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    Home » Recipes » Seafood

    Garlic Butter Shrimp Skillet

    Published: Aug 12, 2022 by Tiffany Dahle · This post may contain affiliate links.

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    Jump to Recipe - Pin Recipe
    The garlic butter shrimp are served in a blue bowl with crusty bread. The second photo shows the shrimp in the skillet being cooked.

    This garlic butter shrimp skillet has a rich lemon butter sauce you'll love to dunk fresh bread and peel and eat shrimp into. Based on the popular sloppy shrimp recipe from Lulu's Buffet but made easier for home cooks.

    A big bowl of garlic butter shrimp with garlic bread for dunking.

    I love coming home from vacation with fresh ideas for new recipes.

    During a trip to Myrtle Beach, we visited Jimmy Buffet's sister Lulu's restaurant which serves tons of delicious seafood.

    I picked up her cookbook in the gift shop before we left and my daughter and I were immediately drawn to her recipe for something she calls Sloppy Shrimp.

    It is a peel and eat shrimp skillet with a rich lemon garlic butter sauce that is ladled into bowls for serving almost like a soup.

    Serve it with fresh crispy bread for dunking into that heavenly sauce and have plenty of napkins on hand.

    This recipe is simply to die for. It's been my birthday dinner and special occasion meal for a couple of years and my daughter begs me to make it every time.

    Jump to:
    • ❤️Why This is the Best Recipe
    • 🥄Ingredients
    • 🍤The Best Shrimp
    • 🧂Prep the Seasonings
    • 🧈Make the Garlic Butter Sauce
    • 🍳Cook the Shrimp
    • 🍽️How to Serve the Garlic Shrimp
    • 🔁Easy Variations
    • 📖 Recipe
    • 💬 Comments

    ❤️Why This is the Best Recipe

    As much as I love shrimp scampi, this dish is a little bit different in that it uses peel and eat shrimp cooked in the garlic butter sauce.

    You will love it because:

    1. Quick Recipe: The hardest part is just prepping all the ingredients for the sauce. The actual dish comes together in just minutes, super fast!
    2. Easy for Beginners: Even if you've never cooked shrimp before, this recipe is super easy. You're going to feel like a restaurant chef by the time you're done.
    3. Restaurant Quality Shrimp at Home: This flavorful shrimp sauce is the difference between a regular home recipe and a restaurant quality one. If it is good enough for Lulu's restaurant, it's going to be amazing at your table.
    4. Pairs Well with Bread: Got a new bread machine? Fire it up and make some Italian bread for dunking in that AMAZING garlic butter sauce (but I've got other easy suggestions listed below, too.)
    5. Tender Shrimp: The cooking method will give you very tender, very flavorful shrimp.
    6. Flexible Recipe: If you want a less-messy way to eat the sloppy shrimp and don't want to get your hands covered in butter at the table, you can substitute peeled shrimp and serve the dish over pasta or rice.

    If you'd like to check out more recipes from Lucy Buffet, don't miss her awesome Lulu's Kitchen cookbook here.

    🥄Ingredients

    The shrimp are being drained in a large collander.

    The most important ingredient for this recipe is the raw shrimp.

    You can see more notes below on how to pick the best shrimp, but no whether you choose fresh or frozen, peeled or not peeled, it is crucial that the shrimp be raw.

    You don't want to add pre-cooked shrimp to the skillet or they will become tough and rubbery.

    In addition to the shrimp, you will need:

    • Butter
    • Olive Oil
    • Chicken Stock
    • White Wine
    • Minced Garlic: I use the jarred minced garlic for ease but you could use fresh garlic cloves if you prefer.
    • Lemon
    • Worcestershire Sauce
    • Hot Sauce

    And to season the sauce, you'll need the following spices:

    • Dried Rosemary
    • Paprika
    • Salt & Pepper
    • Onion Powder
    • Cayenne Pepper
    • Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

    🍤The Best Shrimp

    The best shrimp to use for this skillet recipe is fresh, raw, peel & eat shrimp from a seafood market.

    But not everyone is lucky enough to live near the coast where fresh shrimp are readily available.

    If you need to buy frozen shrimp, just be sure to look for ones that are RAW. If you try to add pre-cooked shrimp to the skillet they will get overcooked and tough.

    It can be tricky to find frozen peel & eat shrimp, so it is absolutely ok to substitute frozen peeled and deveined shrimp. You can learn how to thaw frozen shrimp properly here.

    The benefit of the peeled and deveined shrimp is that it will be easier for you to use the recipe as a base for a pasta or rice dish if you want.

    But there's just something extra fun about getting your hands a little messy when you eat them with the peel & eat shelled shrimp at the table.

    • A clear mixing bowl is filled with frozen raw shrimp.
      How to Thaw Frozen Shrimp

    🧂Prep the Seasonings

    The most time consuming part of this recipe is preparing all the ingredients before you start to cook.

    It is really very important to pre-measure all the spices and sauce ingredients before you warm your skillet because the recipe is cooked so quickly you won't have time to stop and measure anything.

    Measure all the dried seasonings: rosemary, paprika, salt & pepper, onion powder, cayenne, crushed red pepper flakes.

    Set them in a bowl near the stovetop.

    Then be sure to measure the white wine and chicken stock, they get added at the same time so you can put them in the same measuring cup to save on dirty dishes.

    Zest the lemon and consider juicing it before you start. It gets added very quickly at the end.

    Set the bottle of hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and the prepared garlic near the stove.

    🧈Make the Garlic Butter Sauce

    Place a very large skillet with a handle over medium-high heat.

    Melt the butter with the olive oil, this will help prevent your butter from burning.

    When the butter begins to sizzle, add the garlic and stir. Then add your pre-measured seasonings and stir them for just 5 seconds.

