Easy Lemon Garlic Butter Shrimp

This recipe for Easy Lemon Garlic Butter Shrimp is a family favorite and a great way to shake up those weekday meals for the better!

If you love easy shrimp dinners, then you should also try these Chipotle Shrimp Tostadas, this Southwest Shrimp Salad Stuffed Avocados, and this Fiesta Lime Shrimp Salad.

Shrimp dinners are easily one of my favorite meals to put together. Shrimp are a break from the norm, thaw quickly, and cook up fast, too. Plus, they taste soooo good with very little ingredients. My favorite ways to dress up shrimp are with lots of garlic, butter, and lemon. (If I’m being honest I usually have to double the recipe because I get a little upset if I don’t get a huge helping of the shrimp all to myself.)

Also — bonus — I just realized that Cinco de Mayo is right around the corner. Which means, these shrimp would make a great part of any celebration. Imagine these little babies tucked in a tortilla, with a little jalapeno, pickled red onions, and salsa. Or on a tostada, with a little guac and a squeeze of lime — yum!

I’ve also been known to add some Mexican-style spices to the shrimp as well. Try adding cumin, a dash of paprika, and some red pepper flakes to the final product. A finely diced chipotle pepper and a tablespoon of adobo sauce stirred into the garlic and herb mixture will taste mighty fine with this shrimp dish. If you’re leaning more toward lime versus lemon on your shrimp, well, you can do that too. The point is, don’t feel held down to just one way of making this shrimp — just make sure you make it, and soon!

HOW SHOULD I SERVE THIS LEMON GARLIC BUTTER SHRIMP?

In addition to serving this shrimp in a taco or burrito for the upcoming holiday, there are many other ways to serve this shrimp that might surprise you.

I like to take this recipe as-is and serve it over a nest of linguine, angel hair pasta, or any thin pasta you have. Mmmmmm.
This shrimp also goes great over rice — brown, white, mixed-grain, you name it, it’s delicious.
These shrimp also make a great appetizer as-is. There’s no need to wrap bacon over them or serve them in any kind of fancy way. No one minds treating shrimp as a finger food.
If you are adding this to pasta or rice, consider adding some kale, spinach, or other hearty green to the shrimp mixture during the last five minutes. A little bit extra nutrition, minimal effort on your part.
This shrimp recipe is also so good on top of a bed of greens or in a make-your-own power bowl.

WHAT’S THE EASIEST WAY TO PEEL AND DEVEIN SHRIMP?

For cooking on the stovetop, I do prefer to peel and devein my shrimp first. (Sometimes I leave the shells on [but still devein] if I’m grilling them for a little protection from the heat, but mostly I peel them first.) It’s also more considerate for others who may be dining with you, as you’re not sticking them with the messy chore of digging the shrimp out of their dish and peeling them themselves.

There are a couple different ways to peel and devein shrimp. To tell you the truth, my favorite way is to not do it at all and purchase them already shelled and deveined. But, if I do have to do the deed, what you want to do is pull the legs off first and then break open the shell on the underside of the shrimp and peel it off. Pinch the tail where it meets the shell and pop the rest of the meat out. Then, use the point of a sharp knife to pull the dark vein out. Rinse or wipe the knife off every each deveining.

IS SHRIMP HEALTHY?

Shrimp is good for you, it turns out. It’s very low-calorie and low-fat. It’s also a good source of protein and Omega-3 fatty acids, which are, in turn great for your heart and brain. You’ll also be eating vitamin D, selenium, and other B vitamins with every portion of shrimp you consume. When it’s all said and done, shrimp is a great protein source to add to your diet if you’re watching what you eat.