By Melissa Clark
- Total Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- 5(13,396)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Scampi are tiny, lobster-like crustaceans with pale pink shells (also called langoustines). Italian cooks in the United States swapped shrimp for scampi, but kept both names. Thus the dish was born, along with inevitable variations.
This classic recipe makes a simple garlic, white wine and butter sauce that goes well with a pile of pasta or with a hunk of crusty bread. However you make the dish, once the shrimp are added to the pan, the trick is to cook them just long enough that they turn pink all over, but not until their bodies curl into rounds with the texture of tires. (Watch the video of Melissa Clark making classic shrimp scampi here.)
Featured in: A GOOD APPETITE; Shrimp Scampi, A Classic Open to Interpretation
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 2tablespoons butter
- 2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 4garlic cloves, minced
- ½cup dry white wine or broth
- ¾teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
- ⅛teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1¾pounds large or extra-large shrimp, shelled
- ⅓cup chopped parsley
- Freshly squeezed juice of half a lemon
- Cooked pasta or crusty bread
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
314 calories; 14 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 7 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 3 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 1 gram sugars; 40 grams protein; 595 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
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In a large skillet, melt butter with olive oil. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add wine or broth, salt, red pepper flakes and plenty of black pepper and bring to a simmer. Let wine reduce by half, about 2 minutes.
Step
2
Add shrimp and sauté until they just turn pink, 2 to 4 minutes depending upon their size. Stir in the parsley and lemon juice and serve over pasta or accompanied by crusty bread.
Ratings
5
out of 5
13,396
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Cooking Notes
frazeej
Perfect, except.......USE THE SHELLS!!! The shrimp shells are wonderful flavor enhancers and should not be discarded-simmer the shells in the wine (add some extra wine) for ~10 minutes, strain and then discard the shells, and use the enriched wine in the recipe. Double the flavor!
JimF from Sewell
Alfredo
A lot of the "too little sauce" comments I see seem to reflect a missing step in the recipe: you'll notice the sauce doesn't really stick to the pasta so it feels like you have too little sauce.
You'll want to add half a cup of the cooked pasta water to the pan after adding the wine. The starch in the pasta water thickens the sauce a tiny bit and permits it to cling to the pasta. If you do this, you'll want to add 1-2 more tbsp of butter (or olive oil)
David
This is a terrific recipe. If you double the wine you have plenty of sauce. But less to drink.
SB
USE THE SHELLS!!! The shrimp shells are wonderful flavor enhancers and should not be discarded-simmer the shells in the wine (add some extra wine) for ~10 minutes, strain and then discard the shells, and use the enriched wine in the recipe. Double the flavor!
JLB
simmer the shells in the wine (add some extra wine) for ~10 minutes, strain and then discard the shells, and use the enriched wine in the recipe.
add half a cup of the cooked pasta water to the pan after adding the wine. The starch in the pasta water thickens the sauce a tiny bit and permits it to cling to the pasta. If you do this, you'll want to add 1-2 more tbsp of butter (or olive oil)
Roy Chevallier
This is a great recipe. However, cannot over emphasize the importance of the shrimp shell and wine stock. It makes the dish.
Janet
Make a quick shrimp stock which REALLY ups the shrimp flavor. Just sauté some shallot, add the shrimp shells and give them a quick turn, add some water/wine and herbs if you'd like, bring to a boil and simmer to taste. Very quick, very simple and makes a huge difference in the flavor. Also use wild gulf shrimp -- even frozen ones will give you the best flavor.
David Bonfiglio
I've tried plenty of Scampi recipes more complex than this, but none as good. This is the quintessence of minimalist Italian cooking. I like it with rice instead of pasta, add some saffron if you want, or better yet, just bread, and some extra butter.
Melanie
I just made this! Because everyone said there wasn't enough sauce, I made a few adjustments. I used 3/4 a cup of wine and let it simmer an extra minute. I also used the juice of a whole lemon and the zest of it. when it was done, I added my pasta to the pan of sauce, in addition to two-three spoonfuls of the pasta water to help thicken it. it was perfect!!!
Antony
Put shells in sauce pan with half cup of white wine, simmered while prepping the rest. Strained liquid and added to Skillet for more sauce. Used fresh hot pepper instead of flakes.
Nik
Followed suggestions to simmer shells in wine, and definitely agree that it's worth the hassle of cleaning your own shrimp. Used about 2 cups of wine for 1 lb of shrimps along with some water. The sauce had so much flavor! Everyone wanted more!
Carol in Maine
So very good.
To those who didn't have enough sauce for pasta, we increased all of the sauce ingredients by about half as the pasta does soak it up quite a bit.
Roni Jordan
Made for dinner tonight- 1 lb shrimp over 8 oz linguini for 2 of us. Added shallots and used lobster stock in lieu of wine (Better than Bouillion). Kept all else the same so we had enough to sauce the pasta. Will repeat. Husband said best scampi since we dined at Sal's in P'towne.
Linda H
Use American wild caught shrimp--better flavor and no queasy thoughts about how the shrimp were raised and processed.
Regina
Nice, quick recipe. Only problem is that there is very little sauce. I think next time I would use some clam juice in the butter, oil, wine, mixture so that there would be more sauce.
Paul
We've made this dish a couple of times and it's really good. Our only changes are some diced cherry tomatoes and oregano.
Sue
This is a perfect recipe. I made it yesterday, and it was easy and delicious!! The only thing I did differently was pull out the cooked shrimp, add about half cup of parmesan to the sauce, then pour over the shrimp to serve. So good!
Ruth
Delicious!! Quick and easy. Will definitely make again.
Lee
Great recipe, however, I would double the sauce with the same amount of shrimp. I only cooked one pound of shrimp and the sauce was a little skimpy!
pfw
I used a whole lemon and 3/4 cup wine and added capers and halved cherry tomatoes. I also finished cooking the pasta in the pan with the shrimp and sauce. D E L I C I O U S !!!
Robinotl
I made this exactly as written. Came out excellent. I was making just for me, so cut the shrimp to 12 shrimp (21-25 count) and kept the amounts for the sauce the same as the recipe (hence, doubling the sauce per several commenters suggestion). This was enough for 2 how I made it and it was hard to stop eating it. Very good. One of my favorite NY Times recipes.
Stacey
Followed the recipe and it turned out perfectly. Definitely a keeper recipe that I plan to use often in the future.
Maeve
Lovely dish. We made with white wine and served with sliced mushrooms and broccolini over gemelli. Just wonderful! We will definitely make again.
Alex
Another 5 star rating. This recipe is more than the sum of its parts. I threw in a large portion of mushrooms that complemented the shrimp very well.
Lane
Used scallops BC that's what I had. Served over spaghetti. Yum!
Linda
Excellent recipe. Everyone loved it.
Janet
Super rarest and don’t need to worry about measuring anything. I skipped the olive oil. Very filling with a slice of toasted cheese bread.
Dolores Ortiz
To make it just a little better we added broccoli
CD
So so so so good. This was brilliant. I used Trader Joe's wild caught Argentinian shrimp, quick thawed under running water, left-over Pinot Grigio - delicious with warm, crusty French bread.
Karen
Use shrimp shells in wine, as per other notes
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