Lemon Garlic Shrimp Pasta with Simple Ingredients

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This lemon garlic shrimp pasta is full of flavor but made with just a few simple ingredients. I’ll show you how to take basic kitchen staples like lemon, garlic, butter, and noodles, and turn up the flavor with a few easy culinary techniques. The result – a pasta dish that actually tastes light but packs a punch of zesty citrus and garlic flavor!

Simple Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need for this shrimp pasta recipe – simple ingredients, each chosen for their fresh, bright flavor.

• shrimp – Go for raw, frozen shrimp—preferably peeled and deveined. Don’t toss out the thawing liquid; it’s packed with flavor you won’t want to waste. (And trust me, it makes a difference. The “shrimp juice” is not just water, it’s like liquid gold for your pasta dish.)
• garlic – Fresh garlic cloves, not pre-minced in a jar. If you’re comfortable with a kitchen knife, then do your best to slice it as thin as possible. If not, you can finely mince or use a garlic press.
• lemon – For maximum flavor, use both the zest and the juice of a large lemon. The zest gives you that incredible pop of citrus at the end, and it’s one of the most under-used ingredients in the kitchen.
• pasta – Any long noodle works – spaghetti, fettuccini, linguini, or pick your favorite.
• butter and olive oil – You need both – olive oil for coating the shrimp, butter for building flavor in the sauce.
• parmesan cheese and fresh parsley – The parsley adds a pop of color, and the freshly shaved parmesan adds the perfect bit of nutty flavor.

Tips for Boiling the Pasta

When working with light, simple ingredients in a dish like this lemon garlic shrimp pasta, it’s so important to use them correctly and take a few extra seconds to extract as much as you can from each ingredient. That starts with boiling the pasta.

Most home cooks would just fill a large pot about halfway full of water, boil it on the stovetop, and then add in the dried noodles. But for the most flavorful pasta, you don’t need a gallon of water – just enough to cover the pasta and allow it to move. Using a smaller amount of water for boiling the pasta helps to maximize the starchiness of the finished pasta water, which can be used to thicken and flavor your sauce later.

And be sure to cook your pasta just until al dente. The pasta should be ever so slightly firm once you drain it, because it will continue to cook on the griddle or in the skillet with the shrimp and lemon garlic sauce.

Prepping the Shrimp

If you use frozen raw shrimp for this lemon garlic shrimp pasta recipe, then you get to reap the benefits of the juice that’s left behind from the thawing process. Just thaw the shrimp overnight in the refrigerator in a large bowl or spread out on a sheet tray. The liquid released during thawing is packed with flavor and can be added to the sauce later, so be sure to save it.

Then, once the shrimp are thawed, add them to a bowl with a bit of olive oil, salt, cracked black pepper, and crushed red pepper. Toss to coat and your shrimp are ready for the griddle or skillet.

Squeezing in Extra Flavor

Most people juice a lemon for a recipe, and then they throw the lemon rind in the trash – but there’s incredible flavor there! Use a microplane and zest the bright yellow part of the rind from the lemon. Then cut in half and squeeze the fresh lemon juice into a small cup to add to the shrimp and pasta later.

How to Make Lemon Garlic Shrimp Pasta

Whether you cook this delicious shrimp pasta in a stovetop skillet or on an outdoor griddle, the process is the same. Just follow these steps:

Step 1: Boil noodles until just al dente. Start by bringing salted water to a boil in a pot. Be sure that you don’t have too much water, so that your pasta water has a good level of starch after boiling. Add the pasta and cook until just al dente, about 7-9 minutes (or about 2-3 minutes less than stated on the package instructions) . Drain the noodles, reserving the starch-rich pasta water for finishing the dish later.

Step 2: Sauté the fresh garlic in butter. When the pasta is done, heat a large skillet or outdoor griddle over low heat. For griddle cooking, turn one griddle burner on low and leave the other off to create different temperature zones.

Add the butter to the heated cooking surface, and then add the fresh shaved or minced garlic to the butter. Gently cook and infuse the butter without browning.

Step 3: Cook the shrimp in the butter and garlic. When the garlic is fragrant and right before it starts to turn color, add the raw shrimp to the butter and garlic mixture. Gently toss until the shrimp start to turn opaque and pink. *If you started with frozen thawed shrimp, you can also add the liquid from the thawed shrimp at this time.

Step 4: Add the al dente pasta to the shrimp and garlic butter. When the shrimp are almost cooked through, add the pasta noodles and toss together. Cook the shrimp pasta another minute or two to ensure that the noodles are done to your liking.

Step 5: Add lemon juice, lemon zest, and pasta water if needed. Add about 75% of the lemon zest, the lemon juice, and about half of the chopped parsley to the shrimp pasta. Let the pasta absorb the lemon garlic sauce, gently moving it between cooler and warmer zones as needed.

If the pasta dries out, spoon in about 2-3 tablespoons of the reserved pasta water – this will help the sauce cling and bring the dish together.

Step 6: Finish with fresh herbs and parmesan. Turn off the heat and sprinkle freshly grated parmesan over the pasta. The cheese will melt, further thickening the sauce and adding a salty, indulgent touch. Add the remaining lemon zest and parsley for brightness.

Serve the lemon garlic shrimp pasta immediately. You can add some garlic toast for dipping into the flavorful sauce left at the bottom of the bowl as well. Enjoy!