Shrimp Scampi with Tender Shrimp and Garlic Butter Sauce

Choose jumbo shrimp without shells or veins but with tails intact as the protein for this recipe. Jumbo shrimp cook quickly and are the main ingredient in this 15-minute shrimp scampi recipe. Cooked shrimp are mixed into a garlic-butter and white-wine sauce. Shrimp scampi is topped with parsley and lemon zest.

Butter is divided: Half the butter is cooked with olive oil, shallots, garlic, and red pepper flakes. The other half of the butter is blended with wine off the heat after the shrimp is cooked and removed from the pan. Dry white wine is used to deglaze the pan and add the flavors of the cooked shallots and red pepper flakes to the sauce. Salt and pepper are used to flavor the shrimp during both cooking stages.

Cook shrimp until pink in a skillet. Season and transfer shrimp to a plate during this step. Return shrimp to the skillet after the wine simmers and the remaining butter melts; cook shrimp briefly to finish. Overcrowding leads to steaming and unevenly cooked shrimp. Too-high heat will burn the shallots and garlic.

Eat the scampi as a starter with crusty bread or slices of bread to mop up the juices. Other options for serving scampi include combining it with hot pasta or serving it over rice, quinoa, or farro with the cooked shrimp and remaining sauce.