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This quick and easy Shrimp Scampi with Broccoli Orzo is a dish the whole family will love and it’s ready in under 30 minutes!
Shrimp Orzo
Shrimp scampi is usually swimming in butter, this lightened version is just as delicious, using only a touch of butter and lots of fresh lemon. My kids love Pasta and Broccoli, sometimes I make it as a main dish, but also makes a great side dish using any small pasta shape like orzo or ditalini which worked great in this dish. If you want an easy way to bake your shrimp instead, you can try this Easy Baked Shrimp recipe.
How To Make Shrimp Orzo
And of course, if you’re observing Lent and looking for more seafood dishes, this is perfect. You can also check out all the Lenten-friendly dishes here for inspiration!
Helpful Tips:
- I like adding crushed red pepper flakes to give it a little heat, but I would leave this out for the kids.
- Buy shrimp still frozen and defrost as needed. Most shrimp arrives at stores frozen so you may as well buy it frozen and defrost it as needed so it as fresh as possible.
- To thaw frozen shrimp, transfer the shrimp to the refrigerator the night before or run under cool water to defrost quicker.
More Shrimp Recipes You May Like:
- Honey Garlic Shrimp
- Cilantro Lime Shrimp
- Shrimp Scampi Foil Packets
- Shrimp and Zucchini with Bowtie Pasta
- Sheetpan Shrimp with Broccolini and Tomatoes
Shrimp Scampi with Broccoli Orzo
This quick and easy Shrimp Scampi with Broccoli Orzo is a dish the whole family will love and it's ready in under 30 minutes!
Yield: 4 servings
Serving Size: 4 oz shrimp 3/4 cup pasta
Ingredients
Pasta:
- 5 ounces uncooked orzo pasta, or gluten-free pasta
- 3 cups of roughly chopped fresh broccoli florets only, no stems
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- kosher salt and fresh pepper to taste
Shrimp:
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 pound peeled and deveined jumbo shrimp, tails removed
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Pinch red pepper flakes
- Juice from 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
- grated parmesan cheese, for serving
Instructions
- Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and broccoli and cook according to package directions for al dente. Reserve about 1/2 cup liquid before draining.
- Drain orzo and broccoli in a colander and add the oil to the pot over medium heat.
- Add the garlic and cook until golden, 30 seconds. Return the drained orzo and stir to combine all.
- Add 1/4 cup of the reserved liquid, or more as needed and cook 1 minute, stirring.
- Meanwhile, in a large skillet melt butter and oil over medium heat. When the butter is melted, add garlic and sauté 30 seconds.
- Add shrimp and season with 1/8 teaspoon salt and pepper. Cook 2 minutes, flip, then add another 1/8 teaspoon salt and pepper. Cook an additional 2 to 3 minutes or until shrimp are opaque and cooked through.
- Remove from heat and add red pepper (if using), lemon juice, and parsley. Toss to evenly coat.
- To serve, divide the shrimp and sauce over 3/4 cup orzo.
Last Step:
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Nutrition
Serving: 4 oz shrimp 3/4 cup pasta, Calories: 282 kcal, Carbohydrates: 20.5 g, Protein: 27 g, Fat: 10 g, Saturated Fat: 3 g, Cholesterol: 180 mg, Sodium: 251.5 mg, Fiber: 2 g, Sugar: 2 g
Categories:
Photo credit: Jess Larson
This is a very wonderful recipe. Very satisfying and simply delicious.
It is also very easy to make and it is made in a short time.
Made this and it was delicious. Followed others advise and boiled the pasta and broccoli in chicken broth. Used elbow pasta because I couldn’t find orzo at my store.
Finally made this one and it is a favorite. I had whole wheat orzo, used frozen thawed shrimp which is nice and quick. I used more broccoli florets –10 ounces which was more then 3 cups but we like the extra veggie in this. Used just the one tab butter–*(light one) and no oil in this, actually didn’t use as many garlic –just two large as I misread the recipe as I went along but actually found that to be plenty.
this was so delicious. cooked the orzo in chicken stock and steamed the broccoli bits separately, based on the previous suggestions. babies and wife loved it!
Made this for the first time tonight using frozen shrimp from Costco. It was so delicious, my 11 year old son and I both loved it. I add some ghee to the pan when cooking the shrimp and added a little pecorino Romano to the orzo and broccoli. Definitely going to be making this regularly!
One of my favorites. It’s always in the rotation. So quick and easy to make.
Can you use chicken breasts and how much?
