Listen, keeping things healthy when life gets nuts is tough! I totally get it. Between school runs and forgetting to thaw dinner halfway through the workday, sometimes takeout seems like the only option. But trust me, this **Garlic Butter Shrimp Meal Prep** has been an absolute game-changer for me. It’s so ridiculously quick—seriously, 20 minutes total!—and the flavor payoff is huge. This isn’t just fast food; this is my ultimate guide to making the best garlic butter shrimp that actually tastes fantastic on day three. I rely on recipes like these when planning my weekly meals, and you absolutely need to check out some other good dinner recipes for busy weeknights too!
Why This Garlic Butter Shrimp Meal Prep is Your New Go-To
If you’re like me, you want amazing flavor without spending an hour over the stove, especially on Sunday when you’re supposed to be prepping. Here’s why this recipe is permanently pinned to my recipe board:
- It’s ridiculously fast! You’re looking at barely 10 minutes of actual cooking time. Check out these other dinner recipes in 20 minutes if you need more speed!
- The garlic butter sauce coats everything perfectly, soaking into whatever side you pair it with.
- It holds up incredibly well in the fridge—no sad, shriveled shrimp here if you follow my tips!
- It’s so versatile; you can mix up your sides every day without changing the main event.
Essential Ingredients for Perfect Garlic Butter Shrimp Meal Prep
You don’t need a massive grocery haul for this job, which is fantastic for keeping those weekly food costs down! The quality of a few key items really makes a difference here, especially with such a short cook time. If you love powerful flavor combinations, maybe you should look into a honey garlic shrimp stir-fry sometime too, but for pure simplicity, this butter base is king.
For the Garlic Butter Shrimp Meal Prep
Since shrimp is the star, make sure you get good quality! We’re using 1 lb of large shrimp—and they absolutely have to be peeled and deveined before they hit the pan. If you’re starting with frozen, just make sure they’re fully thawed first. That’s essentially it for the actual protein part; seasoning is all in the sauce!
For the Garlic Butter Sauce Components
This is where the magic happens! You’ll want 4 tablespoons of butter, and yes, use real butter, it tastes better when melted down like this. For the flavor punch, grab 4 cloves of garlic, and mince that up finely—don’t cheat with garlic powder here! We also need 1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice; please squeeze it fresh if you can, it brightens everything up. For a little kick, add 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes—that part is optional if you’re doing a mild batch. Finish the seasoning with 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and black pepper, and keep 2 tablespoons of fresh parsley chopped for when we garnish later.
Step-by-Step Instructions for Your Garlic Butter Shrimp Meal Prep
Okay, here is where the action happens! Seriously, this whole process moves fast once you get going, so have everything ready. If you’re looking to pair this with some greens, maybe check out my garlic butter shrimp broccoli skillet for ideas on cooking veggies alongside it! Remember, if you use a pan that’s too small, your shrimp will steam instead of sear, and we want that lovely little edge on our seafood.
Preparing the Shrimp and Building Flavor
First things first: grab your paper towels and pat the shrimp until they are completely dry. This is non-negotiable! Dry shrimp sear; wet shrimp just steam sadly. Next, melt that butter in your big skillet over medium heat. Toss in your minced garlic and any red pepper flakes right away. You only want to cook this mixture for about 60 seconds—seriously, watch it like a hawk! The second it smells fragrant, you pull back. If that garlic starts to turn brown, the whole batch gets bitter, and we’ve wasted that lovely butter!
Cooking the Garlic Butter Shrimp
Now, add the dried shrimp right into that sizzling garlic butter, spreading them out in a nice, single layer. I know it’s tempting to dump them all in, but don’t overcrowd the pan, or they *will* steam. Season them up right now with the salt and pepper. Now, you just cook them for about 2 to 3 minutes on the first side until they start turning pink. Flip them over and cook the other side until they look opaque and fully cooked through. It really only takes a minute or two longer.
Finishing Touches and Portioning for Garlic Butter Shrimp Meal Prep
Once they look perfect, yank that skillet off the heat immediately—residual heat is real! Stir in your fresh lemon juice; it adds such a beautiful pop of brightness. Then, stir in half of that gorgeous chopped parsley. Now for the meal prep part: carefully divide the shrimp evenly among your four containers. Sprinkle the rest of that fresh parsley right over the top of each portion before you seal them up tight. Boom! Lunch or dinner is handled for the next few days.
Tips for the Best Garlic Butter Shrimp Meal Prep Results
Listen, shrimp are delicate. They taste amazing right off the stove, but we need them to survive the journey to Wednesday lunch! My biggest tip for keeping your **Garlic Butter Shrimp Meal Prep** tasting fresh is simple: don’t overcook them initially. They should only be *just* done when you take them off the heat.
Why? Because they’ll cook a little bit more when you reheat them, and nobody wants rubbery shrimp. Also, try to leave as much of the delicious garlicky butter sauce coating them as possible when portioning. That extra fat helps lock in the moisture.
When you reheat later, go low and slow. A quick zap in the microwave is fine, but if you have two minutes, warming them in a small skillet with a tiny splash of water or broth is much gentler. If you love buttery flavors but want a different protein, check out my thoughts on garlic butter salmon and asparagus. It’s another great one for batch cooking!
Storage and Reheating Your Garlic Butter Shrimp Meal Prep
This is the part where we talk about making sure Wednesday’s lunch is just as good as Monday’s! Since this is a simple shrimp recipe, it doesn’t have all the preserving power some heavier sauces have. The absolute rule here is airtight containers. Pop those perfectly portioned containers straight into the refrigerator. I find that this **Garlic Butter Shrimp Meal Prep** is at its absolute best when eaten within three days. Seriously, try not to push it past that point; nobody wants old shrimp, no matter how delicious the garlic butter was!
