This quick and easy shrimp scampi pasta recipe is an fan-favorite, with more than one thousand ratings and hundreds of reviews. And it's ready to serve in only 40 minutes. Read on to get tips to make the best shrimp scampi with pasta — it's a top-rated recipe that's simple enough for weeknight dinners and fancy enough for a dinner party.

Shrimp scampi is a seafood dish made of shrimp cooked in a butter, garlic, and white wine sauce. You can serve shrimp scampi by itself as an appetizer or over pasta as a main dish.

Shrimp
Choose large shrimp (31 to 35 shrimp per pound) to get best results for this recipe. You can buy fresh shrimp and peel and devein it yourself, or buy frozen shrimp. Thaw frozen shrimp before using.

Pasta
This recipe uses a 16-ounce package of linguine, but you can substitute the pasta of your choice, like angel hair pasta, fettuccine, or spaghetti.

Butter
Use unsalted butter. You can add salt to taste later in the recipe.

Extra-virgin olive oil
The flavor of the olive oil comes through in this recipe, so use the best quality.

Shallots and garlic
These aromatics add flavor and fragrance to shrimp scampi.

White wine
Use a dry, crisp white wine for shrimp scampi sauce. Pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc are good choices, and you can drink the leftover wine with dinner.

Lemon juice
Use freshly squeezed lemon juice for the best flavor.

Seasonings
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper amplify the flavors, and a pinch of dried red pepper flakes give shrimp scampi a subtle kick. Use more red pepper flakes if you like things a bit more spicy.

Parsley
Fresh parsley adds eye-catching color and a bright, peppery flavor.

The full recipe directions are below, but here are top tips for recipe success:

Prep ahead
Have all of your ingredients prepared and ready to cook before heating your skillet. You don't want to have to pause to cut, chop, squeeze, or measure right in the middle of a fast-moving recipe. If you use fresh shrimp, you can peel and devein the shrimp earlier in the day, then keep it chilled in the refrigerator until you're ready to get cooking.

Cook the pasta first
Boil the pasta in well-salted water, drain, and hold aside before cooking the shrimp scampi. You'll add the pasta to the hot skillet to warm it before serving. Time your cooking so you're ready to start cooking the shrimp immediately after the pasta is drained; you don't want the pasta to sit for too long.

Don't overcook the shrimp
It takes just a couple of minutes to cook raw shrimp, and if they cook for too long, shrimp turn tough and rubbery. You'll know the shrimp are close to done when they start to curl into a C shape and turn from translucent gray to opaque pink and white.

Bonus tip
Before you drain the pasta, hold aside a half cup of the pasta water to add to the sauce if the finished dish looks a little dry (you may not have to add the entire half cup). Pasta water is a pasta cook's secret weapon. The starchy water adds extra flavor and moistness to the recipe, gives sauces a smoother texture, and helps bind the sauce to the pasta. 

Ingredients