Can you use chicken breasts in this recipe and how much?
This was delicious!
Very good. Next time I would add the broccoli to the boiling orzo a bit later, not at the same time. Yum, lots of lemon juice tops it off. Will make again.
Loves this recipe! So easy and delicious!
Delicious! I followed other reviewers’ advice and cooked the orzo and broccoli in stock (Better than Bouillion). I will say that this fed two adults and I wouldn’t say it is four plentiful servings. 5oz of orzo is only 2.5 servings, and it still felt like a lightened up and healthy dinner even split among only 2 people. The orzo/broccoli base would work well with a variety of other proteins.
This was so good. I did two bags of broccoli to bulk it up a bit and I’m glad I did. Very flavorful and will definitely be something I make often!
I thought this was very bland. Needed more garlic, butter(unfortunately) and flavor
Made this tonight and followed the recommendation from someone below and cooked the tails (instead of water I used chicken broth) then cooked the orzo/broccoli with that… omg!
This is so easy and delicious! My 11 year old couldn’t stop saying “yum” as she ate her dinner. I’ll definitely be adding this to my recipe rotation!
Perfect!!
Wonderful dish. The broccoli and orzo make a great base for this.
This was absolutely delicious! Hubby said it was the best shrimp meal ever! Wow, for sure a keeper! I also forgot to add the cheese.
Very good. Salt the pasta water. And I like heavy red pepper. Would make again. Very easy!
My entire family LOVED this dish! I used pearl couscous because I did not have any orzo. Delicious!
LOVED this recipe! A great dish for Lent and so easy. Also loved the points calculated for WW! My husband thought it was Restaurant quality!
This was totally awesome. I did a trick I learned in culinary school. After I peeled the shrimp, I took the shrimp shells and simmered them. After a ½ hour, drain and reserve the liquid to boil the orzo/broccoli.
What did you simmer the shrimp shells in?
Sounds like she used the water she planned to boil the broccoli and orzo in, is that what you mean?
Made this today and it turned out great. I didn’t have fresh parsley so used dried flakes and no fresh lemon so used from a bottle. Also forgot to add the cheese…despite all this, it tasted great . Nice and light too. Will definitely make again,
Do you think I could use frozen broccoli florets for this?
I used the frozen broccoli and chopped it, Stems and all.
This was AMAZING! I will definitely be making this again! So much flavor!
This was so easy and all three kids (7,5, and 3) ate it up so that is great! I did need to add some more seasoning and salt, my only reason for a 4.5 (but rounded up to a 5 since it passed the toddler test) ☺️
This was absolutely delicious. Didn’t have lemon so used lime. Big hit with my husband . Definitely will make this again
Another 5 start dinner.
Comes together so fast it almost feels like cheating!
I cut the jumbo shrimp in half so there were big chunks .
We loved it so much!
Shrimp Scampi is an American-Italian dish, and is usually made with white wine. Italians don’t use cheese with seafood, b/c they say it interferes with the delicate flavor of fish. Personally, I’m a cheese lover, so I disregard that rule even though I’m Italian, and depending upon the fish which I’m serving. This is a pretty decent & easy recipe, but I made a few minor changes. I used Wild Rice cooked in low sodium chicken broth, and we prefer Romano Cheese, so that’s what I used.
I took a recommendation from below and cook the pasta and broccoli in chicken broth, and it made all the difference! Also, add the cheese!
Both of us loved this despite the fact that I forgot the cheese. Adding to my favorites. The only thing I would change is that I used refrigerated garlic in a jar and I should have used fresh. Fresh stuff can make all the difference in the world.. I would definitely add the cheese next time too.
This recipe was great. I used grated zucchini and yellow squash instead of broccoli because that’s what I had and it was wonderful. I followed another person’s advice and put some old bay on the shrimp. Yum!
Okay this was a huge hit for the whole family!! We gobbled it all up! Followed the recipe exactly and loved it. Will be making this frequently!
Another easy but awesome recipe ! Followed the recipe exactly! Loved it – thanks again for becoming my GO-TO recipe resource!
A wonderful light dish. Definitely needs the cheese to bring out the flavors.
It is quick and easy and is now One Of our favorites!
This is my very favorite scampi recipe. We absolutely love it. Yesterday I made it with asparagus instead of broccoli and it was just as good. (To steam the asparagus instead of immersing it in water, I put a steamer basket on top of the boiling pasta.) I keep wanting to try other shrimp recipes but keep coming back to this one. It’s a keeper!
