This One Pan Spanish Garlic Shrimp takes 20 minutes to make and has a super delicious garlic flavor! All you have to do is throw everything in one skillet or pot and once cooked, you can taste the fragrant flavor from the garlic and shrimp. The garlic sauce is great for dipping or added on top of fresh pasta.
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You know that I love making one pot/pan dinners or using as little of dishes as possible. The dish is inspired by the famous Spanish tapa called Gambas Al Ajillo that translates to spanish style garlic shrimp. There’s so much flavor and a little bit of spice, you’re going to be scraping the sauce with your bread when you’re done (that’s what we did!). You can also serve this with my delicious miso carbonara pasta for the perfect meal!
Why You’ll Love Spanish Garlic Shrimp
- Quick and easy – This gambas (shrimp in Spanish) recipe requires minimal ingredients, and prep.
- One pan meal – You add your ingredients all in one pan (not at the same time to prevent overcooked shrimp 😉) and there’s minimal dishes involved!
- Quick cooking time – the dish should take you less than 20 minutes to prep the ingredients and cook.
Ingredients
These are the ingredients I used for the Spanish Garlic Shrimp. I made some notes if you were to make slight substitutions to the ingredients in the recipe.
- Paprika – adds flavor to the shrimp and gives a nice red color to the dish.
- Minced garlic – variation of cooked garlic and raw garlic is added to have a sharp and flavorful taste.
- Olive oil – using high quality olive oil will enhance the flavors of this dish. Especially if you’re going to dip your bread into the garlic infused oil. Personally, I used a ‘light olive oil’ because I don’t like when the olive overpowers the shrimp and garlic flavors (personal preference).
- Shrimp – Peel and de-vein your shrimp. I leave the shrimp tail for a little extra flavor.
- Dried chili peppers or dried red pepper flakes – adds heat and spice to your shrimp and garlic sauce. If you don’t like spicy, feel free to omit.
- White wine (optional) – makes the shrimp less ‘fishy’ tasting and gives the sauce a deeper flavor. Feel free to sub with dry sherry. If you can’t have alcohol, then omit this ingredient.
- Salt and pepper – season your shrimp and let it marinate while you chop up the garlic. Adjust the salt according to your personal preference.
How to Make Spanish Garlic Shrimp
Step 1: Add peeled and de-veined shrimp in a bowl with ½ teaspoon salt, pepper and paprika. Mix well.
Step 2: Add ½ cup olive oil and minced garlic to a cold pan. Then, turn the heat to low medium. This ensures that the garlic cooks gently in the oil and doesn’t burn too quickly.
Step 3: Add all the shrimp in the pan and then add 1 tablespoon white wine in the pan. Flip over the shrimp once the bottom turns orange (takes less than 30 seconds).
Step 4: Flip the shrimp over to cook and turn off the heat. Add chopped parsley and grated raw garlic. Mix everything together and serve with freshly toasted bread.
Recipe FAQs
Traditionally in Spain, they eat this garlic shrimp with freshly toasted bread to soak up the delicious garlic infused sauce. You can also toss the garlic shrimp sauce with some linguine or your pasta of choice. Serve with Honey Chilean Sea Bass and Salad with Homemade Sesame Dressing. Want a bread dipping party, you can also serve with jammy Turkish Eggs.
Place the shrimp and sauce together in an air tight closed container. Make sure it’s closed tightly or your fridge might start smelling like garlic. Store in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Heat up the oil in a pan on low medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the shrimp back in for less than 30 seconds. This ensures that you don’t overcook the shrimp.
No, I don’t recommend adding any vegetables. When you add in vegetables, it will dilute the garlic and shrimp flavor. You may steam or roast vegetables on the side, then pour the garlic sauce on top of your veggies.
Expert Tips
- Use high quality olive oil for this dish. Since there’s not too many spices added to this dish, it’s important that we use high quality ingredients for the flavors to stand out!
- Do not turn the heat too high. Use medium low heat so the garlic doesn’t burn too quickly. Make sure to constantly stir to also prevent the burning. Once the garlic is burnt, the dish will taste bitter and you will need to start again.
- Cook the shrimp in less than 1 minute. When the shrimp has been cooked for too long, the texture is rubbery instead of crisp and tender. If you love shrimp, you can also try my shrimp and egg stir fry or Chinese shrimp toast!
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One Pan Spanish Garlic Shrimp
Ingredients
- 12 shrimp peeled and de-veined
- ½ teaspoon salt
- freshly grounded pepper to taste
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- ½ cup olive oil
- 2 dried chili peppers or red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon white wine optional but highly recommended
garnish
- 1 raw garlic grated
- chopped parsley
Instructions
- Add peeled and de-veined shrimp in a bowl with ½ teaspoon salt, pepper and paprika. Mix well.
- Mince 5 cloves of garlic. Finely chop parsley and set aside.
- Add ½ cup olive oil and minced garlic to a cold pan. Then, turn the heat to low medium. This ensures that the garlic cooks gently in the oil and doesn’t burn too quickly.
- Once the garlic is slowly starting to sizzle (they should look pale and not golden yet), add cut up dried chili peppers.
- Add all the shrimp in the oil to prevent the garlic from burning. Add 1 tablespoon white wine in the pan.
- Once the shrimp starts turning orange on one side, flip all of them over and turn off the heat. The residual heat will cook your shrimp to perfection and you won’t have rubber texture shrimp.
- Add your chopped parsley and grate 1 raw garlic clove. Mix everything together and serve with freshly toasted bread.
Notes
- Use high quality olive oil for this dish. Since there’s not too many spices that is added to this dish, it’s important that we use high quality ingredients for the flavors to stand out!
- Use medium low heat so the garlic doesn’t burn too quickly. Make sure to constantly stir to also prevent the burning. Once the garlic is burnt, the dish will taste bitter and you will need to start again.
- Cook the shrimp in less than 1 minute. When the shrimp has been cooked for too long, the texture is rubbery instead of crisp and tender.
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