Red Lobster Shrimp Scampi Copycat Recipe – Restaurant Quality
Growing up, my family loved to hit up Red Lobster. Â Red Lobster is famous for cheddar biscuits, shrimp scampi and bringing seafood to the Midwest. Who wouldn’t love it. Â My favorite thing on the menu was the shrimp scampi. Â Not a traditional scampi, but a scampi inspired dish that was pure shrimp and no noodles. Â The other day my Father asked me if I could recreate it. I accepted the challenge and here it is.
Red Lobster Shrimp Scampi – Hacked!
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Peel and devein the shrimp. Â I like the tails on for presentation, but you can remove them if you wish.
Arrange shrimp into a single layer in two shallow baking dishes approximately 4 inches by 5 inches. Any shallow oven safe dish will work. You may have to use less or more shrimp depending on the size.
In a saute pan over medium/high heat add the oil and garlic. Saute the garlic for 2-3 minutes until it just starts to brown. Â The picture has a tad bit of parsley in it, due to the remnants on the cutting board.
Add the white wine and freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Bring to a boil and then lower the heat and simmer. Reduce about half way.
Remove from the heat and add the clarified butter, salt, pepper, parsley and Parmesan cheese.
Ladle the liquid over the shrimp. Fill until the shrimp are just barely covered.
Place in a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 7 to 12 mins until the shrimp turn pink. The time will depend on the size of shrimp.
If you want to have the shrimp slightly browned, transfer them to a hot broiler for 30 seconds before serving.
Eat and enjoy!
- One Pound shrimp any size will do
- 1 Tbs olive oil
- Half of a lemon juiced
- 1 cup white - I used a pinot grigio
- 1 Tbs garlic finely diced
- 1/2 cup clarified butter - Recipe
- 1 Tbs parsley
- salt and pepper
- 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese (finely shredded)
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Peel and devein the shrimp. I like the tails on for presentation, but you can remove them if you wish.
- Arrange shrimp into a single layer in two shallow baking dishes approximately 4 inches by 5 inches. Any shallow oven safe dish will work. You may have to use less or more shrimp depending on the size.
- In a saute' pan over medium/high heat add the oil and garlic. Saute' the garlic for 2-3 minutes until is just starts to brown.
- Add the white wine and freshly squeeze lemon juice. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat and simmer. Reduce till about half.
- Remove from the heat and add the clarified butter, salt, pepper, parsley and Parmesan cheese.
- Ladle the liquid over the shrimp. Fill till the shrimp are just barely covered.
- Place in a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 7 to 12 mins until shrimp turn pink. The time will depend on the size of shrimp.
- If you want to have the shrimp slightly browned, transfer them to a hot broiler for 30 seconds before serving.
- Eat and enjoy!
This recipe was perfect in my book. We tried it first without the Parmesan cheese and the texture was just not there. After adding the cheese it was a dead ringer. It is noted that we liked it best without the cheese, but the cheese was added to the recipe to get it as close as possible to the original as we could.
This recipe was perfect in my book. Â We tried it first without the Parmesan cheese and the texture was just not there. Â After adding the cheese, it was a dead ringer. Â It is noted that we liked it best without the cheese, but the cheese was added to the recipe to get it as close as possible to the original as we could.
I made this recipe with chablis blanc wine and a little less lemon juice and it tasted amazing! Husband approved 🙂 This recipe tastes just like Red Lobster’s. Baking it results in a softer texture in my opinion rather than sauteing on the stove top like other copycat recipes instruct. Give this recipe a try!
Is there anything that can be used in place of the wine?
Betty,
You can substitute white grape juice for white wine. However, it is a tad bit sweeter. Therefore you should use about 3/4 cup white grape juice and 1/4 cup water. If you are looking for a more subtle flavor you can also substitute 1 cup of broth. Either chicken or vegetable stock. I haven’t tried any of these but I have used them as substitutes before.
Rex
Does it have to be clarified butter?
If you don’t use clarified butter the solids in the butter will float to the top and cause the dish to burn and be cloudy.
Second time to make this for dinner. This recipe is SO GOOD! Thanks for sharing!
Made this tonight, saying it is a copy cat of Red Lobster scampi really is a stretch but honestly it was pretty damn good. I would just cut down on the liquid and add a little more cheese next time. Notice I said next time, yeah, I will make this again
Soooo good! Whole family loved it and it tasted just like the restaurant. FYI – I did not use clarified butter, just 1/2 cup normal salted butter (one stick) and it was great and did not burn. I had to turn the broiler on for a couple mins at the end to get it to slightly brown. Thanks for a great recipe!
I love this recipe. I have used it several times. I’m still wondering if it is better to use fresh parmesan or the pre-grated. The fresh works great and then I usually just sprinkle a little of the other on when its done. It just gives it a little different consistency. I was wondering if anybody else has played around the 2 different types, and what you thought of them?
Just made this. It was delicious however I would make a couple changes for next time. I used Pinot Grigio and it turned out sweeter than red lobsters. I would maybe use a different wine next time? I also used unsalted butter but would use salted next time. Fresh grated Parmesan was great. I would take it out of the oven sooner and broil it for longer next time. I put it under the broiler but the shrimp were already mostly cooked through so they continued to cook under the broiler. Maybe 5 minutes in the oven and 5 in the broiler. Good start for this copycat though! Some minor adjustments and next I think it will be perfect!
So I had my second attempt at this. I used cooking sherry instead and it turned out MUCH better. VERY close to red lobsters. Salted butter, garlic, sherry, parsley – pour over the shrimp. Grated parm and no more than 5 mins in the oven then put under the broiler for no more than 5 mins. ? very delicious!!!
The closest yet! I didn’t bake mine or put parmesan in it. I sprinkled parmesan on it, broiled it, turned it, sprinkled with more parmesan and broiled until it was just slightly brown. Perfect!
I also used dry Sherry instead of wine, just not as much. I’m not a fan of sweet.
Thank you for sharing! We loved it!
Before putting it in the oven I sprinkled more fresh finely grated parmesan cheese on top along with powdered Italian dressing seasoning in lieu of using salt, pepper and parsley and it was the closest to the original as I’ve ever gotten (and I’ve tried tons of recipes). Putting them on top gives it that nice seasoned paste like you get at the restaurant, I also used more butter so it could cover the shrimp and make the seasoning stick. Thanks to the chef, most of the recipes don’t have cheese or wine and I could never figure out why it wasn’t coming out right.
Glad you like it!