Shrimp Scampi with Pasta
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This shrimp scampi recipe is easy to pull off at home, and it delivers everything you want: juicy shrimp, tons of garlicky flavor, and pasta that actually gets enough sauce.
Succulent shrimp tossed in a garlicky butter sauce with white wine and lemon—shrimp scampi is one of those simple dishes that always feels a little special. It’s often served over pasta, but in many versions, the pasta gets left behind, with not nearly enough sauce or flavor. This shrimp scampi recipe is extra sauce, so the shrimp and pasta share the spotlight. You can use any long pasta, but I love angel hair or capellini; the delicate strands soak up the sauce so every bite is full of garlicky goodness.
Pair this with an arugula salad, and you’ve got a complete meal in under an hour. And if you’re a fan of seafood pastas, you might also enjoy my linguine with clams, which uses similar flavors in a totally different way.
“My favorite of all shrimp recipes! We love it over angel hair pasta with some crusty bread and a glass of pinot grigio! YUM!”
What You’ll Need To Make Shrimp Scampi with Pasta
- Angel hair, spaghetti, linguine, or fettuccini: Any long pasta works here, but angel hair or capellini are especially great for soaking up all that garlicky sauce.
- Extra-virgin olive oil: Used to sauté the shallots, garlic, and shrimp—adds flavor and keeps everything from sticking.
- Shallots And Garlic: The aromatic base of the dish. With six cloves of garlic, it’s a great time to dust off the garlic press.
- Red pepper flakes: Bring a touch of heat—add more or less depending on how spicy you like it.
- Extra-large shrimp: Unless you’re near the coast, frozen shrimp are often your best bet—they’re flash-frozen at peak freshness and thaw super quickly. Extra-large shrimp are good for this dish as they’re easier to cook and stay juicy.
- Dry white wine: dds brightness and depth to the sauce. A Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc both work well—just use something you like enough to drink (and skip anything labeled “cooking wine”).
- Unsalted butter: Enriches the sauce and makes it silky.
- Fresh Lemon juice and zest: Balances the rich sauce with bright, tangy flavor.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil—salting it generously seasons the pasta from the inside out, not just the surface. Cook until al dente, then reserve some of the pasta water before draining. That starchy water is what binds the sauce later, giving it a silky texture that clings to the noodles instead of pooling at the bottom of the bowl.
Step 2: Cook the aromatics and shrimp. While the pasta cooks, heat the oil in a large skillet and gently cook the shallots. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes, and shrimp, and seasoning together. Cook just until the shrimp turn pink, then pull them out onto a plate — shrimp go from tender to rubbery fast, so getting them out a touch early keeps them from overcooking before they’re added back in later.
Step 3: Make the sauce. Pour in the wine and let it simmer down, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan as it reduces—that’s where a lot of the flavor is hiding. As the wine cooks off, it leaves behind a mellow acidity rather than any real bite of alcohol. Stir in the butter, lemon juice, zest, and a splash of the reserved pasta water. Go easy on the water at first; it’s much easier to loosen a thick sauce than to rescue one that’s gone watery. Keep stirring until the butter melts in fully.
Step 4: Toss everything together. Add the pasta, tossing to coat and loosening with more pasta water as needed. Return the shrimp and any accumulated juices, and toss once more—stirring them in at the end warms them back through without cooking them any further. Finish with parsley and serve with lemon wedges.
Video Tutorial
More Shrimp Recipes You’ll Love
Shrimp Scampi with Pasta
Ingredients
- Salt
- 16 oz angel hair, spaghetti, linguine, or fettuccini
- ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ¾ cup thinly sliced shallots, from 2 to 3 shallots
- 6 large cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1¼ pounds extra-large shrimp (26 to 30/lb), peeled and deveined, thawed if frozen
- Freshly ground black pepper
- ¾ cup dry white wine
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice plus 1 teaspoon lemon zest, from 1 to 2 lemons, plus wedges for serving
- ¼ cup finely chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook to al dente according to the package instructions. Reserve 1 cup (240 ml) of the cooking water, then drain.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook, stirring frequently, for about 1 minute. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes, shrimp, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp are pink and just cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer the shrimp to a plate.
