Name: How to Sauté Shrimp on the Stove
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons unsalted butter; 1 tablespoon olive oil; 4 teaspoons finely minced garlic; 2 pounds large (31/35), extra-large (21/25 count), or jumbo (16 to 20) shrimp (, peeled and deveined); Big pinch red pepper flakes ((optional)); Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper (to taste); Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon ((optional)); 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

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Shrimp are exceedingly popular for good reason. Delicately flavored, slightly sweet, a bit salty, with an appealing firm-crisp texture. They cook up quickly in a skillet or pan, and can star in many dishes and many cuisines. Plus, if you get your hands on the big ones (yes, often a splurge, but what a splurge) those are not only a treat but a showstopper.

Simple sautéed shrimp, perhaps with a splash of lemon juice, some zest, maybe some red pepper flakes, possibly some parsley or another fresh herb, can be a main course on their own, perhaps served over rice, pasta, grits, or polenta. Sautéed shrimp are also wonderful added into grain salads, stirred into risottos, and as part of stir fries. Or, think about finishing these with a drizzle of Easy Lemon Butter Sauce.

Frozen Shrimp

A bag of frozen shrimp is one of the money-in-the-bank ingredients that I always have on hand. Don’t think for a minute frozen shrimp are of lesser quality; almost all shrimp has been frozen and defrosted before it hits our kitchens. Sure, if you’re lucky and live by a coast you might get your hands on some fresh-never-frozen shrimp, and by all means you should grab them. But otherwise, even most of the shrimp you buy at a good fish store has been frozen.

Make sure you defrost shrimp in your refrigerator, not on the counter, for safety. You can also defrost them by running cold water over them in a colander.

Garlicky Shrimp and Broccoli with Meyer Lemon

Shrimp Sizes

Shrimp range widely in size. They are sold by the quantity per pound, and then given corresponding names like medium or jumbo. However, the name attached to the quantity per pound varies from brand to brand, market to market.

Here’s a good scale to use, with the two numbers representing a range of how many shrimp per pound that size will yield. If a recipe provides a count per pound, that’s usually a more reliable measure to go by than a name.

Small: 51/60 per pound
Medium: 41/40 per pound
Large: 31/35 per pound
Extra Large: 26/30 per pound
Jumbo: 16/20 per pound
Colossal: 13/15 per pound
Super Colossal: U-12 (meaning under 12 per pound)
Extra Colossal: U-10 (meaning under 10 per pound . . . also meaning invite me over for dinner)

For some recipes, smaller are just fine, possibly even more desirable. For instance, if you are cutting them into pieces, as in for a shrimp stir fried rice, you shouldn’t spend extra money to buy larger shrimp and cut them up. But if you are making a shrimp cocktail, or perhaps shrimp scampi, and you can spare the extra dollars, the big shrimp make quite an impression, and usually are juicier but still retain a snappy texture. They are also harder to overcook.

How to Saute Shrimp on the Stove: Simple sautéed shrimp can be a main course on their own. They are also wonderful added into grain salads, stir fries, and more.

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It’s up to you whether you want to leave the tails on or off. It depends on how you plan to serve and eat the shrimp. Leaving the tails on makes the shrimp appear a big bigger, and makes them easier to eat with your hands if that’s the goal. But do remember to put out a small dish for people to discard the tails afterwards. No tails means the shrimp are easier to eat as part of a dish, a pasta for instance.

How to Saute Shrimp

I like to use a combo of butter and olive oil to cook shrimp in most cases, but you are welcome to use all oil (as in when you are making a stir fry, and in that case usually vegetable or peanut oil) or all butter (possibly for a French dish). Either/or, or a combo works perfectly.

Heat the butter and/or oil in very large skillet over medium heat. Sauté the garlic for 1 minute, then add the shrimp and season with salt and pepper. Space out the shrimp so they are in a single layer. Let cook for a couple of minutes, then stir or flip and redistribute the shrimp so that the raw sides of the shrimp are against the pan.

Tongs are a great tool for this; move quickly, turn them in the order they hit the pan (noting if there are any hot spots in the pan and if some of the shrimp are cooking more quickly than others; flip those first). This will allow the whole batch of shrimp to cook more evenly. For smaller shrimp you may want to use a spatula since flipping each small shrimp individually is a bit time consuming.

Don’t crowd the pan — you want only a single layer of shrimp. Cook them in batches if necessary.

Large shrimp will take about 2 minutes per side, extra-large 2 or 3 minutes per side, and jumbo 3 or 4 minutes per side.

How to Know When Shrimp Are Cooked

When the shrimp have turned an opaque pinkish-white, and the inside is just barely white all the way thorough, perhaps with a slightly barely pink center they are ready to be removed from the heat. They will continue to cook slightly after you take them off the heat and even after you removed them from the pan, so the middle will cook through.

Serve sauteed shrimp over white rice, brown rice, couscous, quinoa, or millet. Any kind of potatoes would also go well, from mashed to roasted. You may also be interested in Perfect Pan Seared Scallops!

Also try Air Fryer Shrimp.

What to Serve with Sauteed Shrimp

Other Shrimp Recipes:

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