Garlic prawns

Easy garlic shrimp recipe for gambas al ajillo

Garlic prawns, or gambas al ajillo in Spanish, are one of the quickest and most flavourful tapas dishes you can make. Juicy prawns are cooked briefly in oil with garlic and chilli, and the whole dish is ready in about ten minutes. These are sizzling garlic prawns at their very best.

The secret behind perfect garlic prawns is firm prawns that stand up to the pan. We recommend the MSC-certified prawns from Coldwater Seafood, which keep their bite and their juiciness in the pan.

Ingredients for garlic chilli prawns

For this classic round of garlic prawns you need the following ingredients (serves 4 as a starter or tapas):

• 400 g prawns from Coldwater Seafood
• 4 garlic cloves, in thin slices
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped
• 100 ml good olive oil
• 1 knob of butter (can be left out)
• Freshly squeezed juice of half a lemon
• Fresh parsley and salt

How to make garlic prawns (step by step)

It takes only 10 minutes, and the golden rule is that the prawns must not cook for too long.

1. Pat the prawns dry, so they brown instead of boiling.
2. Heat the oil and the butter in a pan over medium to high heat.
3. Add the garlic and chilli and let them release their aroma without taking colour. This is where you make your garlic chilli prawns.
4. Add the prawns and cook them until they are pink and opaque. Turn them as you go.
5. Fold in chopped parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice, and season with salt. Serve at once with bread to soak up the flavourful oil.

Variations of garlic prawns

Garlic prawns can be varied in plenty of ways:

• Garlic prawns in the oven: put the prawns in a dish with the garlic oil and bake them at 200 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Easy when you are making several portions at once.
• Garlic butter prawns: swap half the olive oil for butter and finish with extra parsley for richer, rounder garlic butter prawns.
• Marinated garlic prawns: let the prawns sit in the garlic oil for an hour before cooking, and you get even more flavourful prawns.
• Garlic prawn pasta: pour the whole pan over cooked spaghetti with a splash of pasta water. See also our spaghetti with prawns.

Serving them as a starter? Find more ideas in our prawn starters and appetizers.

Always choose the blue MSC-labelled Coldwater Seafood products in the chilled section for the best quality and sustainability.