Creamy Garlic Prawns are your favourite garlic prawns… PLUS a creamy garlic sauce! Few simple little tricks to make a sauce that’s a cut above your basic recipes – deglaze the pan with a little white wine, a splash of chicken stock and sprinkle of parmesan. Because plump prawns demand the BEST sauce!
Creamy Garlic Prawns
Plump juicy prawns marinated in garlic then seared in butter, finished with a splash of dry white wine and a squeeze of lemon juice is my go-to way to make prawns. That’s this recipe here – Garlic Prawns. A classic that will never go out of style.
Then there’s this version – Garlic Prawns PLUS a creamy garlicky sauce. It’s the jacked up version, a more indulgent one for those nights when you want/need something to impress, and extra sauce to smother your starchy side of choice so you can lavish every single drop of that sauce!
What you need for Creamy Garlic Prawns
This recipe might call for a few ingredients that others don’t – namely wine, parmesan and chicken stock. But these are the 3 things that gives the sauce extra depth of flavour so it stacks up to great restaurants. So don’t skip them!
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Prawns / shrimp – use good quality frozen, thawed, or peel your own (you’ll need 1kg /2lb whole prawns). I used to be a total prawn snob and never used pre peeled frozen ones, but nowadays you can get really good quality ones from the fish markets and good fish mongers;
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White wine – age old trick used by chefs to add extra complexity into sauces by deglazing pans (ie add wine into hot pan after searing meat/prawns to dissolve the precious gold bits stuck to the base of the pan into the sauce = free flavour!). Use any white wine that’s no too fruity (like some Rieslings can be) or too woody (like some Chardonnays). I use Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Gris, I buy discount bottles for cooking purposes. I keep them for weeks/months in the fridge!
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Chicken or vegetable stock/broth – as with the wine, this adds an extra depth of flavour to the sauce. Use low sodium so you can be sure your sauce won’t end up too salty;
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Parmesan – in addition to wine and stock/broth, this is the 3rd power ingredient that makes this creamy garlic sauce extra good. Parmesan is a well known source of umami which is the technical term for “savoury” flavour, and in this recipe it also serves the double purposes of thickening the creamy sauce (instead of using even more cream);
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Cream – thickened / heavy cream is best because it’s thicker than pure cream which means it needs less reducing to thicken. And full fat is better / thicker than light cream, but this recipe works a treat with low fat too (as well as evaporated milk); and
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Garlic – because we’re making a Creamy GARLIC Sauce for the prawns! Some garlic is used to marinate the prawns, some to add flavour into the sauce.
How to make Creamy Garlic Prawns
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Marinate prawns – just a brief 20 minute marinade for the prawns to infuse them with some garlic flavour. Because prawn flesh is so tender, it doesn’t need anymore than that;
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Sear prawns – cook these on medium heat, then remove. Cook in batches to make it easier to control the process so you don’t accidentally overcook them. Nobody likes rubbery overcooked prawns!
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Sauce garlic & deglaze pan – cook some garlic in a little butter in the same pan (this gets really good garlic flavour into the sauce) then add the wine;
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Reduce wine – simmer rapidly on high heat until the wine is reduced down and you no longer smell the harsh “winey” smell;
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Finish sauce – add the stock and reduce that down too, before adding cream. I do this before the cream because it’s faster to reduce it first by itself before adding the cream. Then once the cream is added, it only takes 2 minutes or so to reduce and thicken;
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Return prawns into sauce to reheat them gently and bring it all together, then it’s ready to be served!
Here’s a close up photo of the sauce so you can see the thickness. Though actually, it’s a bit thicker than ideal – the sauce had cooled a bit by the time I took that photo.
What to serve with Creamy Garlic Prawns
Serving on a starchy bed worthy of soaking in that creamy sauce is essential. The best is mashed potatoes – to fully optimise the eating experience of every drop of sauce.
Also good with:
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rice – try it with this Seasoned Rice, though plain white rice or brown rice will be just fine too;
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creamy Mashed Sweet Potato (someone please remind me to publish the recipe, I have had it waiting to go for months!);
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Creamy Cauliflower Mash (low-carb life essential – and it’s MUCH tastier than you think!);
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soft white rolls for mopping plates clean (use this No Yeast Sandwich Bread if you have no yeast or no time to wait for dough to rise)
If you want this over pasta, best to use this Creamy Garlic Prawn Pasta recipe instead (you need to toss pasta with sauce to get the creamy sauce to stick to the pasta).
Also on the very edge of the above photo, you spy greenery which is essential to round out the meal. On that occasion, it was a handful of mixed leafy greens tossed with my Basic Salad Dressing but you could get a little fancier and use a French Vinaigrette or Italian Dressing, or a simple Balsamic Dressing.
