Juicy shrimp, sweet tomatoes, and garlic white wine sauce come together in this flavorful tomato shrimp scampi. It’s an easy dish perfect for quick yet elegant meals!
My husband is picky about seafood. The first time I made this tomato shrimp scampi for him I didn’t expect much. Imagine my shock, as I watched him tear through slices of toasted baguette to soak up the last of the tomato-garlic sauce in the pan.
This dish takes classic shrimp scampi and adds diced tomatoes for a little sweetness, cutting through the richness of the garlic butter. It’s a quick 15-minute dinner, perfect for weeknights. Or, a wonderful appetizer for dinner parties!
What is a Scampi?
Scampi” refers to a langoustine known as Norway lobster or Dublin Bay Prawn. It’s a small, slender clawed crustacean related to lobster, native to Europe. When Italian immigrants came to the U.S., langoustine wasn’t easy to find, so shrimp became the stand-in.
Over time, “scampi” stopped meaning the animal and started meaning the sauce: garlic, butter, and white wine. That’s why you’ll see chicken scampi, mushroom scampi, and crab scampi.
The “shrimp scampi” we know and love today is an adaptation. European immigrants were trying to make their home country’s recipes using available ingredients in America.
Recipe Highlights
- On the table in 15 minutes. Mostly hands-off, minimal chopping, and nothing that needs to simmer for hours.
- Sweet tomatoes balance rich garlic butter. Canned diced tomatoes add acidity and body without turning this into a full marinara.
- Big shrimp, big bite. Use large (26/30 count) shrimp means each piece stays juicy instead of overcooking into rubber.
- Bread-mopping-approved sauce. There’s enough sauce here to justify a whole baguette. Bread dipping encouraged.
Ingredients
Fresh or Frozen Shrimp
- They’re all the same. Most “fresh” shrimp sold at markets (even the fancy ones!) have been frozen and thawed. Frozen shrimp is perfectly fine. Defrost it overnight in the fridge and use within 2 days.
- This recipe uses LARGE shrimp (listed as 26/30 or 26-30 pieces per pound)
Tomatoes: Use canned diced tomatoes, drained, with no salt added. This keeps you in control of the seasoning.
Wine: A dry white wine (Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio both work well) deglazes the pan and adds acidity. If you’d rather not cook with wine, low-sodium chicken broth with a splash of extra lemon juice works just a well!
Carbs:
- Excellent served with toasted bread, crusty rolls, or pasta.
- If serving with pasta, double up on the sauce so you fully coat the bucatini, penne, spaghetti, macaroni, etc.
How to Cook
- Pat shrimp dry. Season with salt and pepper.
- Heat oil and red pepper flakes. Add butter and garlic.
- Add in seasoned shrimp. Cook for about a minute on each side, then add wine and drained tomatoes. Cook for another 2 minutes until shrimp is cooked throughout.
- Remove from heat. Season with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Serve with toasted bread, crackers, pasta, rice or other carb of your choice.
Serving & Storage
This dish is great for cocktail parties, wine and tapas night, or as an appetizer to a holiday meal. And most of all, it’s lovely for those pajama Friday nights when you’re eating on the coffee table with a bottle or two of wine.
Shrimp scampi is best served fresh, right out of the pan, since shrimp toughens quickly when reheated. If you do have leftovers, store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days, and reheat gently in a covered skillet over low heat just until warmed through. Avoid the microwave, which tends to overcook the shrimp.
MORE TOMATO RECIPES: Baked Orzo with Halloumi, Tomato Ricotta Pull Apart Bread, Cheddar Tomato Galette.
Tomato Shrimp Scampi
Ingredients
- 1 pound large shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails on*
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 8 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- 15 oz can diced tomatoes, drained (no salt added)
- 2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Pat shrimp dry. Toss shrimp with ½ teaspoon kosher salt and ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper. Set aside.
- In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add red pepper flakes and cook for about 10 seconds. Add butter and swirl until butter melts. Add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds until fragrant.
- Add in seasoned shrimp. Cook for about one minute on each side until shrimp starts to color. Add wine and drained tomatoes. Cook until tomatoes are warm and shrimp is pink throughout, about an additional 1-2 minutes.
- Remove from heat. Season with lemon juice, salt, and pepper. If desired, garnish with chopped parsley. Serve with toasted bread, crackers, or cooked pasta.
Notes
- Use fresh or frozen shrimp. They’re all the same. Most “fresh” shrimp sold at markets (even the fancy ones!) have been frozen and thawed. Frozen shrimp is perfectly fine. Defrost it overnight in the fridge and use within 2 days.
- This recipe uses LARGE shrimp (listed as 26/30 or 26-30 pieces per pound)
- For the sake of ease, I like to use deveined, shelled shrimp.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!Related Recipes
- Soy Ginger Shrimp served atop forbidden rice. It’s a quick dinner to make for two!
- Spicy Garlic Shrimp Spaghetti is a super simple one pot meal.
- Soba noodles with shrimp and snap peas are great for all sorts of occasions. Serve it warm, chilled, or room temperature!
I made this dish for my husband and I tonight and it was SO good! This is a 5 star meal and I’m already looking forward to making this again! Thank you Maryanne for providing this great recipe!
I love love love your Tomato Shrimp Scampi recipe. At first, I tried it with chicken tenderloin instead of shrimp because Dean won’t eat shrimp. It was delicious and everybody in the family loved it. I cooked 2 pounds of chicken, doubled the batch, and it disappeared.
So, I tried next with shrimp and it was more amazing. The best part was that it was soooooo easy to make. Thank you for a great recipe.
AHHH! That’s wonderful to hear! I’m glad it worked out with the chicken!