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This classic Italian shrimp linguine is the kind of dish that makes you feel like you’re dining al fresco on the Amalfi Coast—even if you’re just in your kitchen on a Tuesday night. Tender linguine is tossed with juicy shrimp in a bright, garlicky lemon herb sauce that’s as simple as it is delicious. With just 8 ingredients (or 9 if you’re feeling fancy with a sprinkle of parmesan), it comes together in about 20 minutes. Light yet satisfying, it’s the perfect mix of comfort and elegance—and yes, seconds are basically guaranteed.
This mouthwatering Italian dish, easy shrimp linguine, has seafood, lemon juice, garlic, and noodles. It’s simple to prepare and offers the most wonderful flavors.
Also try salmon and fresh veggies in white wine sauce, chorizo rigatoni, sweet potato tater tots, garlic tomato shrimp scampi, or chorizo rigatoni.
Why You’ll Love It
Quick and easy: Speedy pasta recipes are always worth knowing and perfect for those busy weeknights. This shrimp linguine can be on the table in about 20 minutes flat, and yes that includes the cooking time!
Authentic Italian flavors: Linguine is a popular type of pasta noodle and shrimp features in plenty of classic Italian recipes. The lemon juice, garlic butter and parsley are also traditional Italian flavors, and all work so well together in this shrimp linguine.
Make it your own: You can change the recipe however you wish. Perhaps you’re not a seafood lover, in which case you can sub chicken. You might prefer spaghetti to linguine. Feel free to adjust anything you like.
Classic Shrimp Linguine Ingredients
A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Linguine: A long pasta noodle shape that’s popular in seafood dishes.
Butter and oil: For richness.
Garlic and herb seasoning mix: You can get this online (here).
Lemon: Complements the shrimp so well.
Parmesan cheese: To serve.
How to Make Shrimp Linguine
For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.
Cook the pasta: Cook the linguine in salted boiling water in a large pot until al dente. Drain it and set to one side with the lid on the pan to keep it warm.
Start the sauce: While the linguine cooks, melt butter in a skillet and add the oil, then stir in the minced garlic.
Cook the shrimp: Add the raw shrimp to the butter and olive oil mixture, along with the garlic and herb seasoning, and cook shrimp until light pink.
Finish off the garlic butter sauce: Remove the shrimp from the pan. Stir the lemon juice, fresh parsley and cooked linguine into the sauce.
The finishing touches: Warm the sauce up for a minute, adding salt and pepper if needed, and put the cooked shrimp back in. Serve immediately, garnished with fresh parmesan cheese if liked.
Substitutions and Variations
Linguine: The linguine can be swapped for tagliatelle, spaghetti or even another pasta shape.
Parsley: Parsley can be omitted if you aren’t keen.
Olive oil: You can use any oil you prefer.
Shrimp: You can use fresh shrimp or frozen shrimp, as you prefer.
Lemon juice: I recommend fresh lemon juice for the best flavor, but bottled will also work. If you do have fresh lemons, you can also garnish each plate with some lemon slices and maybe also add a little lemon zest to the sauce.
Spice it up: Feel free to throw in a pinch of red pepper flakes if you’d like some heat.
Serving Suggestions
Appetizers: Begin your meal with marinated mozzarella pearls, an antipasto salad, or scallop skewers.
For garnish: Serve this delicious cooked pasta and shrimp dish hot with parmesan cheese on the side so people can help themselves.
Side dishes: Perhaps you’d like green goddess salad or smoked asparagus with your shrimp linguine. I like to serve it in cute patterned pasta bowls (here).
To drink: A glass of dry or off-dry white wine would be lovely with this.
Make it fancy: For an extra-fancy presentation, consider topping each serving with a large cooked langoustine and a sprig of fresh parsley on top of that.
How to Store Leftover Shrimp Linguine
Store: Leftovers should keep for up to 4 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
Freeze: You can freeze leftover shrimp linguine for up to 3 months.
