Garlic Butter Shrimp

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Name a better combination than garlic and butter. Would it be garlic butter shrimp? The smell of just these two items cooking together will get everyone’s head turning to the kitchen, asking what you’re making, even though it’s only two simple ingredients! These garlic butter shrimp are versatile as an appetizer or as part of your main dish with some rice, noodles, pasta or even on top of a salad. This recipe is so easy to make with simple ingredients and can only less than 20 minutes if using pre-peeled and deveined shrimp that have already thawed.

Ingredients

Shrimp – The “sizing” of the shrimp is based on how many of them are needed to make up a pound. I used 16-20 shrimp, which means that about 16-20 shrimps together make up 1 pound of shrimp. The smaller the numbers, the bigger the shrimp! The larger the shrimp, the longer the cook time, but it’s pretty marginal. pick whatever size you’d like. To make this recipe quick and easy, opt to buy peeled and deveined shrimp so that you don’t have to do that yourself.

Butter – I use unsalted so that you can better control the amount of salt that is going in the recipe.

Olive oil – Why do we need olive oil if we’re already using butter? At higher temperatures, butter can burn really quickly. The olive oil will help soften the garlic faster without having to worry about anything burning.

Garlic – Better to fend away those vampires.

olive oil first
until softened
shrimps & butter

Garlic Butter Shrimp

Print Recipe
Quick, easy, garlicky, and buttery!
Course Appetizer, Main Course
Keyword butter, garlic, shrimp

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 pound shrimp peeled, deveined
  • 1 head garlic thinly sliced
  • 4 tbsp butter
  • salt
  • pepper
  • red pepper flakes garnish
  • dill garnish

Instructions

  • In a pan that can fit all your shrimp in one layer, heat at medium heat until pan is hot.
  • Add olive oil and sliced garlic. Cook until garlic softens.
  • Add shrimp in one layer (if you can) and butter.
  • Cook on each side 2-4 minutes until shrimp is completely opaque throughout.
  • Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Garnish with red pepper flakes and dill as desired!

Eat these with 10-Minute Soy Ginger Noodles or with The Work From Home Salad

Shrimp Cocktail

Posted on by Amanda Leave a comment

We’re entering holiday season and that usually entails potlucks, gatherings, entertaining, and most importantly, lots of tasty food! Before the main course is served, I always find myself snacking on something like a charcuterie board or some bread & butter (butter board, anyone?). Another app-y snack that I find can be overlooked during holiday season that is SO EASY to make is shrimp cocktail. A snappy shrimp in a tangy, sharp cocktail sauce helps break up the heaviness of a holiday meal and also clears out your sinuses.

Ingredients

Shrimp – I buy frozen, farmed, shell-on Vannamei shrimp that I shell and de-vein at home. I like taking the shells to make a shrimp stock to use for a sipping broth or to use in a soup. If you don’t have time for shelling/deveining, feel free to buy shelled and cleaned shrimp. I recommend buying raw shrimp that you can cook yourself. Sometimes the pre-cooked shrimp at the grocery store end up a little mushy. I also use 21-25 count shrimp, meaning that there are 21-25 shrimp in a pound. These shrimp are on the larger side to hold maximum cocktail sauce, without requiring a second dip.

Cocktail sauce – I think the best part of this recipe is the cocktail sauce, since you can customize how sharp and zingy the horseradish is. If you’re in a pinch, feel free to purchase some cocktail sauce to serve on the side.

cocktail sauce
arrange your shrimp
dip!

Shrimp Cocktail

Print Recipe
Snappy shrimp dipped in a zingy, horseradish-y cocktail sauce are a perfect appetizer for any season.
Course Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack
Keyword cocktail, shrimp

Ingredients

Shrimp

  • 2 lbs shrimp 21-25 count
  • salt

Cocktail Sauce

  • 1/2 cup ketchup
  • 2 tsp horseradish cream
  • 1/4 tsp soy sauce

Instructions

  • If not already done, shell and devein your shrimp, keeping the tails on. Set aside.
  • Set a pot with 8 cups of water to boil with 1 tbsp of salt.
  • While water is boiling, make the cocktail sauce! Mix together ketchup, horseradish, and soy sauce. Feel free to use more or less horseradish depending on your tastes. Refrigerate.
  • When water has come to a boil, add shrimp and gently stir to ensure all shrimp are submerged.
  • Boil for on medium heat for about 3 minutes until shrimp are pink and cooked through. Prepare bowl of ice water.
  • Immediately transfer to bowl of ice water to stop shrimp from cooking.
  • Drain shrimp and pat dry to prevent shrimp from getting mushy. Transfer to another container and put in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
  • Remove cocktail sauce and shrimp from refrigerator, arrange as desired, and serve!

Have some other holiday sides like Honey Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts or Creamy Mashed Potatoes.

Shrimp & Snap Pea Stir Fry

Posted on by Amanda Leave a comment

Summer is finally in swing in the Pacific Northwest! Finally my summer vegetables are coming in! So far, I’ve picked up three boxes of my CSA (community supported agriculture) boxes. My last two boxes had generous portions of snap peas. The first set of snap peas were easily destroyed. Raw snap peas are delightful as a crunchy snack by themselves or dipped in a hummus, spinach dip, or ranch. I wanted to cook this second set of snap peas, but wasn’t entirely sure what to make. I remember eating shrimp & snow pea stir fry with my family at Chinese restaurants, so I just swapped the snow peas for snap peas!

Ingredients

Shrimp – Really any protein could work here if you don’t want to use shrimp. Swap with chicken, pork, beef, tofu, or any other alternative proteins.

Snap peas – Because we cook these snap peas hot and fast, they can maintain their green color and still have a bite to them. If you don’t have snap peas, you can swap the vegetable here for another crunchy-adjacent vegetable like broccoli, brussels sprouts, or cabbage.

Soybean paste – The soybean paste adds a little funky fermented flavor to the sauce and also is where a majority of the sodium comes from. If you don’t have soybean paste, this can be substituted with bouillon.

trimmed snap peas
soften the garlic and onion
start the sauce:
cornstarch & soybean paste
add snap peas
add sauce
add shrimp

Shrimp & Snap Pea Stir Fry

Print Recipe
An easy, health-conscious dinner that is made in one pan.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Asian
Keyword shrimp, snap pea, stir fry

Ingredients

  • 1 pound shrimp peeled & cleaned
  • 3 cups snap peas trimmed
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1/4 onion sliced
  • 1 tsp soybean paste
  • 1 tsp cornstarch
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 2 tsp soy sauce
  • black pepper

Instructions

  • Peel and de-vein shrimp.
  • Trim ends of snap peas to remove any tough parts.
  • Slice onion and garlic. Saute with olive oil on medium high.
  • While onion and garlic is softening, mix warm water with cornstarch, soy bean paste, and soy sauce to make the sauce.
  • After onion and garlic has softened, add the snap peas to the pan, stirring gently.
  • After 1 minute, pour in the sauce mixture and stir.
  • After about 2 minutes, sauce should start to bubble and thicken. Push sauce and snap peas to one side of the pan and add shrimp to the open side.
  • Stir shrimp after 1 minute to allow other shrimp to make contact with the pan.
  • After another minute, mix shrimp with snap peas and sauce.
  • Crack some fresh black pepper over top and serve with some rice!

Serve some Chicken & Cabbage Dumplings alongside this stir fry.

Want some dessert? Have some Kitchen Sink Cookies or a summer Peach Galette.