Crunchy Baked Shrimp in Garlic Butter Sauce (Prawns)

Here’s an incredible way to cook shrimp in the oven – baked in a lemon garlic butter white wine sauce, finished with a golden crunchy parmesan breadcrumb topping. People call it Magic Baked Shrimp – because it’s so simple to make, yet it tastes like a million bucks. It’s basically an oven baked Shrimp Scampi!

Baked Shrimp (Prawns)

When you bake shrimp in the oven, you simply can’t achieve that same caramelisation that you get from searing prawns on the stove or grill, which means less flavour.

And frankly, shrimp is pricey compared to other day-to-day proteins. So when I cook it, I’m not going to compromise!

So here are the two things in this recipe that adds an extra edge to compensation for loss of flavour because we can’t caramelise shrimp in the oven:

• White wine reduction flavour base – white wine is the “secret ingredient” that gives many sauces a flavour edge to take them from fine to soooo tasty!! It’s used in the classic recipe for Garlic Prawns/Shrimp and it’s essential to include for Baked Shrimp to make a seriously amazing sauce!!

• That crunchy parmesan breadcrumb topping – Texture! Flavour!

This is an effortless, utterly incredible way to cook shrimp in the oven that’s worthy of company!

What you need to make GREAT baked shrimp

There’s not that many ingredients required – part of the Magic of this recipe!!

For convenience, I use store bought grated parmesan and frozen prawns/shrimp.

Note: The prawns/shrimp shown below ARE raw! They are from Costco and they’re a particular type that are pink when raw.

How to cook prawns / shrimp in the oven (and make them really tasty!)

So here is how I cook prawns / shrimp in the oven:

• Start with a white wine reduction in an empty pan in a hot oven. This creates an exceptional flavour base that’s usually missing from baked shrimp recipes!! 

• Toss shrimp (prawns) with lemon, garlic, butter, salt and pepper;

• Top with parmesan panko breadcrumb topping;

• Bake just 12 minutes.

Yep, it’s that easy. No stirring, no stove splatters, all done in one pan!

And here’s what you end up with:

• Juicy, tender shrimp that are perfectly cooked;

• A pool of incredible lemon-butter-garlic-white wine sauce with an extra flavour boost from the shrimp juices; and

• The crowning glory – a golden crunchy parmesan topping. It just doesn’t get any better than this!!

The sauce that comes with this Baked Shrimp really is amazing. Even if it was just lemon and butter, it would be delicious. But with the white wine reduction, it’s INCREDIBLE!!!

Simple, effortless yet amazing

Recipes like this Baked Shrimp are my jam. It’s incredibly simple, yet utterly delectable.

It’s got it all! Flavour, juiciness, texture, depth of flavour, tang from lemon, savoury from parmesan.

So few ingredients, so effortless.

It’s like…. MAGIC!!! – Nagi x

PS I presume you figured it out from the outset, but just to clarify: prawns = shrimp. 🙂 I’m in Australia, and we call them prawns here. So most of my recipes are titled “prawns (shrimp)” but from time to time, depending on the recipe and given I have a large proportion of US readers, I will title a recipe “shrimp” rather than prawns. 😇

Watch how to make it

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Crispy Baked Shrimp in Lemon Butter Sauce (Prawns)

Author: Nagi

Prep: 10 mins

Cook: 15 mins

Mains

Western

4.98 from 40 votes

Servings4

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Recipe video above. People call this Magic Baked Shrimp - named as such because it's so simple to make, yet it tastes like a million bucks! Shrimp (prawns) baked in a white wine-butter reduction with lemon and garlic, with a crunchy parmesan breadcrumb topping! Don't skip crust bread for dunking in the incredible sauce! It's basically a crunchy version of Shrimp Scampi!

Ingredients

CupsMetric

• ▢ 500g/ 1 lb jumbo prawns/shrimp , peeled and deveined (Note 1)
• ▢ 3/4 cup dry white wine (sub chicken broth)
• ▢ 75g/ 5 tbsp unsalted butter , melted
• ▢ 2 tbsp lemon juice
• ▢ 3 garlic cloves , minced
• ▢ 1/2 tsp salt
• ▢ 1/4 tsp pepper

Crunchy Topping:

• ▢ 3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs (Note 2)
• ▢ 1/4 cup parmesan , finely shredded
• ▢ 1/4 tsp salt
• ▢ 1.5 tbsp olive oil

Garnish:

• ▢ Finely chopped parsley
• ▢ Lemon

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 220°C/430°F (all oven types).
• Pour wine and half the butter into 9 x 13" / 22 x 33cm baking pan (see Note 3 if using glass). Place in oven for 10 minutes to reduce.
• Toss prawns with remaining butter, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Butter may harden - that's ok.
• Mix Crunchy Topping ingredients.
• Remove pan from oven. Add prawns - spread out in single layer, but snug.
• Top with Crunchy Topping. Bake 12 minutes.
• Flick to broiler/grill on high, broil for 1 - 2 minutes (max) to brown top a bit more.
• Sprinkle with parsley. Serve immediately with lemon wedges and crusty bread to mop up the incredible sauce!

Recipe Notes:

1. Prawns/shrimp - use large/jumbo ones if possible. If you only have small or medium ones, reduce cook time by a couple of minutes.

If using frozen, thaw thoroughly and drain off excess liquid. I used frozen pink prawns/shrimp from Costco (they look cooked but they're raw!)

2. Panko breadcrumbs - breadcrumbs that are larger than normal breadcrumbs so you get incredible extra crunch! Find them in the Asian section of everyday supermarkets, and next to ordinary breadcrumbs. But they're cheaper at Asian stores!

3. Glass and heat - Pyrex and Anchor Hocking are fine at 240°C/450°F, and for the short broil/grill time required to brown top a touch. If you're concerned, use metal instead - just use a pan where the shrimp/prawns fit fairly snugly rather than spread out (minimise breadcrumbs dropping into sauce).

4. Nutrition per serving, assuming all sauce is consumed.

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 390cal (20%)Carbohydrates: 11g (4%)Protein: 30g (60%)Fat: 21g (32%)Saturated Fat: 10g (63%)Cholesterol: 352mg (117%)Sodium: 1594mg (69%)Potassium: 163mg (5%)Fiber: 1g (4%)Sugar: 1g (1%)Vitamin A: 424IU (8%)Vitamin C: 9mg (11%)Calcium: 288mg (29%)Iron: 3mg (17%)

Keywords: Baked Prawns, Baked Shrimp, shrimp scampi

Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @RecipeTinEats.

Originally published August 2019. Tidied up for some housekeeping matters July 2020 – no change to recipe!

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Life of Dozer

Too much garlic in this Baked Shrimp for Dozer. So I offered him something else to taste test instead (this Bacon and Egg Muffin – with a whole egg baked inside!) – and he seemed totally ok with it. 😂