Otherwise, browse through Vegetable Sides and pick a dish based on whatever veg you’ve got. There will be new veggie side dishes added regularly to increase the selection! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Creamy Garlic Prawns (Shrimp)
Ingredients
Garlic marinated prawns:
- 500g / 1lb peeled prawns/shrimp , large/jumbo best (Note 1)
- 1 garlic cloves , finely minced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
Cooking prawns:
- 15g / 1 tbsp unsalted butter
Creamy garlic sauce:
- 2 garlic clove , finely minced
- 15g / 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup dry white wine (or more chicken stock) (Note 2)
- 1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock/broth , low sodium
- 1 cup heavy/thickened cream
- 1/2 cup parmesan , finely grated (grate your own, Note 3)
- 2 tbsp parsley , finely chopped
Instructions
Marinate Prawns:
- Place prawns, garlic, oil and pepper in a bowl. Toss to coat, set aside 20 minutes if time permits (no longer).
- Stir through salt just prior to cooking.
Cook prawns:
- Melt 15g / 1 tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add half the prawns and cook for 1 minute on each side, then remove.
- Repeat with remaining prawns (you shouldn't need more butter), then remove. Scrape out excess remaining garlic from pan and add to cooked prawns.
Creamy Sauce:
- Add butter into skillet and let it melt. Add garlic and stir for 30 seconds or until light golden.
- Add white wine, turn up heat to high. Bring to simmer while stirring base of the pan to dissolve all the golden bits into the sauce. Cook 1 minute or until it most evaporates and the winey smell is gone.
- Add chicken stock and reduce until mostly gone and just a thin layer remains on base of skillet.
- Add cream, then simmer on medium heat for 2 minutes until reduced and slightly thickened.
- Stir through parmesan, then add the prawns back in. Taste sauce and see if more salt and pepper is needed.
- Serve sprinkled with parsley, over mashed potato or something to soak up that fabulous sauce!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Life of Dozer and Life of Nagi, perfectly captured in one still.
Total HIT in my house! Thank you again for your quick & yummy recipes
I love the the prawn pasta but because I didn’t have garlic I put mijn Chinese chilli and garlic sauce in and I was nice it had a calm kick to it.
Yumms!!!
I went to the fish market and bought large tiger prawns, followed directions and only cooked the prawns for one minute in the fry pan.
My goodness. Yumms. The creamy prawns are so tasty and I’m keeping the left over sauce for something else !
Absolutely fantastic. !!
I absolutely love this recipe! I made it for my family this Christmas and they LOVED it! Thank you so so much!
Nagi
You are without a doubt my favourite food blogger.
Made this one tonight and is it now another recipe saved to my favourites list.
Best garlic prawns I have eaten and served with your seasoned rice recipe too.
I thought it was about time I put up a comment as I use so many of your recipes so please keep up the amazing work you do!
Hi Nagi,
Made this for dinner this evening. Doubled the recipe. It was so darned good. I served it over cous cous and peas. Everyone loved it and asked me to make it again. Thank you for another great recipe.
There is a South African seafood restaurant chain that has outlets here in Cyprus and they have a starter on their menu called garlic and cheese prawns.
I substituted crumbled feta for half of the Parmesan and it came out virtually identical!! One of my favourite dishes and now I can make it at home 😍 doesn’t end to be served with anything other than a couple of slices of crusty bread to mop up the sauce 😋
Just made this for my Hubbies dinner tonight, I don’t like prawns, or much else really, he is sitting here enjoying it as he did last time , great recipe, have made a few of yours keep them coming.
Nagi your idea to add grated parmesan to the sauce is genius. It turned the sauce from “Wow” to “Kapow”. We loved your recipe, thank you.
Damn it I brought the finely grated packet parmesan 😢 i didn’t read the grate your own part in brackets 😖
Has anyone tried it with that??
wonderful recipe – thanks! served it over zoodles. just as yummy the next day for lunch
Delicious! Creamy and tender prawns, and absolutely delicious sauce. Perfect with rice and a nice glass of white 🥰
This was the most amazing garlic prawns we have ever had, thank you Nagi another perfect recipe x
This shrimp was absolutely delicious! So quick and easy to make. Served it with rice and asparagus. Glad I doubled the recipe. Looking forward to the leftovers. Thanks so much for this amazing recipe!
Exceptionally good! So delish! I really appreciate all the attention to detail in your recipes, making it easier for your audience to follow. As soon as a question pops in my mind, you have already explained it in your side notes! I’m relating after a couple of recipes that’s been tried and true. The pics are mouth watering and your sense of humor is delightful. And I love how u include your fur baby in the mix. And it all started with just my search for a good potato salad recipe. So, thank you Nagi.
Oh my this is a winner!! The flavor is amazing. I used Holland cooking white wine and it was so good!!
This is my 4 recipe from your site and so far all 4 have been outstanding!!
Thank you
Yes absolutely perfect
Delicious! Amazing! Yummy! I’m already planning this sauce with different proteins. So good! Thank you, Nagi. ❣
Yummo! Made a big batch to serve with brown rice and steamed broccoli – rice soaked up sauce beautifully. Doubled the garlic – as I do in EVERY recipe – but, hey, I’m in Victoria so it’s not like I’ll see anyone to offend them with garlic breath!!
Forgot to mention I served this with sautéed cauliflower rice. A perfect low carb meal!
OMG just finished making and eating this. May be the best prawn recipe I have ever made. I halved the recipe because there are just two of us but won’t next time because I could eat double of this. Thanks from Canada!