to a simmer. Let wine reduce by half, about 2 minutes.
Step 2
Add shrimp and sauté until they just turn pink, 2 to 4 minutes depending upon their size. Stir in the parsley and lemon juice and serve over pasta or accompanied by crusty bread.

Ratings

5 out of 5

16,181 user ratings

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Comments

frazeej7 years ago

Perfect, except.......USE THE SHELLS!!! The shrimp shells are wonderful flavor enhancers and should not be discarded-simmer the shells in the wine (add some extra wine) for ~10 minutes, strain and then discard the shells, and use the enriched wine in the recipe. Double the flavor!

JimF from Sewell

Alfredo7 years ago

A lot of the "too little sauce" comments I see seem to reflect a missing step in the recipe: you'll notice the sauce doesn't really stick to the pasta so it feels like you have too little sauce.

You'll want to add half a cup of the cooked pasta water to the pan after adding the wine. The starch in the pasta water thickens the sauce a tiny bit and permits it to cling to the pasta. If you do this, you'll want to add 1-2 more tbsp of butter (or olive oil)

David7 years ago

This is a terrific recipe. If you double the wine you have plenty of sauce. But less to drink.

Gabriele S.12 hours ago

Why didn't you devein the shrimp?

dakota1 week ago

10/10!! Delicious!! I used about 1/8 cup of dried parsley instead, and added a little extra lemon to taste!! Will add this to my favorites.

DENNIS2 weeks ago

The fact that she didn't devein the shrimp leads me to believe that she is not a very good cook.

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