This sautéed shrimp with zucchini showcases natural sweetness of shrimps and zucchini. The addition of garlic and lemon juice makes the dish flavorful and delicious. It is a quick and easy one-pan meal for busy days.
Zucchini is my favorite summer squash. This sautéed shrimp dish is a great way to use zucchini in stir-fry. Besides, it’s such a great dish for busy weeknights because:
- Few and simple ingredients: you need shrimp, zucchini, garlic, lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper – only 7 ingredients. Two optional ingredients to enhance the flavor are parsley and butter.
- One pan meal: you only need to use one pan to cook it.
- It’s easy to make and it takes 15 minutes to prep and cook. Yes, very fast! You can see how quick and easy it is to cook the dish in the video below.
- It’s delicious with the natural sweetness of shrimps and zucchini.
Shrimp cooks really fast and goes well with a lot of vegetables in stir-fry. That’s why I usually have some shrimps in the freezer for those busy nights in the week.
How to make sautéed shrimp with zucchini
This sautéed shrimp with zucchini comes together very quickly so it’s best to have all ingredients ready before cooking.
My recommendation is to roll-cut the zucchini to match the thickness of the shrimps. That way, the zucchini soaks up the flavor better while retaining a crisp texture. Roll-cutting is a great technique to prep cylindrical vegetables for stir-fry and stew. If that sounds like too much work, just cutting into regular thin slices is fine too. Slice in half lengthwise and then slice thinly.
In this dish as well as in many other stir-fries, we cook the protein and the vegetables separately. After that, we sauté shrimp, zucchini and garlic together to add that garlicky flavor.
Before finishing, we add lemon juice to brighten the dish. Finally, throw in butter and parsley (if using) with plenty of black pepper.
The recipe was originally published on May 22th, 2017. It was updated on July 17, 2018 with better photos and step-by-step instructions. The photo below is the old one I took last year and you can see that it doesn’t do a good job of portraying this dish :).
Other shrimp recipes you may want to try:
- Baked Shrimp Toast
- Scallop Shrimp Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes
- Shrimp Fried Rice
- Asian Shrimp and Vegetables Stir-fry
I’d love to hear what you think about the dish, so please feel free to leave a comment. New recipes are added every week so let’s connect on Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest and Instagram for the latest updates.
Sautéed Shrimp with Zucchini
Ingredients
- 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 teaspoon salt, divided
- black pepper
- 2 medium to large zucchinis (about 12 oz)
- olive oil
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon butter, optional
- 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice (about half a lemon)
- finely chopped parsley, optional (or other herbs)
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, add shrimp, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and plenty of black pepper. Mix thoroughly.
- Roll-cut zucchinis to match the thickness of the shrimp. Also prep all other ingredients.
- Place a pan over medium-medium high heat. When pan is hot, add oil and then add shrimp in one layer and let them cook undisturbed for a minute. Flip and cook the other side until develop nice colors and shrimps are almost cooked through. Transfer to a plate.
- To the same pan, add a little more olive oil and then add zucchini. Sauté, stir frequently for a couple of minutes and add 3/4 teaspoon of salt and pepper (or to taste).
- Add shrimp back to the pan, and add garlic. Mix and sauté briefly until garlic is fragrant. If using butter, add it now and mix until butter is melted.
- When everything is cooked through, pour lemon juice over. Give everything a quick toss to combine and then transfer to a serving bowl. Sprinkle parsley and serve hot immediately.
Jeannette
This was amazing. I fixed a lot for me to try to eat in one meal and it was so wonderful that I ate every bite.
Kelly McCormick
I Came across this recipe searching for shrimp zucchini because that’s what I had on hand this evening. Boy, am I glad I did, it was delicious and so easy to throw together. Like you, I keep shrimp in the freezer for quick dinners so I’ll definitely be making this again. I didn’t combine the shrimp with the zucchini until I had portioned out some of the smaller pieces of zucchini to my daughter because she doesn’t like shrimp. I added extra garlic and white wine like others did, used the butter and parsley from my garden, lemon juice and topped it all off with grated Parmesan cheese. Thank you for a delicious easy recipe!
Sophie
Hi Kelly,
Thank you so much for coming back and sharing how you made the dish. Your version sounds absolutely delicious :). I also love how quick and easy it is to make this for family dinner. Thanks again and your feedback is greatly appreciated!
Lori
This was easy and very tasty!
Afr0thunder
Make this in a whim and oh my gif it’s delicious. I recommend butter option but I did not use fresh herbs for garnish.
Mona Bowser
Doubled the “sauce”. Added butter and white wine. Served over a bed of linguini topped with Parmesan. Delicious! May add some sliced mushrooms to the sauté and a shake of crushed red pepper.
Pat
I didn’t have any lemon juice, so I added a couple anchovies in oil, pepperoncini, and a little white wine when cooking the shrimp. I added more anchovy and oil, along with some red onion, when cooking the zucchini and garlic. Then I tipped the shrimp back in and added about 1/2 cup of pinot grigio to deglaze the pan. The result was delicious. Like another commenter, I wish I’d had some toasted garlic bread to sop up the juices.
Dave
Great Recipe! Super easy, quick, and delicious. I upped the garlic a “bit” and added some chilli flakes when cooking the zucchini. It cries out for a nice piece of crusty bread or focaccia to soak up the sauce because its that good. Going into the rotation, especially while the zucchini are fresh from the garden!
Sophie
Hi Dave,
Thank you for taking the time to share how it turned out for you. I had readers share with me they enjoyed the dish with rice, pasta and quinoa. Now I also learn the sauce goes great with some crusty bread. Thanks so much for the feedback!
Susan
Great recipe – tasty and easy! I actually had leftover boiled shrimp (from a shrimp cocktail platter I made) and wanted to use them up – they heated up perfectly and were not tough. Will definitely make this again.
Sophie
Hi Susan,
Thank you for taking the time to let me know! I haven’t made this dish with already cooked shrimp so it’s great to know it also turned out fine.
Esthet McGhie
I made this recipe and it was delicious!
Indmom11
This was SO good and so easy- all with ingredients I always have. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Sophie
I’m glad it turned out great. Thank you for leaving me the comment and rating :)!