Mom’s Baked Shrimp Scampi with decadent garlic butter is the best date night recipe in less than half an hour! Juicy baked shrimp are roasted in garlic, butter, and breadcrumbs for a delicious and easy pasta dish.
Easy date night recipes are hard to find! This Baked Shrimp Scampi, smothered in garlic butter, is a decadent dish my mom always made for dinner parties and Christmas Eve dinners.
It’s a great Italian staple like chicken piccata, but it’s so easy to make in the oven! Skip the skillet and make this easy shrimp scampi recipe in a baking dish in a flash – and on weeknights, too!
Ingredients
This is the basic shopping list for the best shrimp pasta recipe. The full list of ingredients is in the recipe card below, so be sure to keep scrolling down to check it out!
- Butter
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Garlic
- Kosher salt
- Bread crumbs — plain or Italian-seasoned
- Shrimp, peeled and deveined
- For serving: spaghetti or linguini, parsley, and Parmesan cheese
I usually top garlic butter shrimp scampi with fresh parsley and Parmesan cheese, too! Some people say seafood and cheese don’t mix, but when there’s pasta, Parmesan is required.
Why We’re Loving This Recipe
To us, there’s nothing better than an easy seafood pasta meal that hits all the marks for flavor, speediness, and being kid-friendly.
We definitely love the amount of garlic here! It may seem like a lot but this is scampi! It needs garlic!!
And the way the breadcrumbs soak up the butter, oil, garlic, and shrimp juices is just completely magical. Then you get to top the pasta and shrimp with all of those toasty, buttery breadcrumbs!
It turns into a delicious pangrattato dish with the crispy breadcrumbs giving the soft pasta and shrimp all that crunchy texture you know you’re craving.
Lastly, this shrimp scampi is a family recipe that I grew up eating almost every Christmas Eve and a few other times throughout the year. It took me years to finally get it right and I’m so so happy that I’ve got another family recipe to share with you here!
What Can I Use in Shrimp Scampi Instead of Wine?
My mom’s baked shrimp scampi is made without wine! A lot of recipes use it, but I think this meal is just as flavorful without it.
This shrimp scampi sauce is a simple one with just oil, butter, garlic, and salt. And without the wine, this shrimp scampi recipe is totally kid-friendly and perfect for anyone who prefers to skip alcohol in food.
How to Make Shrimp Scampi
Here are the quick steps for how to make this shrimp scampi in the oven! The full instruction list is in the recipe card below, so be sure to keep scrolling down to the card.
STEP 1: First, scatter some breadcrumbs in an even layer in a baking dish.
STEP 2: Then, cover the breadcrumbs with a layer of shrimp. Feel free to arrange or squish them together to make them all fit!
STEP 3: Now, in a sauce over medium heat, melt the butter before adding the oil. After a minute, toss in the garlic to cook for a few seconds, and pour it all over the shrimp and breadcrumbs.
STEP 4: Next, bake until the butter is super bubbly and the shrimp are pink.
STEP 5: To garnish, sprinkle parsley on top of the baked shrimp scampi before serving over warm spaghetti or linguini. Let everyone add their own Parmesan cheese, too!
Other Shrimp Scampi Recipes
Years ago, I made Ina’s baked shrimp scampi recipe and while that recipe is similar to this one as far as the ingredient lists go, the methods are slightly different.
Ina’s recipe instructs that you top the shrimp in a casserole dish with a mixture of room temperature butter, panko breadcrumbs, garlic, shallots, herbs and spices, lemon juice and zest, and an egg.
My mom’s recipe has you melting butter and simmering olive oil and garlic in it, which you then pour over the shrimp and breadcrumbs.
And truthfully, compared to my mom’s recipes, Ina’s recipe is a little time-intensive to make. There are lots of ingredients to measure, including white wine, which I know some people avoid in their cooking.
Overall, my mom’s recipe is a SUPER easy shrimp scampi recipe that will take you less than 25 minutes to make from start to finish. How can you beat that?!
More Decadent Seafood Recipes
Impress your partner on your next anniversary, Valentine’s Day, or date night with a new seafood dish up your sleeve like this baked shrimp scampi recipe.
Skip that restaurant price tag and make your own lobster mac and cheese! It’s super gooey and so easy to whip up yourself.
Baked seafood recipes are great to have on hand — they’re super impressive with minimal effort! I love seafood gratin because it’s gorgeous and only like $30 for a whole dinner party worth! I’m drooling thinking about it now.
Have soup lovers in your house? My New England seafood chowder is a definite winner when you’re craving something warm and comforting.
One of the quickest seafood date night recipes is this lemony scallops provençal. Scallops are my all-time favorite seafood and this French-inspired meal is so delicious and perfect over rice, risotto, quinoa, or even orzo!
If you’re new to cooking whole lobster at home, I’ve a comprehensive guide that will help ease you into it! In addition to eating it freshly cooked and dipped in hot butter or on a lobster roll, this lobster corn chowder is another stellar soup recipe to make, especially with summer corn!
What to Serve with Shrimp Scampi
Start the night off right with this super simple olive oil dip and some crusty bread! It’s a great restaurant appetizer that feels fancy but only takes a few ingredients to whip up at home.
Sop up all that yummy shrimp scampi sauce with these easy garlic knots! They’re made with basic pizza dough and covered in so much yummy garlic butter.
For an even easier garlicky carb side dish, go with this cheesy garlic pull-apart bread!
If you’re looking for a side dish with your baked shrimp scampi, try a simple sautéed spinach or even a steakhouse creamed spinach topped with crispy shallots.
To serve up a great salad on the side of this shrimp scampi, you can go with a light Greek salad or a simple Caesar salad made with my Genius Caesar Dressing.
Mom's Garlic Butter Shrimp Scampi
Garlic Butter Shrimp Scampi is quite possibly the easiest and most delicious weeknight seafood dinner you could ever make. The shrimp are baked in a buttery, garlicky sauce over breadcrumbs that crisp up and soak up all that fabulous sauce. Serve over pasta, rice, or riced cauliflower and have dinner ready in under 25 minutes!
Ingredients
- ¾ cup bread crumbs, plain or Italian-seasoned
- 1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined (leave the tails on)
- ½ cup (1 stick or 8 tbsp) unsalted butter
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 6 medium or large cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- 1 lb dry linguini or spaghetti, cooked according to package instructions (See Note below)
- 2 tbsp chopped Italian or flat-leaf parsley
- Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425° F.
- Scatter the bread crumbs in an even layer on the bottom of a 3-quart baking dish. Lay the shrimp flat-side down on top of the bread crumbs in an even layer. Squeeze them together to get them to fit if you need to.
- Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and continue cooking for 1 minute. Add the oil and cook for 1 minute. Add the garlic and salt and stir continuously for about 30 seconds. Pour the hot garlic butter mixture over the shrimp.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. When finished, the edges of the pan should be bubbly and the shrimp should be pink and firm to the touch.
- Sprinkle the parsley over the top of the shrimp. Divide the pasta between 4 plates and serve the shrimp and buttery bread crumbs over the pasta. Serve with Parmesan cheese for sprinkling.
Notes
You can also serve this shrimp scampi over rice, quinoa, or riced cauliflower.
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