Shrimp with vegetables is a quick (30-minute) and flavorful weeknight meal that's nutritious and easy to love. Feel free to swap in your favorite veggies, and use whatever pasta or grain you have in the pantry.
I don't know about you, but whenever I discover a new, tasty dinner recipe that comes together with very little fuss, leaves me with just a few dishes to wash, and contains nutrients that are good for my body, I feel like I've unlocked a new level in a video game. This is that kind of recipe (in case you couldn't guess by my intro), and it tastes just like it looks. Fresh, wholesome, lemony, garlicky, and full of goodness.
Shrimp with Vegetables: Step by Step
- Season and roast the vegetables. Preheat your oven, toss the vegetables with garlic, lemon zest and juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast for 15 minutes.
- Add the shrimp. Season a pound of raw shrimp with butter, garlic, lemon zest, Italian seasoning, and dried red chile flakes. Add the shrimp to the baking sheet and roast until they're opaque and just cooked through.
- Serve with cooked pasta. While the vegetables and shrimp roast, cook up a pot of al dente pasta. Toss the drained cooked pasta with some olive oil and lemon juice, dump it onto a platter, and top with the roasted shrimp and veggies.
Recipe FAQs
Yep! In fact, I always keep a bag or two of frozen peeled and deveined shrimp in my freezer so I can whip up this recipe (or one like it) whenever I need something healthy and quick. Just thaw out the frozen shrimp under lukewarm running water before you roast them.
Not at all. Linguine gives the dish a scampi feel, but I love it with smaller pastas like bowties, rotini, penne, or orzo, since they cook in about the same amount of time that the shrimp and veggies roast. If you don't have pasta on hand, use egg noodles, rice, quinoa, wheat berries, or any other type of grain.
Any way you like. Shrimp with vegetables is a classic dish that works with all sorts of different seasonings. Use lime instead of lemon, a mix of chili powder and oregano, and some jalapeño for a Mexican-style version. Or, use herbes de Provence or any other dried herb or seasoning blend instead of the Italian seasoning.
Lemon-Garlic Shrimp with Vegetables and Pasta
Equipment
- Large rimmed baking sheet
- Large pot
Ingredients
- 1 large lemon
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
- 1 yellow summer squash, halved lengthwise and sliced into half-moons
- 1 zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced into half-moons
- 6 cloves garlic, pressed, minced, or grated, divided
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 8 to 10 ounces dried pasta (like orzo or bowtie)
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian herb blend (a.k.a. Italian seasoning)
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon dried red chile flakes
- 1 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp (thawed if frozen)
- Chopped fresh basil and/or parsley
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Scrub the lemon under running water. Zest the lemon, using a microplane grater or the smallest holes on a box grater, then cut the lemon in half. Put the lemon zest in a ramekin or small bowl and set it aside. Squeeze the juice of one lemon half into another ramekin. Cut the other half into wedges.
- Put the red bell pepper, zucchini, and yellow squash in a large bowl. Add half of the garlic, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon lemon zest, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, a few pinches of salt, and a few grinds of black pepper. Toss well.
- Spread the seasoned vegetables on a large rimmed baking sheet and roast them for 15 minutes.
- As soon as you put the vegetables in the oven, fill a medium pot with hot tap water, add a few big pinches of salt, and put it over high heat. When the water comes to a rolling boil, add the pasta and cook according to the package directions.
- Combine the melted butter, remaining garlic, remaining lemon zest, Italian seasoning, dried red chile flakes, 1 teaspoon of salt, and a few grinds of black pepper in a large bowl. Whisk everything together, then add the shrimp and mix gently with your hands until all the shrimp are evenly coated with the butter and seasonings.
- After the vegetables have roasted for 15 minutes, scooch them to one side of the baking sheet and spread out the shrimp in a single layer on the empty side. Put the baking sheet back in the oven and roast just until the shrimp are firm and opaque, 8 to 10 minutes. Immediately remove the baking sheet from the oven.
- When the pasta is finished cooking, drain it well and dump it onto a serving dish or platter. Toss with 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.
- Spoon the shrimp and vegetables on top of the pasta, sprinkle with chopped fresh basil and/or parsley, and serve hot.
Looking for more easy weeknight meal ideas? Click here for the Every Night Meals' seafood recipe archive, and click here for quick dinners to make on the busiest nights.
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