This garlicky, creamy and buttery, rich and classic shrimp scampi pasta will be a super hit at your dinner table this holiday season. This is a perfect dish for all seafood and pasta lovers.
The Cheesecake Factory Bistro style copycat Shrimp Scampi with Pasta is for all my lovely readers to make your dinner table more impressive this Thanksgiving and Christmas. Whether you are serving dinner for a large crowd or a small family of 2 or 4, add this easy dish to your holiday menu. This is going to be a crowd pleaser.
This version of shrimp scampi is without wine. But if you prefer to use wine, then feel free to check my recipe on shrimp scampi pasta with wine here.
How do you make shrimp scampi from scratch?
In a large bowl, add flour, milk, paprika powder, garlic powder, salt, and herbs and mix well. To this, add fresh (or thawed) and deveined shrimp and mix well until all shrimp are coated in the flour mixture.
In a nonstick pan on medium heat, add olive oil or butter. Once the oil is hot, or butter is melted, add shrimp and cook on each side for about two minutes, or until they are cooked but still tender and juicy.
Serving Suggestions - What goes well with Shrimp Scampi?
I love to serve shrimp scampi with garlic bread or toss it with any pasta of your choice. My favorite kinds of pasta to serve with shrimp scampi are angel hair, spaghetti or linguini (linguine), trenette, and orzo. You can also serve it with zucchini noodles for a low-carb version and rice for a gluten-free dish.
Pro Tips
- Use large shrimp so that they remain juicy when cooked.
- You can marinate the shrimp for 30 mins in the refrigerator with salt, olive oil/butter, and minced garlic or garlic powder.
Recipe FAQs
Scampi are Dublin Bay Prawns or small Norway Lobsters that Chefs use in Europe to make this creamy dish. At restaurants, this dish is made with shrimp, hence the name Shrimp Scampi.
Shrimp scampi with pasta is popular in restaurants like The Cheesecake Factory. Scampi sauce is mainly prepared using onion, garlic, butter, cream, wine, tomatoes, and some herbs for flavor.
I always use frozen and deveined jumbo shrimp to prepare my shrimp recipes. Cooking shrimp is easier, unlike chicken, salmon, or any other meat that should be cooked at the right temperature for safety. Cooking frozen shrimp will make sure that you have tender and juicier shrimp and prevent overcooking. From my experience, jumbo shrimp is harder to overcook and has an amazing texture. But if you are on a budget, feel free to go for smaller ones 🙂
Traditionally white wine is used to prepare the scampi sauce. This can easily be replaced with shrimp broth, chicken broth, vegetable broth, water, or cream.
If you have planned your dinner or lunch menu, then let it sit in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
I love to run cold water over frozen shrimp in a colander for 2 to 3 minutes and then soak them in a bowl of room-temperature water till I am ready to use them in my recipe.
To make it bistro style or The Cheesecake Factory style, follow the same recipe below, increase the amount of garlic cloves to 10 and finely chop them. Add at least 4 to 6 tablespoon of butter to the recipe. You can also refer to my garlic butter shrimp recipe here.
Store leftover shrimp scampi in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. Reheat in a nonstick pan or microwave. Pay attention to not overcook the shrimp, or else they may turn rubbery.
Yes. Add the precooked shrimp after the onion and garlic have been sauteed in the pan. You can choose to marinate the cooked shrimp in oil, garlic cloves/garlic powder for 15 to 30 mins.
Peeled shrimps tend to quickly overcook and become rubbery. If the shell is kept on while cooking, it prevents the shrimp from overcooking quickly. The shell helps the shrimp retain the juicy goodness and flavors. Also, it is fun a fun activity to peel the shell and tail off before eating at the dinner table - a total family-style feast.
