Here’s an incredible way to cook shrimp in the oven – baked in a lemon garlic butter white wine sauce, finished with a golden crunchy parmesan breadcrumb topping. People call it Magic Baked Shrimp – because it’s so simple to make, yet it tastes like a million bucks. It’s basically an oven baked Shrimp Scampi!
Baked Shrimp (Prawns)
When you bake shrimp in the oven, you simply can’t achieve that same caramelisation that you get from searing prawns on the stove or grill, which means less flavour.
And frankly, shrimp is pricey compared to other day-to-day proteins. So when I cook it, I’m not going to compromise!
So here are the two things in this recipe that adds an extra edge to compensation for loss of flavour because we can’t caramelise shrimp in the oven:
White wine reduction flavour base – white wine is the “secret ingredient” that gives many sauces a flavour edge to take them from fine to soooo tasty!! It’s used in the classic recipe for Garlic Prawns/Shrimp and it’s essential to include for Baked Shrimp to make a seriously amazing sauce!!
That crunchy parmesan breadcrumb topping – Texture! Flavour!
This is an effortless, utterly incredible way to cook shrimp in the oven that’s worthy of company!
What you need to make GREAT baked shrimp
There’s not that many ingredients required – part of the Magic of this recipe!!
For convenience, I use store bought grated parmesan and frozen prawns/shrimp.
Note: The prawns/shrimp shown below ARE raw! They are from Costco and they’re a particular type that are pink when raw.
How to cook prawns / shrimp in the oven (and make them really tasty!)
So here is how I cook prawns / shrimp in the oven:
Start with a white wine reduction in an empty pan in a hot oven. This creates an exceptional flavour base that’s usually missing from baked shrimp recipes!!
Toss shrimp (prawns) with lemon, garlic, butter, salt and pepper;
Top with parmesan panko breadcrumb topping;
Bake just 12 minutes.
Yep, it’s that easy. No stirring, no stove splatters, all done in one pan!
And here’s what you end up with:
Juicy, tender shrimp that are perfectly cooked;
A pool of incredible lemon-butter-garlic-white wine sauce with an extra flavour boost from the shrimp juices; and
The crowning glory – a golden crunchy parmesan topping. It just doesn’t get any better than this!!
The sauce that comes with this Baked Shrimp really is amazing. Even if it was just lemon and butter, it would be delicious. But with the white wine reduction, it’s INCREDIBLE!!!
Simple, effortless yet amazing
Recipes like this Baked Shrimp are my jam. It’s incredibly simple, yet utterly delectable.
It’s got it all! Flavour, juiciness, texture, depth of flavour, tang from lemon, savoury from parmesan.
So few ingredients, so effortless.
It’s like…. MAGIC!!! – Nagi x
PS I presume you figured it out from the outset, but just to clarify: prawns = shrimp. 🙂 I’m in Australia, and we call them prawns here. So most of my recipes are titled “prawns (shrimp)” but from time to time, depending on the recipe and given I have a large proportion of US readers, I will title a recipe “shrimp” rather than prawns. 😇
Watch how to make it
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Crispy Baked Shrimp in Lemon Butter Sauce (Prawns)
Ingredients
- 500g/ 1 lb jumbo prawns/shrimp , peeled and deveined (Note 1)
- 3/4 cup dry white wine (sub chicken broth)
- 75g/ 5 tbsp unsalted butter , melted
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 garlic cloves , minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
Crunchy Topping:
- 3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs (Note 2)
- 1/4 cup parmesan , finely shredded
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1.5 tbsp olive oil
Garnish:
- Finely chopped parsley
- Lemon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 220°C/430°F (all oven types).
- Pour wine and half the butter into 9 x 13" / 22 x 33cm baking pan (see Note 3 if using glass). Place in oven for 10 minutes to reduce.
- Toss prawns with remaining butter, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Butter may harden – that’s ok.
- Mix Crunchy Topping ingredients.
- Remove pan from oven. Add prawns – spread out in single layer, but snug.
- Top with Crunchy Topping. Bake 12 minutes.
- Flick to broiler/grill on high, broil for 1 – 2 minutes (max) to brown top a bit more.
- Sprinkle with parsley. Serve immediately with lemon wedges and crusty bread to mop up the incredible sauce!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published August 2019. Tidied up for some housekeeping matters July 2020 – no change to recipe!
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Life of Dozer
Too much garlic in this Baked Shrimp for Dozer. So I offered him something else to taste test instead (this Bacon and Egg Muffin – with a whole egg baked inside!) – and he seemed totally ok with it. 😂
Hey Nagi and Dozer! You nailed it with this recipe. We used smaller prawns than you suggested (and reduced cooking time slightly) but it still turned out awesome. We appreciate you and your recipes so much in our Canadian household and always look forward to your emails with pictures of Dozer!
Thanks so much Veronica, that’s so nice to hear ❤️
I cook basa or haddock fish often, with a panko coating, but this recipe baked on top instead will be excellent, and with the added shrimp! Thank you!!
Yes, definitely!!
Hello! thinking of making this for our Christmas family gathering! which means i would need to make for 16 ppl. If I cook four 9×13 pans of shrimp at one time, do i need to adjust the oven temperature? or can i leave it as is? i am a kitchen newbie by the way!
Hi Mims, just leave the temp as is and cook for the same time as the recipe, I hope they’re a hit!
I’m not very familiar with wines so what brand / flavor? would you choose? Thanks!
Hi Rachel, any dry white – even from the discount bin will be fine here – N x
Thank you so much!❤
This was so easy to make and it tasted so good! My 86 year old mother even had seconds!