    Pour in the measured wine and chicken stock and use the handle on your skillet to briskly move the pan to combine the sauce.

    This is a more effective way to emulsify the sauce than simply stirring it with your spoon.

    Keep the sauce moving and bring it to a boil.

    🍳Cook the Shrimp

    Add the shrimp and cook for just 2 - 3 minutes or until they all turn pink.

    The shrimp are being cooked in a large skillet with butter wine sauce.

    Add the hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and zest and stir for just 1 more minute.

    Serve the shrimp immediately. If they sit too much longer, they may overcook.

    The shrimp have finished cooking in the skillet and are nice and pink.

    🍽️How to Serve the Garlic Shrimp

    You may be surprised at the end to see just how much garlic butter sauce this recipe makes.

    Lulu suggests that you ladle it into serving bowls, almost like a soup.

    As you peel and eat your shrimp, you can dunk them into the butter sauce but it also works great with fresh toasted crispy bread chunks. Soooooo yummy.

    A big bowl of shrimp in butter sauce has garlic toast for dunking.

    Sometimes I'll pick up a baguette or fresh loaf of bread from the bakery department of the grocery store.

    Other times I plan ahead to make our own homemade bread for dunking.

    My Italian bread recipe is the perfect texture for cutting into thick slices but the ciabatta bread is better if you want to make homemade crostini.

    • A loaf of bread machine Italian bread sits in a basket next to a few sample wedges near a plate of olive oil for dipping.
      Bread Machine Italian Bread
    • Homemade toasted crostini slices sit on a cookie sheet fresh from the oven. They are golden brown.
      How to Make Crostini
    • A loaf of sourdough bread from the bread machine has been sliced to show the texture of the bread.
      Garlic Parmesan Sourdough
    • A focaccia bread on parchment paper with several squares cut and scattered.
      Bread Machine Focaccia

    🔁Easy Variations

    If you want to turn this garlic butter shrimp skillet into a fuller meal, you may want to serve it over pasta or rice instead of with bread for dunking.

    • Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta: There is plenty of sauce from this recipe that you could simply add in any cooked pasta shape you love. A thin spaghetti or penne would be my choice.
    • Garlic Butter Shrimp Rice: You could serve the shrimp with sauce ladled over a bowl of easy jasmine rice for a gluten free version of the dinner.

    In either case, my roasted cherry tomatoes would make an excellent side dish or addition to the serving bowl.

    Roasted peppers and onions would be a great complement to the recipe, too.

    • The roasted cherry tomatoes have been cooked on a large baking sheet.
      Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
    • A bowl of spaghetti in a lemon butter sauce has fresh chives and slices of fresh lemon on the side.
      Lemon Butter Pasta with Chives
    • A salad spinner basket holds freshly washed lettuce leaves.
      Caesar Salad Dressing & 3 Variations
    • A serving bowl of roasted pineapple and pepper chunks sits in front of a roasting pan with spatula.
      Roasted Peppers and Pineapple

    📖 Recipe

    A big bowl of buttery shrimp with garlic bread for dunking.

    Garlic Butter Shrimp Skillet

    5 from 1 vote
    This super quick recipe for garlic butter shrimp is made in a skillet on the stovetop in just 3 minutes. There's plenty of flavorful lemon butter sauce to dunk fresh bread or stir in cooked pasta or rice.
    Inspired by Lucy Buffet's recipe from her Lulu's Kitchen cookbook.
    TOTAL TIME 15 minutes minutes
    PREP TIME 5 minutes minutes
    COOK TIME 10 minutes minutes
    YIELD 6 servings
    PIN RECIPE FOR LATER PRINT RECIPE NOW

    Ingredients
      

    • 1 tablespoon dried rosemary
    • 2 teaspoons paprika
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 1 teaspoon onion powder
    • 1 teaspoon black pepper
    • ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
    • ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
    • 1 stick 8 tablespoons butter
    • ½ cup olive oil
    • 2 tablespoons minced garlic
    • ½ cup white wine
    • ½ cup chicken stock
    • 2 pounds large raw peel and eat shrimp
    • 1 tablespoon hot sauce
    • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
    • Juice and zest of 1 lemon
    • 2 tablespoons fresh parsley minced
    • 1 French baguette

    Instructions

    • Measure all the seasonings from the dried rosemary through the crushed red pepper flakes and stir them together in a small bowl. Place them near your stovetop.
    • In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter with the olive oil.
    • When the butter begins to sizzle, add the garlic and stir. Add the prepared seasonings and stir for 5 seconds.
    • Add the white wine and chicken stock to the skillet and use the handle to shake them together. Bring to a boil, shaking the skillet the entire time to keep things moving.
    • Add the shrimp to the skillet and stir them into the butter to coat. Turn the shrimp and cook for 2 - 3 minutes or until they turn pink.
    • Add the hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and zest, and fresh parsley. Stir together and cook for just one more minute.
    • Use a slotted spoon to transfer the shrimp to serving bowls. Spoon the butter sauce over the top and serve immediately with slices of French baguette.

    Recipe Notes

    VARIATIONS:

    You can substitute peeled and deveined shrimp for the peel & eat shrimp if you want to serve this recipe over pasta or rice.
    Just be sure whatever shrimp you use starts raw. Pre-cooked shrimp will become tough in the skillet.
    COURSESeafood
    CUISINEAmerican
    AUTHORTiffany Dahle

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    The garlic butter shrimp are served in a blue bowl with crusty bread. The second photo shows the shrimp in the skillet being cooked.

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    Hi, I'm Tiffany!
    I believe a great family recipe is one that makes everyone at the table happy, not just the kids. I'm the author of two bestselling cookbooks for kids that are chock full of recipes everyone in your family will love. I'm also the hostess of the best online book club for moms.

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