Toto, there’s no place like home.
I had a blast spending this past week with good friends in Utah. But boy, it always feels good to come home.
And after catching up on work, I decided to have an introverted night (especially after spending a week of 24/7-ness with friends) and indulge my favorite “comforts” of home. I turned on my favorite music. I lit some yummy candles. I watched (and choked up over) back-to-back episodes of Parenthood and Nashville that I had missed last week. I snuggled with my sweet little pup. And of course, I made some comfort food — pasta.
Actually, I made a new macaroni and cheese recipe that’s coming on the blog next week (get ready!). And then I edited the photos from this fabulous skinny shrimp scampi that I made last week, and then I resolved to go out and get some shrimp and make another batch this weekend. Because this shrimp scampi recipe is a total winner. And it can be made in just 15 minutes. And believe it or not, it’s also “skinny”.
Here’s the scoop. (Or maybe I should say, the “skinny”…)
Shrimp scampi is traditionally a dish made with shrimp in a lemon-garlic-butter sauce served over pasta — heavy on the pasta, and heavy on the butter. But when I make shrimp scampi, I like to flip that equation and go heavier on the lemon and heavier on the garlic. You totally don’t need tons of butter to have tons of flavor! Nor do you need an enormous portion of pasta. In fact, if you really want to go healthy with this dish, try serving it over quinoa or spaghetti squash for a change. Or my favorite — mix in some extra spinach and veggies in place of more pasta.
But for you traditionalists who are looking for a lighter approach, here’s how I like to make skinny shrimp scampi.
First, begin by prepping those ingredients. The main two you need are lots of fresh garlic and a pound of peeled and de-veined shrimp. You can use the shrimp with the little tails still attached if you want for “looks”, but I prefer 100% peeled.
Start by melting 1 tablespoon of butter. Yep, that’s all we’re using in this one. Most traditional recipes call for an entire stick of butter, but I don’t think you’ll miss it.
Then add the garlic and shallot and saute for a minute or two until fragrant.
Add the shrimp, and immediately season with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes. And don’t skimp on those red pepper flakes — they add great depth of flavor.
Once the shrimp are cooked and pink, add in some chicken stock, white wine, lemon juice and zest.
Let it all sizzle and cook for an additional minute.
Then remove the pan from the heat and scoop up all of that shrimp. You can either serve the shrimp on their own…
…or served over some pasta.
Either way, be sure to sprinkle the shrimp with some chopped fresh parsley and parmesan for an extra kick. The result is a light and delicious garlic-lemon shrimp pasta, minus the tablespoons upon tablespoons of butter and calories that usually come with it.
Oh, and did I mention this can be ready to go in about 15 minutes (once your pasta water is ready to go)? Yet one more reason why this falls into the comfort food category in my book. In no time, you get straight to the “comfort”. ;)
Hope you enjoy this one!
Skinny Shrimp Scampi
Ingredients
- 12 ounces whole-wheat pasta noodles (I used linguine)
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 1 shallot, peeled and thinly sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pound raw shrimp, peeled with tails removed and patted dry
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup chicken stock
- 3 tablespoon white wine
- 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- toppings: chopped fresh parsley and (optional) freshly-grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cook pasta in a large pot of generously-salted water until al dente, according to package instructions.
- Meanwhile, heat butter in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add shallot and garlic and saute for 2 minutes, or until fragrant, stirring occasionally. Add shrimp and immediately season (sprinkle) with crushed red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Continue sauteing the shrimp with the garlic for about 3-4 minutes, or until pink on both sides and no longer opaque.
- Add in the chicken stock, wine, lemon juice and lemon zest, and stir to combine. Let the mixture continue cooking for an additional minute to boil down, then remove from heat.
- Drain the pasta, and serve topped with the shrimp scampi. Sprinkle with desired toppings.
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!Here are some other “skinny” favorites on the blog:
This turned out perfect! I didn’t have the shallots, or fresh parsley, but everything else I did what recipe called for. My spouse LOVED it! Said may be the new favorite. So happy to find this yummy recipe with less butter! Lol. Healthier & quick!
Thank you, Sandi, we’re so happy you and your spouse loved it! :D
My husband and I loved this recipe! I am always looking for healthier recipes that taste good!
I did not have shallot, so I used some Visalia onion. I did not have red pepper flakes, so I diced some red pepper and saluted it with the onion and garlic. Did not have parsley, so I tore a little bit of spinach up and sprinkled at the end. Colorful and delicious. Will definitely make this again! Thank you Ali.
Look forward to trying more of your recipes
Thanks for sharing, Gloria, we’re so happy to hear that! :D
Saw this and salivating already. Making it today! Looks so good. And I love spicy food so I cant wait! Gonna eat the shrimp “naked” though. Trying to cut out carbs as much as possible. Plus the shrimp is my fave part anyway!
Hope you enjoy the recipe! :)
Loved this! I did modify a bit though. I added a little bit of a flour roux to make the sauce a little thicker ?
We’re glad you enjoyed it, Lindsey!
Why do these recipes have no calories showing? I will not even consider a recipe that does not give me the calories. Shame this looked really good. You are a website that boasts skinny and healthy recipes, calories should be a given.
I thought this was awesome. I have to say when I was cooking the shallot and garlic I was worried that one tbsp of butter wasn’t enough so I use two tbsp. One would’ve been just fine but at least had extra sauce for the kids. My husband and daughter said it was too spicy, but me and my son thought it was perfect!
Thanks for the help cooking “light”!
Thanks for sharing, Melody — we’re happy you and your son enjoyed it! :)
Great flavor!! How can I adjust this so that there is more sauce so there’s more to pour over the pasta?
Thanks, Mei — we’re glad you enjoyed it! As for more sauce, you can add more white wine, chicken stock, butter, and lemon juice until it has the amount of liquid you’d like. We hope this helps!
How many calories is in a serving?
Hi Andrea! We’re sorry but we are unsure of the nutrition facts/amount of calories in this recipe. We currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site, as the nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. However, a lot of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. We hope that helps!
This was amazing! I opted for olive oil instead of butter, and completely forgot to add the chicken broth, but it still turned out fantastic! Even my fiance loved it and he might be the world’s pickiest eater!
Thank you Emily — we’re glad to hear it was a hit, especially with your fiancé! :)
I referenced your post for scampi on our blog. Great Job! We just got our blog accepted into a business accelerator, incubator and we will be drawing on lots of other sites for inspiration including yours. Don’t worry, we are in the Thai niche so not a direct competitor and we will send you some loving for this inspiring post and hope you would reciprocate somewhere down the line. :)
Great Blog!!
https://healthythairecipes.com/healthier-thai-basil-shrimp-scampi/
We’re glad you were inspired by our shrimp scampi! Your Thai version looks delicious! :)