Woah, that’s terrific Megan, thanks so much for letting me know ❤️
I made this for my daughter on her birthday, as she loves shrimp and it was a huge hit. In fact, I got up the next morning to see her packing up the leftovers for her lunch at work. It was great for me too, because it is so simple to make. Thanks for another great recipe!
That’s so great to hear Vivian!!!
Made the magic shrimp tonight with chef Johns garlic noodles for five adults both dishes were 5 stars. thanks Nagi
Wahoo, thanks so much Wayne!
What would be best served with this dish? Pasta maybe? Does it have enough sauce to toss with pasta?
Hi Jessica, I usually just serve a salad and bread for dunking, you could increase the sauce quantities if you want to toss through pasta though ☺️
Deserves six stars! Uber delicious
Wahoo, thanks Anka!
Hi.
I noticed Directions say 430° preheat oven.
Note 3 mentions 450°.
My non-digital oven has 5° increments.
So is 450° the correct oven temp?
Thanks!
Hi Tammy, the note refers to what temp pyrex is ok to bake at – N x
This was absolutely delicious!
One question is 75 g of butter really 5 tablespoons ? Doesn’t seem like enough . I added a bit more 😀
Hi Fi, yes one tablespoon is 15g – but I wont judge if you add more (I secretly do to at times) 😬
Sorry, I also wanted to ask, does your comment mean all your measures (eg tablespoon, teaspoon, cup etc) are American size thus any Aussie wanting to make your recipes would need to convert every ingredient to accommodate our larger size measures? Disappointing but if so your recipes would be more useful if you gave specific weights or volumes. I’ve had so many bloggers recipes result in disappointment when they don’t specify if they are using the smaller American measures.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing this Carol! I’m in Sydney, Australia and for some reason, a tablespoon is always 15mL for me. I didn’t know it can mean 20mL!!
Nagi, your recipes are awesome!! Thank you for your love for food, and sharing your yummy recipes!! There isn’t one that I tried and didn’t love!!👍👍👍
I’m not sure if you are aware of this given the Americanisms in your recipes, but Australian tablespoons hold 20 grams. It’s American tablespoons that hold only 15 gms.
Hi Carol – Yes I am aware of that! And while that is technically and historically true, you’ll find that most tablespoon measures sold in stores nowadays are actually 15 ml which is consistent with the rest of the world, including UK, Europe, US 🙂 Which then leads to the conclusion that most Aussie households are actually measuring things with 15 ml tablespoons and interestingly, when I had a monthly column with Super Food Ideas magazine a couple of years ago (Australia’s top selling recipe mag), I was to use 15 ml tablespoons by the editor. For most recipes on my website, the difference between 15 ml and 20 ml tablespoons isn’t enough to affect the outcome of the recipe OR the differences are consistent across the other ingredients (eg a sauce where all ingredients are measured in tablespoons). Where it DOES make a difference – mainly baking recipes – I am careful to either use other measures (like grams) or teaspoons where the difference between countries is immaterial. I am VERY mindful of difference in cups and tbsp between countries having experienced my share of epic fails using US recipes (NOT happy!!). N x
Hey Nagi
This is wonderful. So seriously easy but full of flavour and juicyness and crispyness. The great thing is that most of it can be done ahead.
We had friends over for lunch on Sunday and gave them entree and main from your recipes and we were completely organised and ready an hour before they arrived! And didn’t have to faff around with cooking too much while they were here.
Thank you! Will post comments on the other dishes we have made. H
That’s great Heather – nothing worse that being stuck in the kitchen!!!
Curious Quesgio
Your article and photos of your meal, “Magic Baked Shrimp “, clearly shows the Shrimp not being cleaned if the shell completely. You left the hard tail shell on. How is someone supposed to eat it with the shell on?
Hi Mimi, I leave the tail on as it looks better for presentation purposes. By all means, you can remove it if you prefer! – N x
Magic Baked Prawns are sensational
I’m going to do this with firm fish fillets
A great combo!
Is there any type of wine that you’d recommend? I haven’t made it yet but I intend to because it looks perfect for pre-preparing.
So yummy! We had it with rice and it went really well with the sauce.
Wahoo, that’s great to hear Marlie!
What a perfectly clicked photo, Dozer looks very happy with his taste test piece…. Just pinned the Baked Prawn and Lemon. Looks really tasty…
I hope you give it a go, it’s so delicious!
Hello
Looking forward to making this dish. How do u feel about garlic in a jar? I hate to peel it yet not sure about the pre-peeled in a container? Is it stronger? Thanks
Regarding garlic – to acquire blessed freedom from this question, I purchased a garlic press. I don’t even peel the cloves, I just cut off the bottom and squish. The only thing left in the press is the skin, the flesh is finely minced, and fresh juice is released. I personally use a good metal one. I only wish there was such a thing for onions which I hate much more.
I hate it! It’s very bitter and just doesn’t compare to fresh garlic!! (I only use it in emergencies) – N x
I’m not Nagi, I used to use the stuff in the jar but it just isn’t the same. The stuff in the jar sometimes has a preservative in it that gives the garlic a flavor that isn’t as good as fresh.
But I also don’t find it very garlicky either.
I’m not fond of peeling it either but the flavor difference is worth it.
A keeper for sure This was a wonderful dish.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Lynda! Thanks so much for letting me know 🙂 N x
These baked prawns look amazing.. Cant wait to try it..
Hope you get a chance to try them! N x