Easy Garlic Shrimp Recipe
If you want dinner in a hurry but you're not the plan-ahead type, you might run into trouble if you don't remember to take something out of the freezer to thaw the night before. In such a case, shrimp can be your best friend. You can put frozen shrimp in a colander under cool running water — or, should you happen to have a salad spinner in the cupboard, the appliance can also be employed to help your shrimp thaw faster. Either way, your ice-cold crustaceans should be soft enough to cook in just a few minutes.
Once you thaw the shrimp, you still need to figure out what to do with them. May we suggest this garlic shrimp dish? Recipe developer Catherine Brookes calls garlic and shrimp "a classic combo" and adds that "marinating the shrimp before frying really allows it to soak up all those amazing flavors." The best part of this simple recipe is that the ingredients required are ones you probably already have on hand.
Gather the easy garlic shrimp ingredients
To make this dish, you'll need shrimp. Brookes uses the pre-peeled kind to save some time. If you're in even more of a hurry, you can also use shrimp that's already cooked. In this case, Brookes advises to just reduce the cooking time a bit.
For the marinade, you'll need a lemon, some garlic cloves, olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper. You'll also add some fresh parsley at the end to give the finished dish a little color.
Prep the produce
Peel the garlic cloves, then crush or smash them (with or without a garlic press). Cut the lemon in half, then squeeze out the juice, straining the seeds. Go ahead and make sure your parsley is chopped as well.
Make the marinade
Combine the lemon juice and garlic with the oil and red pepper, then add salt and black pepper to taste. Put the shrimp in the marinade and stir until every piece is coated. Stick the shrimp in the fridge to chill for a bit. You don't want the shrimp to marinate for more than 30 minutes, however, as the acid in the lemon juice will actually start to cook the shrimp and lead to a less-than-desirable mushy texture.
Fry the shrimp
Heat a pan over medium-high. When it's hot, add the shrimp and the marinade. Sauté the shrimp, stirring every so often, for 4 to 6 minutes. When the shrimp are done, Brookes says they should be "completely pink all over [and] starting to curl up." Garnish with the parsley.
Brookes suggests serving these shrimp "with rice, crusty bread, or baby potatoes," or you could pour the shrimp and drippings from the pan over a plate of pasta.
- 5 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- juice of 1 lemon
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- salt, to taste
- black pepper, to taste
- ½ pound raw, peeled shrimp
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- In a medium bowl, combine the garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.
- Add the shrimp to the marinade and toss to coat.
- Refrigerate the shrimp for up to 30 minutes.
- Heat a large pan over medium-high heat.
- Sauté the shrimp together with the marinade for 4 to 6 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Stir in the parsley.
| Calories per Serving | 238 |
| Total Fat | 14.2 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2.0 g |
| Trans Fat | 0.0 g |
| Cholesterol | 182.6 mg |
| Total Carbohydrates | 5.7 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1.2 g |
| Total Sugars | 0.9 g |
| Sodium | 385.8 mg |
| Protein | 23.7 g |
