Lemon Garlic Shrimp

One of the simplest, quickest weeknight meals to make is shrimp. I often buy a bag of frozen shrimp at Kroger and just keep it in my freezer for a night when I get home late or don’t feel like putting much energy into my meal. And this recipe takes that ease even further because you don’t even need to thaw your shrimp! I mean, you can’t get much easier than that.

I found this recipe on The Pioneer Woman Cooks a long time ago, but we have another spicy shrimp recipe (also on this site) that we like a lot, so it took some effort to try something a little different. But I’m glad we did! I don’t think this recipe will replace our other one, but it’s nice to change things up once in awhile. I actually made half this recipe and served it over spaghetti, but if you’re just going to be eating the shrimp with a few friends, I would make the whole thing.

2 pounds Raw Shrimp, deveined (shelled or shell on, up to you)

2 sticks cold unsalted butter

1 teaspoon kosher salt

4 cloves garlic

¼ cups fresh parsley

½ teaspoons crushed red pepper

Juice from one lemon

Start by preheating your oven to 375 degrees. Rinse your shrimp just a bit to separate them, and lay them out on a baking sheet in a single layer. Get out your food processor and throw all the other ingredients in. The cold butter in chunks, salt, garlic cloves, parsley, red pepper and lemon juice. Combine in the food pro until it forms kind of a crumbly mixture (cold butter is key). Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the shrimp and bake until they are done and the butter is melted and bubbly.

If the shrimp is completely frozen, it could take about 20 minutes. We started with semi-thawed shrimp and cooked it for about ten minutes (which may have been slightly long). Obviously with completely thawed shrimp it won’t take long at all, maybe 6-7 minutes. The Pioneer Woman suggests serving it with bread, but as I said, Steve and I like it over spaghetti.

And there you have it. I feel like I should write more, but it’s really just that simple.

(Click here for printable recipe)