I forgot to say I added 1/4 cup parmesan cheese to the Orzo mix and doubled the garlic in the shrimp. But, to me, the secret is the freshly squeezed whole lemon.
I usually love skinny taste but found this sadly bland. Maybe cook the orzo in broth next time?
The shrimp was very flavorful but the broccoli/orzo was mushy even though I cooked it per the orzo instructions. I might just do regular rice next time
Made this last night for dinner, cooked my orzo and broccoli in chicken broth and it was delicious. Next time going to try chicken with it
This was SO delicious. I made as listed except that I used garlic salt in place of kosher salt (didn’t use as much) and I added 1/4 cup parmesan cheese to the orzo mix.
I’m sorry to say, but this was pretty bland and tasteless. The pasta lacked salt and pepper and Parmesan cheese. I don’t think I’d make it again….
I added some sun-dried tomatoes to the pot with the orzo and broccoli. I didn’t put the orzo and broccoli back into the pot, just added it to the skillet with shrimp and extra garlic.
Just made this and used angel hair instead of orzo. Everything else I followed as is – delicious quick recipe !
I’ll add this to my line up ! Thanks 😊
Husband didn’t care for this one as much. However, I reminded him that there was supposed to be sauce to put on the orzo and broccoli. I did something wrong because there wasn’t any to put on. I will try it again and maybe then I can figure out what I did wrong
This was excellent! I like that it didn’t make a huge amount. Listening to others saying it needed spiced up, after the shrimp were done and before mixing them in the orzo/broccoli, I sprinkled them with Old Bay seasoning. It blended in nicely with the other flavors and you can use as much or as little as you want. This recipe is going in my keeper file!
Made this last night and it was sooo so good and super easy (I am culinarily challenged lol). As always, thanks Gina for all your amazing recipes. I have tried other blogs and no one comes anywhere close to yours! I love the way you cook and your recipes make getting into the kitchen less scary. So excited to try the creamy shrimp & celery salad for lunch this weekend.
To anyone doing WW, I highly recommend getting the Skinnytaste meal planner. For some reason, if I write it in the book, I stick to the plan for the week. Love it!
I agree. I’m using the Skinnytaste meal planner to help me LEARN to plan meals in this challenging time. This week I wrote in what we actually ate for dinner – but in the planner portion – as a way to ease into what I need to make a new HABIT. Also recorded all I actually ate in the Calories/points tracker. This week my goal is to Plan and shop for at least two healthy meals with leftovers. THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO, GINA!
This was just ok for us. Shrimp was flavorful, but a little dry, and orzo with broccoli had just a hint of garlic flavor, but otherwise pretty bland. For that many points, it should be something we really love.
I LOVED this recipe!!!!
This is such a delicious recipe. Very filling
Oops!!!! I accidentally bought cooked shrimp. I will try to season them anyway and just reheat with that sauce and seasoning. We’ll see if that is okay. I have tasted and seasoned along the way so far and I like the broccoli and orzo as my side regardless of the shrimp.
Gina, this is a homerun! We couldn’t stop commenting on how much we love it! It’s definitely going to be one of my top recipes. I need to avoid gluten, so I changed out the orzo, which I haven’t found in GF, for Barilla rotini. It’s one of the best gluten free pasta dishes I’ve had. We think the rotini is a great size for this dish because it creates a little diversity in each bite. I misread the recipe and added the garlic to the broccoli and pasta after I drained it. Seems like it gave all the dish a great flavor lift! We even forgot the parmesan. Thanks!!
I am so glad you all enjoyed it! Just FYI, Delallo makes a GF orzo.
Made this today … used chicken broth to boil orzo and broccoli in to give more flavor and it turned out great ! Everyone enjoyed .
My husband and I loved this dish it looked just like the picture. Yum will make it again.
This was great!! I upped the seasonings but that was all I changed. Definitely a repeater! So quick too!
Will you be coverting recipes to reflect new points ie. green, blue, purple?
Yes, working on it! 🙂
Gina! This was perfect! Used ditalini because this was all we had, and my picky husband loved it! He thought the broccoli was avocado, haha. Anyway, he never eats pasta and seafood together, but this was a grand slam. Pasta water and Pecorino Romano made it perfect. Thanks for a fantastic recipe!
This was so good and a hit with the whole family! I added a little Parmesan to the orzo but I think we could have easily done without it!
In cup measurements, how much would 5 oz of orzo be? I don’t have a way to measure it , and my box of orzo is 16 oz.
