Gordon Ramsay’s shrimp scampi is prawns seared for 30 seconds in a screaming hot pan, then tossed with capellini in a sauce of caramelised shallots, garlic, white wine, cherry tomatoes, capers and fresh basil. The whole thing takes 10 minutes.
The recipe is from Ramsay in 10, where he explains “this is not what we Brits know as scampi, the breaded langoustine tails beloved of pub menus, but the Italian-American, buttery, garlicky prawn dish.” In the video he grates the garlic on a microplane straight into the shallots, saying it “almost purees the garlic for you” and cooks it in seconds rather than minutes. You can watch the full cook in his Ramsay in 10 Shrimp Scampi video.
The technique that makes this work is two pans running at once. The sauce builds in one while the prawns sear in another for barely 90 seconds. He says “don’t oversear these shrimp, they turn dry,” and by keeping them separate, the timing stays in your control rather than the shrimp sitting in liquid getting rubbery.
Gordon Ramsay Shrimp Scampi
Course: DinnerCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy2
servings5
minutes5
minutes420
kcal10
minutesShrimp scampi with capellini from Ramsay in 10. Prawns seared in 90 seconds, tossed with a white wine and caper sauce built on caramelised shallots and blistered cherry tomatoes. Finished with lemon zest, basil and Parmesan. Source: Ramsay in 10 (Hodder & Stoughton, 2021).
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for frying and drizzling
2 banana shallots, peeled and sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled
Pinch of chilli flakes
150g (5 oz) cherry tomatoes, halved
60ml (2 fl oz) white wine
60ml (2 fl oz) vegetable or fish stock
Large handful of fresh basil leaves
2 tbsp small capers
225g (8 oz) capellini or angel hair pasta
165g (6 oz) raw peeled prawns (shrimp)
Zest of 1 lemon, plus extra for serving
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated Parmesan, to serve
Juice of 1 lemon, to serve
Directions
- Boil the water: Fill the kettle and bring to the boil. Half-fill a saucepan, season with salt and return to the boil.
- Start the sauce: Place a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the sliced shallots, season with salt and pepper. Grate the garlic into the pan using a microplane. Add the chilli flakes and cook for 2 minutes until the shallots soften and start to caramelise.
- Build the sauce: Add the halved cherry tomatoes and cook for 30 seconds until they start to blister. Deglaze with the white wine, let it bubble for 30 seconds, then add the stock. Reduce for 1-2 minutes.
- Add basil and capers: Chiffonade the basil by rolling small leaves inside a large leaf like a cigar and slicing thinly. Stir the basil and capers into the sauce, then remove from the heat.
- Cook the pasta: Add the capellini to the boiling water. It cooks in 90 seconds to 3 minutes depending on thickness. Do not overfill the pan with water or you will lose the pasta.
- Sear the prawns: In a second pan over high heat, add a drizzle of olive oil. Season the prawns with salt and pepper. Sear for approximately 30 seconds until golden on one side. Remove from the heat and turn the prawns over to finish cooking in the residual heat.
- Combine: Drizzle the prawns with olive oil and grate lemon zest over them, then add to the sauce. Return to the heat briefly. Drain the pasta, toss with a drizzle of olive oil, then add to the sauce and mix well.
- Serve: Divide between two plates. Grate Parmesan over the top, add a pinch of lemon zest and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
FAQs
Can you really make this in 10 minutes?
Yes, but only if everything is prepped before you start. Ramsay says “90% of this battle is all about the prep,” and in the video you can see he has every ingredient chopped and measured before the clock starts. The actual cooking is 5 minutes of sauce, 90 seconds of pasta and 90 seconds of prawns running in parallel. If you stop to chop a shallot while the garlic burns, you are done.
Why does Ramsay use shallots instead of onion?
He says “I like the shallots over the onion. The shallots make it a little bit sweeter and more importantly a lot easier to digest.” Banana shallots also slice thinner and caramelise faster than onion, which matters in a 10-minute recipe. If you only have a regular onion, use half, diced small, and give it an extra minute in the pan.
Why capellini and not spaghetti or linguine?
Capellini cooks in 90 seconds. Spaghetti takes 10. In a dish this fast, the pasta timing has to match everything else or the prawns overcook while you wait. Ramsay says “the hero’s the shrimp” and keeps the pasta portion small so it does not overwhelm the sauce. His chilli prawn linguine from Quick and Delicious uses the same garlic and tomato base with manzanilla sherry, but that is a slower, richer dish where linguine makes more sense.
Why does he sear the prawns in a separate pan?
If the prawns go straight into the sauce, they poach in liquid and turn grey and soft. By searing them alone in a smoking hot pan with just olive oil, they get golden colour and a slight crust in 30 seconds. He flips them and takes the pan off the heat so the residual warmth finishes them without overcooking. The lemon zest goes on while they rest, which blooms the citrus oils. It is a completely different approach from his shell-on garlic prawns where everything cooks together in one pan, and how he handles prawns changes depending on whether the dish is wet or dry.
The YouTube description says “poach in the liquid” but the actual video shows him using a separate pan. The book confirms it. Trust the video over the description.
Does the book version include butter?
No. The cookbook recipe has no butter. But the YouTube video description lists 2 oz cubed butter melted into the sauce, and in the video he finishes with olive oil and Parmesan instead. If you want it richer, stir cold butter cubes into the sauce just before adding the pasta. If you want it lighter, skip it and finish with olive oil like he does on camera.
What is the basil cigar technique?
Ramsay’s speed trick for cutting basil: “get the small leaves, tuck them inside the large leaf and roll it like a beautiful big cigar, hold it nice and tight, let the knife do the work.” This gives you a fine chiffonade in seconds without bruising the leaves. If you are making the spiced grilled prawns from Bread Street Kitchen with the toasted cumin and paprika paste, scatter whole basil leaves instead since the spice paste is already doing the work.
