Satisfy Your Cravings with this Creamy Garlic Butter Shrimp Scampi

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Tired of the same old shrimp scampi? Then change things up and try this Creamy Garlic Butter Shrimp Scampi with a secret ingredient for a velvety smooth sauce.

 

Shrimp scampi is a classic dish that’s on almost every Italian restaurant menu. While the Italian version of this recipe starred crawfish, when shrimp was introduced to it the recipe spread like wildfire! And there’s no reason for it not to. It cooks up quickly, tastes delicious, and has very few ingredients. This version has a secret ingredient to make the sauce creamy and delicious.

 

How do you clean shrimp?

 

There was this summer vacation to Florida. Because we always went to Florida for summer vacation. But this one particular summer vacay Dad had it in his head he was going to purchase some fresh shrimp to have for dinner. There’s a photo in the album of dad sitting on a chair in front of a cooler. And that cooler is full of LIVE shrimp! Needless to say, we knew how to clean shrimp at an early age!

 

 
First, rinse the shrimp under cold water. Then you need to peel the shrimp. For me, I start with last abdominal segment for the telson or that sharp pointy thing at the tail. I use my thumbs to separate the shell there. Then I grab the legs (swimmerets) and pull the shell to one side of the body then up, over, and off the shrimp. Finally, I hold the uropod or the fan tail pieces at the end and carefully remove the shrimp from the tail shell.

 

Next you want to grab a sharp pairing knife. I bend the shrimp in half and carefully slide the knife down the back of the shrimp. Don’t cut more than about 1/4 of an inch. This allows you to remove the “vein” which is actually the digestive tract. Ew. You definitely want to remove that. Sometimes it takes a little effort because that little thing can be stubborn.

 

 
Of course, if you purchase frozen shrimp look for the EZ-Peel kind. Those typically have the back sliced open making it easy to peel and easy to remove the vein. You can also purchase tail on shrimp, but those typically have not been cleaned of the vein. You’ll still have to do that part before you continue with the recipe.

 

Kicking up the traditional shrimp scampi recipe

 

I think the Red Lobster recipe usually has Old Bay in there. I love Old Bay, but the hubs doesn’t. However, he does like the Cajun seasoning that’s a family recipe. They have similar ingredients in them, but the Cajun has a bit more cayenne and kick than Old Bay. And since I wanted to kick this creamy garlic butter shrimp scampi up, I sprinkled the shrimp with Cajun seasoning before I cooked them. This not only gave them a little more color, but a delicious surprise kick!

 

 
Another surprise kick to this recipe is the sauce. There’s a secret ingredient in there that makes the sauce super creamy and delicious. It’s thickened with an egg yolk! I’m not kidding. I whisked the egg yolk with the lemon juice and then stirred that into the shrimp scampi. You have to taste the creamy richness that the egg yolk adds to the sauce and this creamy garlic butter shrimp scampi.

 

This simple technique adds a velvety smoothness to the sauce. I stole it from the avgolemono recipe I’ve been working on. Egg yolks are used to make the soup velvety smooth. And adding it to this shrimp scampi recipe creates a luscious texture that coats the shrimp beautifully. And coats your pasta beautifully, too! By incorporating egg yolk into the sauce, you’ll elevate the dish to a whole new level of decadence, making it truly indulgent and satisfying.

 

 
Perfecting creamy garlic butter shrimp scampi

 

Most people think you start with the garlic. That’s not true. And I’m learning more and more to put the garlic into the pan later in the recipe. If you add the garlic to the pan at the start, it can get too hot and potentially burn. Burned garlic just does not taste good. It’s bitter and gross.

 

To get the shrimp to have nice color and caramelization they need to cook in a medium-hot to almost hot pan for just about a minute on each side. That gives them great color and flavor. And it allows the Cajun seasoning to work its magic giving them even more color and flavor. When the shrimp are cooked that’s when you add the garlic and red pepper.

 

 
What ingredients are in creamy garlic butter shrimp scampi?

 

There’s such simple ingredients in this recipe.

• Shrimp
• Cajun seasoning
• Olive oil
• Butter
• Garlic
• Crushed red pepper
• White wine
• Lemon juice
• Egg yolk

 

 
How do you make creamy garlic butter shrimp scampi?

 
First, you clean the shrimp. I dried mine with a paper towel before sprinkling them with the Cajun seasoning. This allows the seasoning to stick to the shrimp and create that delicious caramelization you’re looking for. I also combined the lemon juice with the egg yolk with a whisk and set it aside.

 

Next, I melted half the butter in the pan with the olive oil. When it was hot I put the shrimp in the pan cooking them for about a minute on each side. The garlic and the crushed red pepper go into the pan next. When you can smell the garlic cooking then you add in the white wine. Reduce the heat to a medium and let the wine reduce by half.

 

 
Now it’s time to add the egg yolk mixture to the pan. Grab a whisk and stir the lemon juice mix into the pan and continue to stir with the whisk until the sauce thickens. If it’s too thick, you can add a little broth to the pan to thin it out. I wouldn’t add more wine because it won’t be able to cook off the alcohol.

 

The whole dish takes about 10 or 15 minutes to cook. If you’re going to serve it with pasta, start that first. If you’re going to serve it with rice, then have that already cooked and waiting for the shrimp. I served mine with some toasts as an appetizer. And it was delicious! The bread soaked up that sauce and the shrimp was tender, velvety smooth, and had a kick from the Cajun seasoning.

Give Me the Garlic!

• Garlic and Vegetable Cheese Spread from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Garlic Bread with Optional Garlic Scapes from Art of Natural Living
• Creamy Garlic Butter Shrimp Scampi from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
• Garlic Parmesan Noodles from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Grilled Garlic Rosemary Pork Loin from That Recipe
• Italian Herb and Garlic Focaccia from Hezzi-D’s Recipe Box
• Poondu Chutney from Magical Ingredients
• Roasted Garlic and Cheddar Burgers from Palatable Pastime

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