This spicy garlic shrimp recipe is simple but super delicious; savory, spicy and sour with a hint of sweetness, this bold shrimp recipe full of flavors will become one of your top ten favourite shrimp recipe.
Easy Garlic Shrimp Recipe When Time is Limited
When real life happens and you just don’t have the time to cook, but still want a home cooked meal, shrimp is the ideal quick and simple solution. They’re delicious, healthy and only take minutes to cook, especially if you buy your shrimp already prepped; deshelled, deveined and all. This spicy garlic shrimp recipe with a creamy lemon lime sauce is my boyfriend’s favourite. I often serve this dish as a main course with rice, often accompanied with fermented side dishes and salads.
You will always find many types of shrimp in my freezer; ones that are fully prepped and ready to cook, and also ones which are unprepared with the heads still intact . I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I love the juice from the shrimp’s noggin. It gives the sauce this extra umami flavour. So for this creamy, saucy recipe, I used the unprepared shrimp and prepped it myself, leaving only the head and tail on, both shells and veins are completely removed. If you want a more quick and easier recipe, just use prepped shrimps, it will be just as delicious.
Spicy garlic shrimp are simply cooked in a pan with butter, garlic, chili oil and red pepper flakes. I used Korean red pepper flakes for this recipe, but you can easily replace with any red pepper flakes you have on hand. If you like it more spicy or less, you can adjust the amount accordingly to the heat level you’re comfortable with. Or remove it completely from the recipe if you’re not into spicy food. I used one tablespoon which is just enough spice to feel a tiny burn, but you’re not going to be running to the fridge every minute for milk.
How to Make Spicy Garlic Shrimp
For this garlic shrimp recipe, I used organic grass-fed butter, which you may be able to substitute with olive oil, but I don’t know. I haven’t tried that yet. If you do, tell me how it tastes in the comment section below. Personally, I think butter is a healthy part of a balance diet. Butter is basically pure fat with zero carbs, zero sugars, and zero grams of protein with a high concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids (the grass-fed ones).
Like most of my other main dish, I like to garnish this shrimp recipes with green onion or any other fresh herbs I have lying around —chives, coriander, mint, basil, etc. It adds color and freshness to the dish. This dish is best served with rice on the side, and a few fermented vegetable side dishes and salads.
When looking for a simple but tasty dinner, this spicy garlic shrimp recipe is the perfect choice when you just don’t have the time. So give this delicious shrimp recipe a try and tell me what you think. Enjoy!
Spicy Garlic Shrimp in a Creamy Lemon Lime Sauce
Ingredients
- 500 gram shrimp
- 10 cloves garlic
- 1 onion
- 1 tbsp chilli oil
- 1/2 cup butter
- salt and pepper to taste
Lemon Lime Sauce
- 3 tbsp shrimp paste
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup half & half cream
- 1 tbsp lemon
- 1 tbsp lime
- 1½ tbsp brown sugar
Instructions
- Melt butter in a large skillet over high heat. Add chili oil. Saute the garlic and onion using the butter and chili oil.
- Add the shrimp in one layer and flip them over one at a time as they turn pink. Do not overcook them, it should just be slightly cooked. Remove the shrimp and set it aside in a bowl.
- Start cooking your sauce: using the same pan, add shrimp paste and mix well. Add the rest of the lemon lime sauce ingredients.
- Mix the sauce well. Taste test and add salt and pepper to your liking.
- Lastly, add your shrimp back into the lemon lime sauce. Mix it , and let it sit for a minute. Serve warm with rice.
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Delicious! It’s really looks spicy and tasty. We will definitely going to try this spicy garlic shrimp at home. Please keep sharing such recipes :).