Juicy, plump shrimp smothered in a creamy garlic sauce. It tastes luxurious, it’s indulgent and it is complete and utter bliss that’s so fast and easy, you can make it tonight and have this Creamy Garlic Shrimp on the table in just 15 minutes!
Shrimp is one of my favorite proteins because it’s so fast to make and nowadays, really great quality pre-peeled frozen shrimp is sold even at supermarkets. While seafood is always better when cooked fresh, the sheer convenience of pre-peeled frozen shrimp is hard to beat for busy weeknights.
And it’s also pretty hard to beat the combination of CREAM + GARLIC + SHRIMP as an outright crowd pleaser! That sauce…..that sauce is just INCREDIBLE. The brown bits in the skillet from looking the shrimp get mixed into the cream and it’s like the best stock base ever. EVER!
This recipe is pretty straight forward. The one little thing I do that is a bit different to most recipes is to add the garlic when the shrimp is partly cooked. The reason for this is that if you add the garlic first, it becomes burnt by the time the garlic is cooked. Little burnt bitter bits of garlic is not pleasant, plus it doesn’t look good in a creamy white sauce. So by adding it later, you get all the flavour and it doesn’t burn. :-)
The one other little tip I have is adding parmesan cheese. It adds an extra element of flavour – umami – into the sauce that takes it from “yum” to “sooooo goooood”!!!! It’s important to use freshly grated parmesan rather than store bought because it’s finer and therefore will melt in the sauce. It’s the same for Alfredo and any other creamy sauces that have parmesan cheese added into them – store bought parmesan won’t dissolve completely so you end up with gritty bits in the sauce instead of it being silky smooth.
I like to serve this Creamy Garlic Shrimp over pasta or mashed potato. In the photo below, I mixed through chopped scallions into the potato, just for little pops of freshness. A quick side salad of leafy greens, few slices of lemon, and dinner is served!
Enjoy!
Creamy Garlic Shrimp
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 pound medium shrimp peeled and deveined
- 3 cloves garlic finely chopped or minced
- ½ cup dry white wine or sub with chicken stock/broth
- ¾ cup heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Melt butter in a skillet over high heat.
- When it starts foaming, add prawns. Cook until they start to change from translucent to white. Add garlic, stir for 20 seconds – by now the prawns should be white (but still raw inside).
- Add wine – it will steam and bubble rapidly. Cook for 30 seconds or until you can no longer smell the alcohol and half evaporated.
- Add cream, parmesan, salt, and pepper. Simmer for 1 minutes or until it thickens slightly.
- Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve immediately, garnished with fresh parsley and lemon wedges on the side if desired.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dinner
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Made this recipe tonight and the only changes I made were just added extra seasoning, but WOW! This is now in rotation for dinner, my fiancé loved this!! Thank you for sharing
Can you use other types of cheese. I don’t have enough parm but I do have shredded mozzarella… please help :)
Hi Mason, We have only made this recipe as listed but other readers have used different cheeses with great results! Let us know how it turns out!
Hi can you use frozen shrimps?
If using frozen shrimp I would recommend you defrost them first, before adding to the recipe Kathy.
Would be great if recipes were in kilos Would like to subscribe but conversion is a lot of hassle.
Hi Jackie, Sorry we are not able to provide these recipes in kilos or grams but you can find conversions here if that helps!
Made this with Gouda cheese grits one Christmas morning a few years ago and it’s now a staple in my house for every gathering. It tastes so expensive. I highly recommend trying this recipe. It probably would taste good with pasta or mashed potatoes as well.
That is awesome Rae. So happy to hear your family loves it!
Excellent recipe. I added juice from half a lemon along with the wine and a tsp of salt. Yummmmmm!
Kim, those sound like delicious additions! I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
This will be great over rice, but tonight I am using rice noodles since I can’t eat wheat and want more of a pasta feel to this meal.
Let me know how it turns out!
Most grated Parmesan cheese has cellulose fiber ,(wood flakes) added to keep it from binding. Read the label before you buy. That may be where the lumps are coming from. cook for fun !!
Thank you for the tip Robert
Can I make the sauce ahead of time and reheat , and use cooked shrimp.
I haven’t tried reheating this sauce so can’t say for sure how well it would work. Let us know if you try it Francis!
I put the mixture over jasmine rice…it was just SOOOO GOOOD
Very simple with big flavor…DELICIOUS and a keeper.
I did have any fresh garlic so i used garlic powder. I took the shrimp out of the chicken stock and garlic mixture jalf cooked. I reduced the chicken stock garlic mixtur some not halved added the heavy cream let small bubble then added shrimp stired then cheese last as i did not have fresh….it turned oit BEAUTIFUL
Yay, so glad you loved it Alice!
I made this last night. It is a very quick meal to prepare and tasted absolutely wonderful! I threw in a few handfuls of fresh spinach instead of noodles or mashed potatoes, to keep this a Keto approved meal.
Sounds great Kathi! Glad to hear you loved this recipe!
Have just taken the frozen shrimps out of the freezer and plan to make this tonite ! Sounds divine.
5
We loved it! We served it over angel hair pasta and it was the perfect amount of sauce.
I am so glad that you enjoyed this recipe!
Red pepper flakes are a nice add.
Ok…… All I can say is Wow!! Pegleg Dave
Nice watery sauce with clumps of parmesan. What did I do wrong?
That is disappointing. I have made this recipe as written and it has turned out fine, so I am unsure what could be the problem.
Step 4 simmering is important. If you boil the last ingredients it will separate and clump. If you need to reduce the liquid, add the cheese last with no heat and stir to melt.
I had a similar experience. :( Shrimp was over cooked too. More garlic, more parm, less cream next time. And I’ll remove shrimp while cream cooks down then add them back in.
Did you use fresh parm?
Can I use milk instead of cream
Yes!
I think evaporated milk would make ot so velvety….yum
This looks amazingly Yum!
Question on the garlic shrimp-if u add pasta, how much would u add?
This recipe serves 4 so I would suggest 8oz of dry pasta.