Garlic Butter Baked Shrimp features tender, juicy shrimp baked in a medley of butter, fresh garlic, lemon zest and sage. It’s a quick and easy recipe for a week night dinner or a party. Finish it off with some freshly squeezed lemon juice and shaved parmesan cheese for the best flavor!
If you want more easy shrimp recipes, check out our Sauteed Shrimp and Blackened Shrimp recipes.
Table of Contents
Garlic Butter Shrimp is such a classic recipe that always makes for a perfect entrée. With summer just around the corner (or basically already here if you live in Florida like I do), it’s time to stock up on all of the best easy seafood recipes! This shrimp recipe is great for sunny days because it’s flavored with fresh lemon and garlic, which lend just the right amount of brightness to every bite.
This easy shrimp dinner comes together in under half an hour, making it perfect for both party prepping and weeknight dinners alike! The prep time itself is only about 5 minutes – after that, the oven does all of the work for you. Along with being incredibly easy to make, this shrimp is also made delicious with a handful of inexpensive ingredients! Most of these staples are likely already in your kitchen now.
When it comes to serving Garlic Butter Shrimp, your options are pretty limitless. To compliment the light lemony flavors of the shrimp, I usually like to plate them with roasted veggies or side salad. Pasta is also a great choice because it helps to soak up that mouthwatering butter sauce! No matter how you choose to plate your baked shrimp, you’ll love how incredibly tender, juicy, and flavorful they are.
Ingredient Notes
Shrimp – I use jumbo shrimp, but you can use whatever size you’d like. Keep in mind that the cook time will depend on the size of the shrimp. Also, yes – you can certainly use frozen shrimp, just make sure that they’re completely thawed before cooking.
Butter – Use unsalted butter so you can control the salt amount. You can also easily use plant-based butter if you wish. Whether you need a lactose-free option or simply wish to lighten the dish, you can definitely use a plant-based butter or butter spread. My personal favorite plant-based butter is Green Valley Creamery and my favorite butter spread is Earth Balance.
Garlic – This is a key ingredient, so it’s very important to use fresh garlic only!
Lemon – You’ll need the zest of one whole lemon and the juice of half the lemon.
Parmesan Cheese – Freshly shaved parmesan will always give you the best flavor. If you don’t want to shave it yourself, check with your local deli – they may have some freshly shaved cheese for sale.
See recipe card for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Prepare the Shrimp
If you’re new to peeling and de-veining shrimp, have no fear… It’s much easier than it seems. Check out all that you need to know here – How to Peel and De-vein Shrimp.
- Peel the shrimp– start pulling on the shell by the legs and take the shell off each shrimp. You can choose to leave the tails on or pinch them off. Keeping the tails on makes a nice presentation but it’s much easier to eat shrimp without tails.
- Take the vein out – Use a paring knife or another small knife to slice the top of the skin all along the back. Cut very gently to only cut through the top thin layer of skin to expose the “vein.” When you see the dark, long string, use the tip of the knife to gently pick it up and then pull it out. Repeat with all the shrimp.
- Rinse the shrimp under a gentle steam of cold water, pat them dry with a paper towel, and it’s ready to cook.
How To Make Garlic Butter Shrimp
Here’s how to make the BEST oven-baked shrimp! With these easy steps, your shrimp will turn out tender, flavorful and juicy.
Prepare: Clean and de-vein the shrimp if necessary. While you’re doing that, preheat the oven to 375°F. Rinse the prepared shrimp in cold water and gently pat them dry with a paper towel.
Melt the butter: Place the butter, garlic, zest, sage, and salt in a casserole dish (1). Pop the dish into the oven for about 5 minutes just to melt the butter (2).
Bake the shrimp: Remove the dish from the oven and stir to combine all of the ingredients. Add the shrimp to the dish and mix well (3).
Bake the buttery shrimp for about 10-15 minutes. The bake time will vary depending on the size of the shrimp you use. If you use jumbo shrimp, they’ll need about 14-15 minutes to fully cook (4).
Remove the baked shrimp from the oven and squeeze lemon juice all over. Stir to mix the juice into the other ingredients.
Serve with freshly shaved parmesan cheese on top. Enjoy with pasta, salad, or whatever other side dish your heart desires.
Recipe FAQs
Your options of side dish recipes is bountiful! You can go hearty, healthy, or a little bit of both.
Consider serving your shrimp over something like angel hair pasta to soak up that buttery sauce.
