Weeknight Dinners Seafood

Garlic Butter Shrimp Linguine

Name: Garlic Butter Shrimp Linguine
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Italian-American
Ingredients: 400 g dried linguine; 450 g raw peeled king prawns, tails on; 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced; 60 g unsalted butter, cold and cubed; 1 tsp dried chilli flakes; 1 unwaxed lemon, zested and juiced; 30 g flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped; 60 ml extra-virgin olive oil; Fine sea salt and black pepper

Shrimp cook in the time it takes the pasta water to boil if you start them in a cold pan with olive oil and garlic.

By Dana Reyes

Tested at least twice · Updated September 2026

Garlic Butter Shrimp Linguine — A single pan, twelve minutes, and the kind of sauce that clings to every strand of pasta.

10 min

Prep time

15 min

Cook time

Serves

4.8

1,152 RATINGS

Why this works on a Tuesday

Shrimp cook in the time it takes the pasta water to boil if you start them in a cold pan with olive oil and garlic. That is the whole trick: the garlic toasts slowly in the oil while the shrimp poach in their own juices, so nothing burns.

The butter goes in off the heat, along with lemon zest and a splash of the starchy pasta water. Stirred hard, it becomes a sauce instead of a puddle of fat. Parsley at the end keeps the whole dish from feeling too rich.

Ingredients

Makes 4

400 g dried linguine
450 g raw peeled king prawns, tails on
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
60 g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 unwaxed lemon, zested and juiced
30 g flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
60 ml extra-virgin olive oil
Fine sea salt and black pepper

Instructions

About 25 min from start to finish

Bring a large pot of well-salted water to the boil and cook the linguine 1 minute less than the packet instructions say. Reserve 200 ml of the cooking water before draining.

While the pasta cooks, set a large frying pan over medium heat with the olive oil and garlic. Add the prawns, chilli flakes and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes until the prawns are pink and just firm.

Tip the drained pasta into the pan along with the butter, lemon zest and a splash of the reserved water. Toss vigorously for 1 minute until the butter melts and coats the pasta.

Remove from the heat. Add the lemon juice, parsley and plenty of black pepper. Toss once more, adding more pasta water if the sauce looks tight.

Serve immediately with extra parsley over the top and crusty bread on the side.

Testing notes & substitutions

Three rounds of testing turned up three things worth knowing before you start cooking.

Frozen prawns

Thaw them fully and pat dry first. If they go into the pan wet, they boil instead of sear and the garlic turns bitter.

No linguine?

Spaghetti, fettuccine or even orecchiette work. The sauce is clingy enough for any shape with a little surface texture.

Make it less spicy

Omit the chilli flakes and finish with a pinch of lemon zest instead. The dish will still taste bright.

Questions we get a lot

Can I use cooked prawns?

No — they turn rubbery when tossed in the hot pan. Raw prawns are essential for the sauce and the right texture.

How do I stop the garlic from burning?

Start it in cold oil and keep the heat at medium. If it begins to colour too fast, lift the pan off the heat for 10 seconds.

Can I double this?

Yes, but use two pans or a very wide one. Crowding makes the prawns steam instead of cook evenly.

Dana Reyes

Dana has cooked professionally for eleven years and has been testing recipes for Hearth & Thyme since 2019. She writes about weeknight cooking, slow breads, and the small techniques that quietly change a dish. Every recipe she publishes is cooked at least twice, in an ordinary home oven.