Other Shrimp Recipes for Lunch or Dinner
- Garlic butter shrimp
- Shrimp scampi pasta with wine
- Thai-style quinoa soup
- Indian-style coconut-based prawns or shrimp curry
Recipe card
Classic Shrimp Scampi Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
For Shrimp Scampi
- 16 Jumbo shrimps deveined with shell and tail on
- 2 tablespoon Milk
- 2 tablespoon All-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Paprika or Red chilli powder or Red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon Dried basil or mint or parsley
- 2 tablespoon Olive oil or Butter for shallow frying
For sauce and pasta
- 1 Small onion finely chopped
- 6 Garlic cloves whole, check tips
- 2 tablespoon Butter add more if needed
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil
- 1 Tomato finely chopped
- 1 pint Heavy cream
- ½ tsp Salt adjust to taste
- 1 teaspoon Red pepper flakes optional, add more for garnish if desired
- 1 tablespoon Cilantro or Parsley or Basil, finely chopped, add more for garnish
- 2 tablespoon Parmesan cheese grated, use more for garnish if desired
- 8 oz Angel hair pasta or Linguine or Spaghetti or any pasta of your choice
Instructions
Step I - How to make Shrimp scampi
- In a large bowl add flour, milk, paprika powder, garlic powder, salt, and herbs, and mix well. To this, add fresh (or thawed) and deveined shrimp and mix well until all shrimp are coated in the flour mixture.2 tablespoon Milk, 2 tablespoon All-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon Paprika, ½ teaspoon Salt, ½ teaspoon Garlic powder, ½ teaspoon Dried basil, 16 Jumbo shrimps
- In a nonstick pan on medium heat, add olive oil or butter. Once the oil is hot, or butter is melted, add shrimp and cook on each side for about two minutes, or until they are cooked but still tender and juicy.2 tablespoon Olive oil
Step II - How to make Scampi Sauce
- In a saucepan on medium heat, add oil and butter, finely chopped onion, and garlic cloves. Sauté until onions just begin to start developing light golden color.1 Small onion, 2 tablespoon Butter, 6 Garlic cloves
- Next, add tomatoes, heavy cream, salt to taste, and red pepper flakes if desired, and bring it to a boil. Add finely chopped cilantro and parmesan cheese, and continue to simmer the sauce for 5 more minutes or until it just begins to thicken.1 Tomato, 1 pint Heavy cream, ½ teaspoon Salt, 1 teaspoon Red pepper flakes, 1 tablespoon Cilantro, 2 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
- Meanwhile, in a large pot, bring water to a rolling boil. Add salt to season this water, and then add angel hair pasta. This cooks really fast, so drain the hot water in about 4 minutes. Drizzle some olive oil if you want to prevent the pasta from sticking to one another.8 oz Angel hair pasta, 1 tablespoon Olive oil
- Once the sauce thickens, toss it with the pasta and shrimp scampi you prepared from step I.
- Garnish it with cilantro, pepper flakes, and parmesan cheese if desired. Enjoy.
Notes
- To enhance the flavor, instead of whole garlic, you can also finely mince and add it to the recipe.
- I have added only 2 tbsp. of butter. You can add up to 6 tbsp. if desired to make it buttery.
- For low carb, gluten-free version and protein-rich meal, you can substitute pasta with zucchini noodles.
- To serve it like The Cheesecake Factory style or Bistro style, pour some sauce on the plate, and depending on the size of the plate, arrange shrimp at the bottom. Take a ball of cooked pasta and plate that above the shrimp. Garnish it with fresh herbs and parmesan cheese.
- Read the entire post above to know how to defrost or thaw shrimp.
- You can also read my post on garlic butter shrimp to learn how to cook shrimp perfectly every single time.
Nutrition
If you like this shrimp scampi recipe,
Don't miss to check out Vienna bread which garnered more than a million page views and makes a perfect side dish for Thanksgiving dinner. Also, check out other delicious side dishes recipes you can serve for lunch or dinner.
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Lexi
The perfect weeknight dinner! Thanks for all of the great recipe tips.