Thaw: Thaw it overnight in the fridge and then stir in a little white wine, chicken broth or oil if it seems dry, and then reheat on the stove or in the microwave.
Top Tips
Shrimp prep: If you have tail-on shrimp, just pull off the tails before you make shrimp linguine, since they are going to be mixed in and you don’t want anyone to accidentally get one in their mouth.
Fresh ingredients: Use fresh lemon juice, garlic and so on, for the best and richest flavors.
Perfectly cooked shrimp: Perfectly cooked shrimp curl up a little and they’ll turn pink. Once this happens, remove them from the skillet with tongs.
Serve immediately: Enjoy this dish right away while it’s nice and hot.
Easy Shrimp Linguine FAQs
If you only use butter, it might burn if you don’t add oil. If you only use oil, you won’t get that rich buttery taste, so using both ensures the best result!
That’s up to you. Use jumbo, medium or large shrimp, as you prefer, bearing in mind the larger ones will take an extra minute or so to cook through. Get the fresh or thawed shrimp peeled and deveined before starting on the sauce.
20-Minute Shrimp Linguine Recipe
Shrimp Linguine
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 Box linguine, 16-Ounce box, cooked al dente according to the box and drained
- 6 Tablespoons salted butter
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil, or avocado oil or similar
- 1 Tablespoon garlic, minced
- 24 Ounces shrimp, fresh or thawed, raw, medium, peeled and deveined, tails removed
- 1 Tablespoon garlic and herb seasoning
- 5 Tablespoons lemon juice, fresh
- ¼ Cup fresh parsley, minced, plus more for garnish
- parmesan, fresh, optional garnish
Instructions
- Cook the linguine to al dente and drain to the side while preparing the sauce and shrimp.
- In a large skillet, melt the butter and cook over medium-low heat until golden brown, about 2 minutes.
- Add in the oil and mix well.
- Stir in the minced garlic and sauté for 1 minute or until fragrant and golden brown.
- Mix in the shrimp, garlic, and herb seasoning and cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until the shrimp turn light pink and begin to curl up. Don't overcook.
- Remove just the shrimp from the skillet into a large bowl.
- In the skillet, stir in the lemon juice, fresh parsley, and cooked noodles and gently fold everything together.
- Continue heating for 1 minute and then remove from the heat; stir in the shrimp and garnish with fresh parmesan, optional.
Notes
Fresh ingredients: Use fresh lemon juice, garlic and so on, for the best and richest flavors.
Perfectly cooked shrimp: Perfectly cooked shrimp curl up a little and they’ll turn pink. Once this happens, remove them from the skillet with tongs.
Serve immediately: Enjoy this dish right away while it’s nice and hot.
Nutrition
This is a lovely linguine with shrimp recipe for Italian food fans. The al dente pasta noodles, juicy succulent shrimp and garlicky, zesty lemon juice based sauce is sure to please your palate. Offer parmesan cheese at the table and don’t be surprised when everyone wants a second helping of this lovely shrimp linguine!
Other Recipes to Try
- Butter Herbed Shrimp and Pan Seared Pork Chops is so good.
- For a smoky twist, try these mouthwatering Smoked Spiced Shrimp!
- Wok Seared Steak and Shrimp offers a fusion of juicy steak and tender shrimp.
- You’ll love this Spicy Shrimp Pasta with Bloody Mary Vodka Sauce.
- For a light option, make these Shrimp Spring Rolls with Spicy Garlic Sauce!
Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
What if I mistakenly bought cooked shrimp. Can I make it work?
Sure, just add them after step 7 and cook for a minute, just to warm them through.
This shrimp linguine was a hit! So light and fresh, yet super satisfying.
Everyone in my family raved about it, begging for more!
Sometimes, simple is best. And this recipe is a testament to that. No wonder it’s a classic!
Always delicious!
I am down for easy recipes that are so good! This is one of them.
Made this yesterday, and it was a hit! Adding it to the regular rotation.