- Add the wine to the skillet and simmer until reduced by half, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add the butter, lemon juice, and lemon zest, ½ cup (120 ml) of the reserved cooking water, and ½ teaspoon salt; stir until the butter is melted. Add the drained pasta and continue to cook, tossing, until the pasta is warmed through, adding more of the reserved cooking water as needed if the pasta seems dry. Return the shrimp and any juices from the plate to the skillet and toss with the pasta. Stir in the parsley, then taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Serve with lemon wedges.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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This was fantastic and easy. The leftovers reheat very nicely too!
I just made (half) this recipe for supper tonight and it is AWESOME! Hubby and I loved it. Make sure to have everything ready before starting as it comes together quickly once you get the ball rolling. Absolutely delicious and definitely company worthy perhaps with a small green salad as a starter – but not too much as this is a filling dish…although next time I may add a small basket of sliced baguette as one is tempted to lick that buttery, lemony sauce off the plate and the bread would prevent doing something so rude! LoL
From: http://www.emikodavies.com/scarpetta/
“…Well the Italians have come up with a great solution for that. It’s called Fare la scarpetta, roughly translated as “to do the little shoe,” is the very charming act of using a small piece of bread to mop up the wonderful sauce on your plate that you cannot possibly leave behind.”
The recipe was easy to follow and the result looked exactly like yours. I did leave out the shallots. I also didn’t add any salt during cooking but added a pinch after plating. Overall it was tasty but next time I’m adding more garlic and lemon. I can’t seem to make any recipes requiring garlic to be garlicky enough.
Hi Steven, So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Using less salt will make your food taste less garlicky. Salt not only makes things taste “salty” but also amplifies all of the other flavors in the dish, making everything taste more like itself. 🙂
Yes I did make it is wonderful. the only thing I would do the next time I would add less red pepper. it is very good as written but I have a very sensitive stomach and was wondering is it ok to use cooked shrimp???
Thanks for a great recipe
Glad you liked it! Unfortunately, cooked shrimp won’t work here – sorry!
Just wanted to let you know that I just made this for my husband ( I don’t eat shrimp) and he said it was delicious. Made about half the recipe. Thanks for sharing.
I made this recipe for Shrimp scampi on a camping trip in Colorado while there was torrential rain and we couldn’t grill.
It came out sooo good! The flavors, spices and directions were perfect!
This was so good! I have made shrimp in a lemony sauce with pasta before but this combination of ingredients was so superior to any previous one I’ve had. I made this with our absolutely wonderful local spot prawns (only available for a short while so the recipe was timely). I used spaghettini, which I am normally not fond of, but you were right…it was perfect with this dish. Will definitely make it again whenever I can get spot prawns. Thank you for another winner!
Can you use cooked, deveined froskzen shrimp? How would you heat them up so as not over cook? Thanks!
Hi Rebecca, for the most predictable results, I’d stick with raw shrimp. That said, you can get away with using cooked shrimp. I’d add it at the end along with the pasta and toss everything just until the shrimp is warmed through – Hopefully it won’t get overcooked that way. Enjoy!
Hi Jennifer, I have been making your recipes for a few years, all to rave reviews…thank you!! If I were to make this shrimp scampi for two, would I simply half all ingredients?
Thank you
Anita
Sure, Anita that would be perfectly fine. And so glad you’ve had success with the recipes!
you’re my hero!
I’m making this tonight, quick question: if I want to make enough for 6 adults what is the best way to increase the amount of shrimp by 50%? (I can increase the seasoning proportionately for the beginning part, what about the second half of the recipe?). The amount of pasta can stay as written in the recipe. Thanks
I would just increase everything but the pasta by 50% – you won’t be sorry to have a little extra sauce 🙂
Can I add clams to this recipe ?
The ingredients are very similar to your recipe for Clams and Fettuccine which I love.
Sure, Steve, that should work. Please LMK how it turns out if you try it!