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Honey Lemon Garlic Shrimp

This Honey Lemon Garlic Shrimp recipe is my gem. So simple, so light, and so flavorful – coated with a sticky lemon garlic sauce that enhances the shrimp but doesn’t overpower it.

15 minutes, delicious, healthy, UNREAL.

Honey Lemon Garlic Shrimp
This post was originally published on August 2, 2018 and updated on July 2, 2021

It makes my life easy, my stomach happy, and my husband’s stomach’s even happier.

What you can expect: This dish is elegant with a capital ‘E’. The shrimp is succulent and drizzled with a sticky sauce that is a simple combination of honey, fresh lemon juice, fresh garlic and herbs.

And if you really want to up the elegance factor, serve it with some French bread to soak up that sauce because:

  • Wasting good sauce is a crime so let’s soak that baby up
  • Bread + yum sauce is a sweet, sweet gift that keeps on giving

Ingredients

Made with minimal and simple ingredients, every item brings about a unique flavor to the dish:

  • Shrimp – use raw shrimp, not the pre-cooked once. Also make sure to defrost it completely overnight in the refrigerator, and then pat dry the shrimp so that it sears well.
  • Lemon juice – brings about a burst of freshness and citrus always compliments shrimp dishes well.
  • Honey – gives the dish some sweetness and a sticky consistency
  • Minced garlic – avoid substituting with garlic powder. Fresh is the best for this!
  • Salt – salt always enhances the flavor of the dish, in addition to adding saltiness. A little bit of salt always goes a long way.
  • Herbs – parsley or cilantro works well!
Honey Lemon Garlic Shrimp

How to Make It

Let’s rock this thing, shall we?

Start by grabbing a non-stick skillet. If you are not using a non-stick skillet, make sure to grease your skillet more to prevent shrimp from sticking to it.

We are also working with raw shrimp here, so keep that in mind and do not buy cooked ones.

I grew up on an island with an abundance of seafood. From my experience, the trick to a good seafood dish is truly the quality of the actual seafood itself. Sauce and spices can enhance the dish, but it is always hard to cover up the lack of freshness in the seafood.

With that being said, invest in good quality shrimp. I typically like to buy fresh from the seafood counter, however, recently I discovered that Target carries a pretty decent frozen raw jumbo shrimp (they have tail-on and tail-off options, both works). I do not know if the quality varies based on the Target locations, but I was impressed with the ones I got.

Add vegetable oil to the skillet, bring to medium high heat, and when the skillet is hot, add shrimp to it. Do not overlap shrimp on the skillet. If you double the recipes, you might want to cook in a few batches if your skillet doesn’t fit everything.

Honey Lemon Garlic Shrimp

Another note about the raw shrimp – make sure to defrost completely and pat dry before cooking. The access water or ice on the shrimp will create a pool of water on the skillet, and the shrimp will be swimming in water, instead of being seared by hot oil.

Sprinkle with salt, flip shrimp over after cooking for ~2 minutes, and sprinkle with more salt on the other side of the shrimp. Cook for another ~2 minutes, or until shrimp is done. Cooked shrimp turn pink-dish/red-ish, will not longer be transparent, and will curl. Avoid overcooking shrimp.

Remove shrimp promptly from skillet once it is cook.

Next, add honey, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and minced garlic to the skillet. Scrap the bottom of the skillet to remove the juices and other good stuff from searing the shrimp so that it gives additional flavor to the sauce.

Bring sauce to a boil until it reaches your desired thickness. This sauce will not thicken a whole lot, but the longer you cook it the thicker the sauce will be.

Bring the cooked shrimp back into the skillet, stir it around so they are coated with sauce, then remove from heat promptly. This process should take a few seconds. Since the shrimp is already cooked, we don’t really need to cook it further here, just trying to coat it with sauce.

Prior to serving, sprinkle with herbs such as parsley or cilantro.

Honey Lemon Garlic Shrimp

One of my favorite thing about this dish is the sauce. The sweet and tangy sauce is the perfect addition to these delicious shrimp. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

How to serve it

The sauce is so good I started dipping toasted bread in it so that I don’t let it go to waste. But here are other ways to serve this dish:

And if you are feeling fancy, or have a party, or both, make it as an appetizer to kick off your main course!

Honey Lemon Garlic Shrimp

Feel free to double or triple the sauce if you are serving with lots of bread and want to take that dipping business to the extreme. I will be here cheering you on as you dip your heart out.

So good, and so easy, you need to make this one happen! Then tell me all about it in the comment boxes below! 🙂

Other Shrimp Recipes

DID YOU ENJOY THIS RECIPE? Please comment below and give us a 5-star rating! This will help others find this recipe on Google and Pinterest. We very much appreciate your help! 🤍

A plate of shrimp with lemon wedges

Honey Lemon Garlic Shrimp

Skillet shrimp coated in a sticky Honey Lemon Garlic glaze, garnish with lots of cilantro. The secret is in the sauce! Enjoy it with the shrimp then dip toasted French bread into the sauce to get the most out of it! YUM.
5 from 5 votes
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Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 2 servings
Calories: 292kcal
Author: MinShien

Ingredients

  • 3/4 lbs large/jumbo raw shrimp
  • salt to taste
  • 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 3 tbsp honey
  • 1 tbsp minced garlic
  • vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp chopped parsley or cilantro

Instructions

  • Completely defrost shrimp and pat dry.
  • In a large skillet, add vegetable oil and heat skillet under medium high heat.
  • Once skillet is heated up, add shrimp to skillet. Do not overlap. Lightly sprinkle salt onto shrimp. Sear shrimp for ~2 minutes, then flip over. Lightly sprinkle salt again, and sear for another ~2 minutes, or until shrimp is done.
  • Remove shrimp from skillet and set aside.
  • Add freshly squeezed lemon juice, honey, and minced garlic onto skillet. Lightly scrap the bottom of the skillet to incorporate the juices from searing the shrimp into the sauce. 
  • Bring to boil, then bring to medium low heat. Continue cooking sauce for a minute or so, or until the desired thickness. 
  • Bring cooked shrimp back into skillet. Stir to coat shrimp with sauce. Remove from heat promptly.
  • Serve and enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 292kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 35g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 429mg | Sodium: 1614mg | Potassium: 184mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 26g | Vitamin A: 5IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 257mg | Iron: 4mg
Did you make this recipe?Take a pic and tag me at @joyous.apron, or hashtag #joyousapron on Instagram!

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5 from 5 votes (2 ratings without comment)

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Recipe Rating




9 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Beautiful and quick solution to eat when the heat is on, and believe me it is on !

    1. Joyous Apron says:

      Yes! So true!!!

  2. 5 stars
    I think it took me more time to peel the shrimp than it did to make this dish, haha. This was so fast to cook and was so flavorful despite having very limited ingredients.

    I did do one thing slightly differently with the cooking method than the recipe and that was I kept the shrimp in the wok while putting in the honey and lemon juice. I let the shrimp caramelize in the honey and it was so so good! Will make again.

    1. Joyous Apron says:

      Sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing, Peter! Glad you enjoyed it!

  3. Haven’t made this yet, just wondering, exactly what I can serve with this? I read the 4 replies but no one mentioned anything about what they served it with.

    1. I would serve it with vegetable or chicken fried rice and stir fried Chinese vegetables in Sesame oil and flavored with soy sauce or a bit of chicken bouillon with your choice of spices.

  4. 5 stars
    Looks like a simple recipe to make shrimps taste even more exciting.
    Will try it out. Thanks for the recipe!

    1. Joyous Apron says:

      Excited to hear what you think!!