1/8 Cup. Or: 1 oz = 2 Tablespoons, so 10 T. But honestly if my box is 16oz I’d eyeball 1/4 of the box. (4×4=16 so you’d eyeball “about” 4 oz). Hope this helps.
OOPS! Sorry. 1 oz = 1/8C. So 5/8thsC for this recipe.
I just weighed out 5 oz on my food scale. It is EXACTLY equal to 1 exact cup. I weighed and measured it. 1 cup=5 oz
Made this tonight and I will be taking it for lunch tomorrow. The sprinkle of cheese at the end truly adds a new depth of flavor. Instead of using just water to boil the broccoli and orzo, I added chicken broth. I feared that the water would be bland. I added broccoli to the boiling orzo with 3 minutes left till al dente. I didn’t want the broccoli to be too soft. Loved ❤️ this dish!!
Loved it!!
I made this tonight and it was great! Thanks! Definitely a keeper. I made it with Tubetini (or however it’s spelled) instead of orzo. I love how I already had most the ingredients.
This dish got a thumbs-up from the whole family, including an “outstanding” from my son.
Does anyone know what the smart points would be if you omitted the olive oil and butter? I plan on using olive oil spray only.
Thank you
This was an easy and delicious summer meal! We will definitely be making it again. The shrimp was particularly flavorful. I did need to add more seasoning to the orzo and broccoli. It is so simple to “doctor” it up a little more! I just put some more salt, red pepper flakes, and parmesan it. My husband and I really loved it!!! It’s a winner! Thanks Gina!
I agree with some of the others that the broccoli orzo doesn’t have much flavour, but I just added some spices and that did the trick just fine. The shrimp were amazing though, so both of these combined still makes for a hit in my book!
Has anyone made this with scallops instead of shrimp?
I got large shrimp instead of jumbo. Does that change the cook time? This is my first time cooking shrimp and it’s for my mom’s birthday!
Just cook the shrimp until its no longer opaque and its nice and pink. dont overcook though or you’ll get rubbery shrimp
I never leave comments but I had to because this recipe was SO GOOD!! Would make again for sure!
My family loved this recipe!
I know the goal of this delicious looking dinner, for it to be healthy, but can you substitute rice for orzo?
Sure, if you wish.
Delicious. Will definitely make it again.
The broccoli and orzo was bland. I will definitely make agai, but will spice things up a bit more.
This is a keeper! It is delish!
I have made this twice now and it is truly simple and delicious!!! It is a must try!!
Easy and so delicious. The shrimp and sauce has so much flavor. Thanks Gina!
I reallly wanted to like this recipe… and I have made several other recipes from this site that have been fantastic. But this one fell flat for me and my family. The shrimp itself was decent but the broccoli orzo had almost no flavor. I even increased the garlic. We won’t be making this one again.
Terrific recipe. I used asparagus as I don’t like broccoli and cooked it in the boiling water first, (as it would have overcooked), then removed it and followed with the directions.
Just cooked this for my daughter and family(5), my granddaughter said “ this is really good”. I doubled the recipe, at their home visiting so I cook when I’m here.
Our whole family loved this including our 7 year old. This recipe is a keeper!
Great!
Hard to believe this is so healthy- it was delicious! Perfect spring meal. Great way to double up on veggies on the plate as a main & adding a veggie side. I used GF orzo & followed the recipe.
This was so good. I didn’t have any fresh broccoli so I used frozen Spears and cut up only the tops. Everything else was the same. My husband and I had to eat the whole thing. So we each had 2 servings. Too yummy not to.
I love this!! I made it and it was a hit with the whole family.
So good and easy to make. My son had leftovers and said it was even better the next day. Next time I am making it a day ahead and see if I can see the difference. Thanks for all the great dinners!!!
So good! Very light and fresh tasting. I did use a bag of pearled broccoli that contained stems the second time I made it and it was still just as good, and easier than chopping up fresh broccoli. Already made it twice and will keep making it, hubby loved it too!
Love this dish – simple and delicious. I roasted the broccoli along with some grape tomatoes and that added another layer of flavor.
Hello! Do you have a suggestion for if the shrimp is precooked and frozen? Our grocer only had precooked in stock!
Thanks!
No it should be raw.
The calorie count comes out to 349 per serving in My Fitness Pal. Why the huge difference?
I also only had pre-cooked shrimp, so I just heated them through in the pan, and made sure they didn’t over cook. Came out just as good, I thought!
