Fish Dishes
Prawn Scampi with Linguine
Raw king prawns cooked quickly in garlic butter with shallot, a pinch of chilli and a splash of white wine, then tossed with linguine, lemon and parsley: the Italian-American “shrimp scampi”.
- Serves 4
- Hands-on 20 min
- Ready in 20 min
- Use raw prawns, not cooked
- Cook the prawns just until pink
- Italian-American
Method
Cook the linguine (350 g) in a large pan of well-salted boiling water until al dente. Keep a mugful of the cooking water, then drain.
Meanwhile melt half the butter (50 g) with the oil (2 tbsp) in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the shallots (2 shallots) and cook for 2–3 minutes, until soft, then add the garlic (4 cloves) and chilli (pinch) and cook for 1 minute without browning.
Turn up the heat, add the prawns (450 g) in a single layer, season and cook for 1–2 minutes each side, just until pink all the way through. Lift them on to a plate.
Pour the wine (125 ml) into the pan and bubble for 2 minutes, until reduced by half. Stir in the remaining butter, the lemon zest and juice (1 lemon).
Add the drained linguine, the prawns and the parsley (a little) and toss over the heat for 1 minute, loosening with a splash of the pasta water until glossy. Season to taste and serve straight away.
Tip: tap a step to tick it off as you cook.
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See also
Chef’s notes
- In Britain scampi means breaded langoustine tails; in America “shrimp scampi” means prawns cooked in garlic butter and wine, which is this dish.
- Overcooked prawns turn tough and rubbery. Take them out the moment they turn pink and curl.
- For a richer American-style finish, toss in 40 g grated Parmesan with the pasta.
- No wine? Use 100 ml of the pasta water and a little more lemon.
How this recipe was developed
We compared the two most-rated shrimp scampi recipes on Allrecipes with Sara Buenfeld’s linguine with garlic butter prawns on BBC Good Food.
- Shallot, garlic, chilli. Allrecipes’ Shrimp Scampi with Pasta (4.7/5 from 1,616 ratings) starts with shallots, garlic and red pepper flakes in butter and oil; we do the same.
- Wine reduced. Both Allrecipes versions reduce dry white wine in the pan; we take the prawns out first so they do not overcook.
- Lemon zest and parsley. BBC Good Food adds lemon zest and plenty of parsley; we use the zest and the juice.
- Parmesan optional. Allrecipes’ older Shrimp Scampi (4.6/5 from 1,191 ratings) adds Parmesan; we left it to the notes.
Sources we compared (ratings as shown on each site on 1 November 2026):
- Allrecipes (JustJen): Shrimp Scampi with Pasta (4.7/5, 1616 ratings)
- Allrecipes (RNCOGGINS): Shrimp Scampi (4.6/5, 1191 ratings)
- BBC Good Food (Sara Buenfeld): Linguine with garlic butter prawns (4.55/5, 88 ratings)
This is an original Cookeryonline recipe written in our own words. Ingredient choices and techniques are credited above; no source text has been copied.