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Yes, you read the title of this recipe correctly….Shrimp Scampi can be healthy! And still crazy delicious. My family LOVED this and I bet your family will love this too!
It is actually funny how much my kids love shrimp (it’s the first thing they order when we go eat at a restaurant) when I don’t eat any seafood. I know, I am told I am missing out. It’s not because it’s unhealthy, it’s because I don’t like it.
It’s a texture thing for me. And yes, supposedly I’ve has super fresh shrimp and still didn’t like it. It’s just not my thing and frankly, it never will be.
And I’m ok with that.
It took me several attempts to lighten up shrimp scampi and this one was a winner! My husband was disappointed there wasn’t any left over. I guess I should double the recipe next time.
Who knew little boys could eat that much? It makes me happy that they are such great eaters. I prayed during each pregnancy that none of my kids would be as picky as me.
I can only imagine how frustrated my parents were growing up trying to feed me. Sorry Mom and Dad! I thought for sure karma would come and get me and all my kids would be crazy picky.
I used to make this for one of our “fancy dinners” but the truth is that it’s so easy to prepare, I can easily make it on a busy weeknight. Just don’t tell my family that so they can still be impressed. They don’t need to know.
I like to keep frozen shrimp on hand so I can make this recipe whenever I feel like it. Sometimes I go to my local fish store and pick up fresh shrimp, other times I just buy the frozen shrimp from Trader Joe’s. Do what works for you. Either way everyone loves it.
I also made the spinach optional because my kids only like raw spinach (sigh…) Feel free to add it if you like cooked spinach, but you can easily leave it out. Most shrimp scampi recipes do not contain spinach.
By the way, isn’t it weird that my kids will only eat raw spinach? I absolutely love cooked spinach, it just bugs me that you can have a gigantic amount and it cooks down to almost nothing. But I still love it.
But seriously, why do like 4 containers of spinach cook down to 1 cup? It’s so annoying. Who’s with me?
Ok, I clearly I need to refocus. Come look at the recipe as see just how ridiculously easy it is to prepare:
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 pound cleaned, large deveined shrimp, patted dry
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 3/4 pound multi-grain angel hair pasta
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- 1/2 fresh squeezed lemon juice (optional)
- 2 cups steamed baby spinach (optional)
Directions
- Bring an 8- to 10-quart pot of salted water to boil.
- Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium high heat until it shimmers, then saute shrimp,turning once, until just cooked through, about 2 minutes. Transfer shrimp with a slotted spoon to a large bowl. Add garlic, chicken stock and 3/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper to skillet and bring to a boil, let it reduce to 1/2 cup. Add butter and stir until melted, then remove skillet from heat and stir in shrimp.
- Meanwhile, cook pasta in boiling water until al dente, about 6 minutes. Toss pasta in bowl with shrimp mixture, parsley and lemon zest. Squeeze lemon juice on top if desired. Place on top of steamed spinach if you’d like.
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1/6 recipe
Amount Per Serving
Calories 316 Calories from Fat 94
Total Fat 10.4g
Saturated Fat 2.3g
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 153mg
Sodium 225mg
Total Carbohydrates 39.2g
Dietary Fiber 4.2g
Sugars 1.3g
Protein 19.4g
*Nutritional Information is provided by www.caloriecount.com, not 100% guaranteed accurate
See? I told you it was easy! It will be ready in only 15 minutes, but it’s fancy enough to look like it took hours to prepare. I won’t tell if you don’t…
I left these tails on so it would look pretty for the pictures, but I always remove them before I serve. It just makes it easier to eat and cook. But again, you can do whatever works for you.
I just love all of the colors too. Isn’t it so pretty? It has a beautiful presentation so it’s great for entertaining or when you have a date night in.
Either way it will be impressive to your guests. You can also substitute the pasta for zucchini, yellow squash or carrot “noodles” if you’d like to lighten it up and decrease your carbs. So many people love those as alternatives to noodles so go for it if it makes you happy.
With that being said, if spaghetti or pasta makes you happy, then use that! Just watch your portions because a portion of spaghetti is pretty small and it’s easy to overindulge. I always recommend measuring your food to avoid over-eating.
Which we all know is very, very easy to do with pasta. So many people would be shocked at how small a portion is.
A reader shared with me that she added some broccoli and peppers to the skillet when she made this because she wanted to use them up. I love it. I wish she shared a picture because I bet all those colors looked beautiful!
So shrimp lovers… I wanted to share some more shrimp recipes I thought you might like:
Honey Garlic Butter Shrimp and Broccoli from Butter Your Biscuit
Gluten Free Caprese Shrimp Pasta from Lauren Kelly Nutrition
Spicy Shrimp Tacos with Garlic Cilantro Lime Slaw from Pinch of Yum
Low Carb Shrimp and Sausage Skillet from All Day I Dream About Food
I hope you enjoy my Shrimp Scampi! Please come back and let me know if you made it or any of these other delicious recipes I have shared with you. I love to hear from you!
And please share pictures of your creations you make at home. I always love seeing them too.
Thanks for stopping by and please com back again soon!
I love that you lightened up shrimp scampi. It’s what the hubs orders every time we go to Red Lobster. I can’t stand it there as it’s way to garlicy and I LOVE garlic. I’ll have to try this recipe for sure. We are adding seafood in to our diet so I’m always looking for healthy recipes.
Let me know how you like it Dee!! 🙂
This is fantastic Lauren! The perfect “Recipe Resuscitation,” as I like to call it!
Thanks Sonali! I hope you like it 🙂 You are definitely the creative genius!!
YAY! Scampi with no guilt! 🙂
Awesome awesome awesome!!! It’s all I can say 🙂 thanks so much for sharing this on Manic Monday
My pleasure dear Bobbi! Have a great weekend 🙂
I making this dish for dinner tonight. Will let you know how we like it. Can’t wait. Thanks for the recipes. I’m going to make the Mexican casserole next week.
Hi Emily! That’s my husband loves that shrimp scampi, I hope you like it too!
One of my favorite dishes of all-time – and you’ve made it guilt-free! Thank you! 🙂
I love shrimp scampi and my whole family loves shrimp! Must make this 🙂
This is the most beautiful dish ever!! Those shrimp look perfect. Love the simple ingredients list.
Shrimp scampi is such a quick & easy dinner that feels like a restaurant meal. Definitely double the Recipe next time to keep the men-folk happy!
My husband loooooves shrimp scampi and this looks so delicious!
My kids (and I!) would love this recipe. YUM. Thanks for sharing.
I’m down for any meal that can be made in 15 minutes! My husband is always starving when he gets home from work at 5 and since we both don’t get off work til then it makes it challenging to have something ready quickly when we get home. We love seafood here and shrimp is high on that list!!!
This looks positively delicious Lauren. I love that’s it’s so simple and quick too. Beautiful, healthy, quick and easy….this is a surefire hit. Love it.
This is so mega fantastic. My husband and boys will adore the shrimp!!