The sauce on these is everything. So much flavor. Everyone loved these & asked to have them again.
This was so good and easy! Kids loved it.
The broccoli orzo was pretty incredible!
I made this tonight and it was wonderful!!!! My only addition was I also added fresh spinach after I sauteed the shrimp. I did not have fresh parsley so I added some dry. But fresh would have improved it. The broccoli cooked with the orzo was a great idea. We will have this regularly now! I may try scallops too or a combo shrimp and scallops. Like the author I regularly make brocco!I and pasta!! Thanks for this wonderful recipe!
Fast and the family loved it. #keeper
Followed the recipe exactly – this was delicious! Very easy to put together, and very flavorful. My husband and I enjoyed it! Thank you, Gina, for another great recipe!
I’m having trouble with the calorie total. I entered it (as a recipe) into MyFitnessPal and I’ve read over it three times and it’s coming up as 337 calories, that’s a big difference, and there shouldn’t be any variance with the ingredients that are listed. Help?
Same here! Mine came out to even higher calories on My Fitness Pal…I don’t think the calories listed here are correct.
Made this last night. Delicious!
Delicious and super healthy. Super easy to make.
Made this for dinner tonight- I didn’t change a thing and it was perfect. Paired it with a chopped Asian salad and Sauvignon Blanc.
OMG this was so delicious. One big advantage I had was getting fresh gulf shrimp. (Vacationing in Florida). So fresh, easy, healthy. YUM YUM
Could you recommend a substitute for the broccoli? We love it…but we’ve had a lot lately and we need a break. LOL!
Added some asparagus tips last time I made it which worked really well 🙂
chopped spinach
Me too ( after copying your idea) … 😃
Perfect!!!
Made this for dinner tonight. Very quick, though recipe confused me with separate garlic and oil amounts. It didn’t matter, however, because I just blended everything together and then grated Parmesan on the top of each serving. I used a very large lemon that produced nearly 5 tablespoons of juice and it was very tasty. Too tasty, perhaps, because for us the yield was 2 servings!
Greetings from Sydney, Australia. I will be trying this yummy-sounding recipe tonight. I am already giving it 5 stars, as I have yet to be disappointed with your wonderful recipes. I’m anxiously awaiting the May arrival of your latest cookbook. Thank you!
Be careful if you have to be gluten free. Orzo is not typically GF (although you can find GF brands)
Thanks for another great seafood recipe! The hubs and I are trying to move to the Mediterranean diet so I’m always on the hunt for fish/seafood and bean-based recipes.
Hi Gina,
This recipe sounds great. A lighter healthier scampi. Would you read thru the recipe? I think this is an error. The garlic is cooked twice and no mention of when to add the reserved water. Would love to make this but a bit confused.
Thank you,
Andrea
The water is mentioned in step 4. I separated the ingredients so it’s less confusing, but yes, the garlic should be listed twice.
Finally something new to eat with shrimps, a nnot famous shape of pasta. Perfect balance of nutrients here, very nice.
Dinner tonight!
What do you think of broccoli rabe in this dish? No broccoli in the fridge, but there is broccoli rabe.
Sure
Used the Broccoli Rabe. Delicious. Definitely going in the recipe rotation. Thank You again for all your great recipes.
Do they make a gluten-free Orzo? If not, this isn’t a GF dish……It sounds amazing, though!
Yes, Delallo makes one.
I’m subbing in Lotus unseasoned ramen noodles cuz that’s what I have. They’re vegan and GF. Easy switch and shouldn’t alter the points or the flavor one bit.
Is there a point where you add the broccoli back in or do you just plate it when serving?
You sort of mash it all together.
Looks delicious….planning on making it this week.
Tried this tonight and my whole family loved it – my husband said to make a double batch next time!
Glad you enjoyed it!
The recipe would be easier to read if the ingredients were separated for the broccoli pasta and the scampi since oil and garlic are used in both but in different quantities at different times. How much is the juice of 1 lemon? That could vary quite a lot. Looks like a lovely dish; looking forward to making it!
You can surely gauge the juice of a lemon? Doubt an approx measurement would alter the outcome of the recipe.
It may not but for those of us that are control freaks………..well, just sayin’. LOL LOL
But I have had lemons produce from 1 T to up to almost 3 T of juice. Depends on the lemons I guess. Anyway inexperenced cooks might feel more comfortable knowing exact measurements.
Gina is the Shrimp weight 1-lb. before peeling or after? Thanks
peeled