Mashed potatoes are always a nice and comforting side. Keep it healthier but still comforting with mashed cauliflower.
To keep it healthy, serve it with a side salad, like Caesar salad, to enhance the freshness even more.
This shrimp recipe makes a fabulous party appetizer, specially if you use the jumbo sized shrimp. All you need are toothpicks to make these shrimp the perfect finger food.
Yes, you can use frozen shrimp in this recipe but you have to make sure to thaw them fully first and pat them dry.
For best quality, try to find ones that have been flash-frozen as soon after harvesting as possible. That option is quite fresh since the seafood was flash-frozen at the freshest stage.
Just like with any seafood or meats, it’s best to slow-thaw them in the refrigerator overnight. It’s not safe to thaw raw meats at room temperature.
Storing and Reheating
Storing: Make sure to store leftover shrimp in an air-tight food storage container with a lid, in the refrigerator. Properly stored, shrimp should last 1-2 days.
Reheating:
First things first – never reheat shrimp in the microwave! It almost always overcooks the shrimp and turns them into a tough, rubbery mess. The best way to reheat shrimp is in a pan over medium to medium high heat.
Add a little olive oil to the pan and let it preheat. Once it’s hot, add the shrimp and flip them after a few seconds. Remove them from the pan as soon as they’re warmed through.
Some More Shrimp Recipes to Try
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Garlic Butter Shrimp Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb jumbo shrimp or any size you prefer
- 8 Tbsp butter
- 4-6 garlic cloves
- 1 lemon – zest only
- 6-7 fresh sage leaves
- 1 tsp coarse salt more or less to taste
- 1/2 lemon – juice only
- 1/3 cup shaved parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°.
- Clean and de-vein shrimp in needed and then, rinse them in cold water. Pat the shrimp dry with a paper towel.
- In a casserole dish that will comfortable fit the shrimp, combine butter, pressed garlic, lemon zest, minced sage, and salt. Pop it into the preheated over for about 5 minutes to melt.
- Once melted, carefully take it out of the oven, and whisk it together. Add cleaned shrimp and mix them well in the butter mixture. Spread evenly through the dish and put it back in the oven.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on the size of your shrimp. (Jumbo shrimp will take closer to 14-15 minutes.)
- Take them out of the oven and squeeze some lemon juice over shrimp. Carefully stir to mix.
- Spread shaved Parmesan cheese over the top and serve with your favorite side dish or as an appetizer.
Video
Notes
- Using Frozen Shrimp – you can use frozen shrimp in this recipe but you have to make sure to thaw them in the refrigerator them first and pat them dry.
For best quality, try to find ones that have been flash-frozen as soon after harvesting as possible. That option is quite fresh since the seafood was flash-frozen at the freshest stage. - Storing: Make sure to store leftover shrimp in an air-tight food storage container with a lid, in the refrigerator. Properly stored, shrimp should last 1-2 days.
- Reheating: never reheat shrimp in the microwave! It almost always overcooks the shrimp and turns them into a tough, rubbery mess. The best way to reheat shrimp is in a pan over medium to medium high heat. Add a little olive oil to the pan and let it preheat. Once it’s hot, add the shrimp and flip them after a few seconds. Remove them from the pan as soon as they’re warmed through.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles on January 16, 2015.
Ryan says
Delicious recipe
granny says
It makes me water-mouthing
LyubaB says
Mine too! 🙂
Tina says
I’ve never seen this before in our local stores, it looks nice.
lyuba says
You should definitely check out on their site to see which of your local stores carry it. I really like this spread 🙂
Sonali- The Foodie Physician says
Gorgeous as always! I love garlicky shrimp and MELT sounds like a great product. Thanks for sharing!
lyuba says
Thank you, thank you, dear!!
This shrimp was so good! 🙂
Marisa Franca @ All Our Way says
Seafood is wonderful and we have it several times a week. Although the fish we’ve been eating has been from Publix instead of the Gulf — we’re hoping that changes soon. I would love to try the new spread. We also use butter – sparingly. I also use a lot of coconut oil. It is great for veggies but I love that butter taste – is it salted? I don’t like salted butter. Your photos make me want to grab a piece of bread and tie into that sauce.
lyuba says
If you want to find this butter while you’re in FL, it’s at WinnDixie. I know every state had them in different stores and FL has them in WinnDixie. I do like it and it will last me a while since I don’t use much butter.
It’s not salted!
Thank you, Marisa! 🙂