# Shrimp Scampi Linguine

Shrimp Scampi Linguine — a easy recipe with 6 main ingredients, ready in about 25 min and serving 4. Check which of its ingredients are on sale at grocery stores near you.

- **Time:** 25 min
- **Serves:** 4
- **Difficulty:** easy
- **Tags:** dinner, seafood, pasta, quick, italian
- **Source:** https://savingrecipes.com/recipes/shrimp-scampi

## Ingredients

- 1 lb shrimp
- 12 oz linguine
- 4 tbsp butter
- 5 garlic cloves
- 1 lemon
- Fresh parsley
- 2 tbsp olive oil _(pantry staple)_
- Salt & pepper _(pantry staple)_

## Instructions

1. Cook linguine, reserving 1/2 cup pasta water.
2. Sauté garlic in butter and oil; add shrimp, cook 2 min per side.
3. Toss with pasta, lemon juice, and pasta water; finish with parsley.

## Tips

- Shrimp take about 2 minutes a side and go from tender to rubbery almost instantly. Pull them when they curl into a loose C — a tight O means overcooked.
- Reserve the pasta water. Scampi has no cream, so that starchy water is what turns butter and lemon into a sauce rather than a puddle.
- Add the lemon juice off the heat. Boiling it makes the flavour dull and slightly bitter.

## Substitutions

- **Shrimp:** Scallops (2 minutes per side), or firm white fish in chunks. For a vegetarian version, mushrooms browned hard carry the dish surprisingly well.
- **Linguine:** Spaghetti, angel hair (3 minutes), or courgette noodles for low-carb. Gluten-free pasta works with extra reserved water.
- **Butter:** Half butter, half olive oil is more stable and less likely to split. All olive oil works but loses the richness.
- **Fresh parsley:** Basil or chives. Dried parsley adds nothing here — leave it out rather than substitute.

## Storage & reheating

Best eaten immediately. Leftovers keep 2 days but the shrimp firm up — warm gently in a pan with a splash of water, never the microwave. Don't freeze.

## Common questions

### Fresh or frozen shrimp?

Frozen is usually better unless you live by the coast — most 'fresh' shrimp at the counter was previously frozen anyway. Thaw under cold running water in about 10 minutes.

### Why is my sauce greasy instead of silky?

The butter split. Keep the heat moderate and add pasta water gradually while tossing — the starch holds the emulsion together.

### What does 'scampi' actually mean?

In Italy scampi are langoustines. The garlic-butter-lemon preparation became known as 'shrimp scampi' in Italian-American cooking — literally 'shrimp langoustine' — and the name stuck.


_Photo: frank wouters from antwerpen, belgium — CC BY 2.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scampi_prawns.jpg)_