Sauteed shrimp with garlic, dried chilies and lemon juice – it’s spicy, garlicky, acidic and sooooo good! You can serve this as an appetizer or for dinner over some baby greens with a crusty whole wheat baguette. And the best part about this dish – it’s ready in under 15 minutes.
Spicy Shrimp with Chilies and Garlic
I love shrimp on any summer day. A few of my favorite easy shrimp recipes are Shrimp Scampi Foil Packets, Garlic Shrimp in Coconut Milk Tomatoes and Cilantro, Cajun Shrimp in Foil, and Sheet Pan Shrimp with Broccolini and Tomatoes.
If you don’t have dried chilies, you can use a generous amount of crushed red pepper. If you don’t like spicy food, you can leave the chilies out completely. You can also make this with lime juice and cilantro for a twist of this dish, see Cilantro Lime Shrimp. This is gluten-free, paleo-friendly and low calorie… but trust me, you would never know it (it’s THAT good!).
Spicy Shrimp with Chilies
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds peeled and deveined medium shrimp
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 to 4 dried chilies, roughly chopped
- 5 garlic cloves, crushed
- juice of 1 lemon
- 3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Season the shrimp with salt and pepper to taste.
- Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.
- Add 1/2 tbsp of the oil to the pan and half of the chilies and cook 1 to 2 minutes.
- Increase the heat to medium-high, when hot add half of the shrimp.
- Cook undisturbed for about 1 1/2 minutes.
- Turn the shrimp over and cook until opaque throughout, about 1 minute.
- Transfer to a plate.
- Add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of oil and remaining chilies; cook 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the remaining shrimp to the pan and cook, undisturbed, for about 1 1/2 minutes.
- Turn the shrimp over, add the garlic, and cook until the shrimp is opaque throughout, about 1 minute.
- Return the first batch of shrimp to the skillet, mix well so that the garlic is evenly incorporated and remove the pan from the heat.
- Squeeze the lemon juice over the shrimp.
- Add the parsley and toss well.
- Serve with crusty whole wheat bread and a salad.
Love this shrimp! I never used dried chilies for cooking. I'll try next time. Thanks
We are not spicy food people, an ideas for making it without the "kick" or minimizing it drastically?
I would just use less pepper.
We are not spicy food people, an ideas for making it without the "kick" or minimizing it drastically?
Gina- What would you recommend serving this over? I am thinking pasta or rice but would that be too bland?
Very good yet simple recipe. Substituted cilantro and added green onions. Really yummy!
I have some left over habaneros from the aji picante, would those work instead of the chilis? thanks!
Sure!
This was delicious. Thank you.
I couldn't find any chilies in my local store…could I sub in chili powder or chipotle chili powder to spice it up? How much would I need? Looking forward to this dish tonight!
I didn't have chilies so I used the dried red peppers- added some asparagus and white wine and served it over pasta- delicious! ! Will be making this again!
Made this and it was so yummy! The chilies I choose did not quite make it spicy enough for me and my husband. But will definitely make again
Sounds great!
How many shrimp would be 2/3 of a cup? 2 or 3?
Since the recipe says it is six servings, you could divide the total amount of shrimp by six to figure that out.
Excellent, worked perfectly first time even though I browned the chillies a bit. Tried it with scallops as well just to give it a try and it worked really well as well – with a bit of alteration to the cooking times. Exceptional recipe, thanks, www.thecambridgecounsellor.co.uk
yes maam, that looks wonderful!
I loved your last shrimp recipe, so I'm definitely going to give this one a try!
I love seafood! At a kick of spicy and I am in! Pinning!
Shrimp is my favorite seafood and garlic is my number one ingredient so I love this recipe. I also have a love for spicy foods so this spicy shrimp will be perfect for me.
So simple and looks great, I may try your recipe sometime later this week ,thanks!
Simple and yummy! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
There's a Spanish restaurant in DC called Jaleo that makes garlic shrimp like this and I have recreated it at home (probably with less oil!) but it is so good! Makes me want to make that tonight 🙂
I am sorry for the silly question but I do not eat shrimp and thought I would make this for my husband who does. (it looks delish by the way, wish I did eat shrimp). Ok, so mu question is do you use the shrimp at the market that are fresh and not already cooked or do you use the pre-cooked peeled, deveined, etc? I know silly I just want it to turn out really good for him.
You use fresh, uncooked shrimp for sure
Is the weight of the shrimp prior to peeling…or after prep-work?..This one stuns..really! Cannot wait for dinner!
Peeled weight, enjoy!
I love prawns with anything, and this looks like such a nice little dish using ingredients you normally have at hand – love it 😀 x
Just awesome blog.
They look fabulous .What a beautiful production from your kitchen! I only made Shrimp once, and my results were so-so… I love the idea of mini-versions like you did
Perfect timing! I just took out shrimp to start thawing overnight for dinner tomorrow. I was planning on making Cilantro Lime Shrimp (which is SO good), but I'm going to give this a try instead. Thanks Gina!
I'm allergic to shellfish :-(. Do you have any recommendations for making this with another type of meat r fish?
Try chicken or pork
How do you keep the shrimp from releasing too much water? I love the cilantro lime shrimp recipe but it comes out watery at times..I want to try this one but I am afraid the excess water will dilute the flavor!!
You need a really hot pan, and make sure you cook it in 2 batches. My pan is very large, if yours isn't then make it in 3 batches.
I know it would be different, but do you think this would work well with scallops?
sure
What is the black thing on the photo?
it's the chile, I may have browned it a bit much but it was delicious!
Gina, what type of dried chilies did you use? My family is Mexican so we always have a large variety of dried chilies on hand, there are so many to pick from! Thanks!
I used tree pepper, or chile arbol
That's what I thought from the pic, but just wanted to make sure! Definitely making this tonight! I'm down 20 lbs with your recipes! Thank you for all you do!
That's great to hear!
I wasn't craving shrimp until JUST THIS SECOND. I know what's for dinner. :0)
This sounds terrific! Can't wait to try this!
So simple and sounds so yummy! I'll have to give this a try!