Now, reheating is critical if you want to avoid tough texture. If you’re in a total rush, the microwave works, but use short bursts—maybe 30 or 45 seconds at a time—and stir between bursts. Overheating in the microwave is the fastest way to turn these beautiful shrimp into little pink rubber erasers!
My personal favorite method, which usually only takes five minutes, is warming them up gently in a skillet. I heat a tiny slick of olive oil or butter over medium-low heat, toss the shrimp in, and cover it for just a minute or two until they are warmed all the way through. If you need more ideas for easy batch cooking, I’ve got a great sheet pan chicken and veggies recipe that stores just as nicely!
Serving Suggestions to Complete Your Garlic Butter Shrimp Meal Prep
So, you’ve got your incredible, garlicky, buttery shrimp sorted out—now what are we going to eat it with? Because this shrimp is so rich and flavorful on its own, it really just needs a simple base to soak up all that amazing sauce. When I’m prepping for the week, I tend to lean on bases that hold up well in the fridge and don’t get mushy.
My absolute favorite base right now is quinoa. It cooks up beautifully, it’s packed with protein, and it just grabs onto that garlic butter so nicely. If you haven’t tried my method for vegetable quinoa fried rice, you should swap it out, but even plain cooked quinoa works wonders!
If you need something green on your plate, forget about sad, wet steamed broccoli. I always roast my vegetables when I’m meal prepping. Take some asparagus or some broccoli florets, toss them with just a tiny drizzle of olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast them until they’re slightly softened but still have a little bite left. That tiny bit of char from roasting stops them from turning into soup when you reheat them later in the week!
For a healthier pasta swap, zucchini noodles are great, but be warned—they release water when reheated, so only add them to the container right before you eat, not when you’re initially portioning everything out. Honestly, for ease, sticking to brown rice, quinoa, or even just a pile of oven-roasted sweet potatoes is the way to go when bulk prepping!
Frequently Asked Questions About Garlic Butter Shrimp Meal Prep
I totally get it; when you’re investing time into a big batch of **Garlic Butter Shrimp Meal Prep**, you want to make sure you cover all your bases. I’ve learned a few things the hard way, so let me save you some trouble!
Can I freeze this Garlic Butter Shrimp Meal Prep?
Technically, yes, you *can* freeze cooked shrimp, but honestly? I wouldn’t recommend it for this recipe. Shrimp texture is heartbreakingly fragile once frozen and then thawed, even when bathed in garlic butter. You risk losing that nice firm springiness we worked so hard to achieve. If you need longer storage, stick to 3 days in the fridge. If you’re making a huge batch, I suggest freezing the *uncooked* shrimp instead, and then cooking a fresh, 20-minute batch when you need it!
What is the best side dish for Garlic Butter Shrimp Meal Prep?
For meal prepping, you want sides that don’t get soggy! I always go for roasted sweet potatoes, because they are amazing cold or reheated, or maybe some brown rice. If you need greens, stick to sturdy ones like roasted broccoli or Brussels sprouts. Avoid super watery things like fresh mixed greens in the same container, or they’ll weep all over your delicious garlic butter shrimp!
How do I adjust the recipe for a larger Garlic Butter Shrimp Meal Prep batch?
Scaling up is easy, but the key is your skillet! If you double or triple the recipe, you cannot just make it all at once in the same small pan because you’ll end up steaming! You need to work in batches, cooking the shrimp until pink, setting them aside, and then building the sauce and repeating. This ensures every batch gets that beautiful sear instead of boiling in its own juices. If you wanted to branch out to poultry next week, you should check out my garlic butter chicken and veggies guide for scaling tips there!
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions for Garlic Butter Shrimp Meal Prep
Changing ingredients in a recipe that cooks this fast is tricky, but sometimes you just have what you have, right? I usually stick exactly to the list, especially for the sauce, because those four minutes are everything! When it comes to salt, I like to use Kosher salt usually, but if you’re using table salt, cut back a little bit in the start, because that stuff is surprisingly strong. For more on why salt choice matters, I wrote a whole piece about salt types and their uses.
Let’s talk shrimp size. I specified large shrimp because they hold up the best during that initial sauté and reheating process. If you use tiny salad shrimp, they’ll likely disappear in that hot butter sauce before you even look away! If large isn’t available, just know you’ll need to cook them for maybe less than 2 minutes per side.
Butter choice is another big one for me. I prefer salted butter because it helps me gauge my seasoning better. If you use unsalted butter, make sure you compensate by adding a tiny pinch more salt when you season the shrimp directly—otherwise, the sauce might taste a bit flat. Don’t worry about substituting the lemon juice with bottled stuff in a pinch, but seriously, fresh juice just sings with seafood, doesn’t it? If you run out of butter, you can definitely swap some of it (maybe half) with a good quality olive oil, but you’ll lose that luxurious, rich mouthfeel that makes this **Garlic Butter Shrimp Meal Prep** so comforting.
Share Your Success with This Garlic Butter Shrimp Meal Prep
Well, that seriously is it! You’ve successfully made a fantastic, healthy, and incredibly fast **Garlic Butter Shrimp Meal Prep** that will save your lunch game for the entire week. I hope this recipe brings as much calm to your busy schedule as it does to mine. Honestly, cooking doesn’t always have to be complicated or takeout-worthy; sometimes, the simplest 20-minute skillet wonders are the best ones!
I’m dying to know how yours turned out! Did you pair it with quinoa or roasted sweet potatoes? Did you sneak in a little extra red pepper flake like I always do? Please, please leave me a comment below and let me know your thoughts, or better yet, snap a picture of your perfectly portioned containers and tag me on social media! Seeing your successes is truly what keeps me excited to share these kitchen secrets.
If you want to learn more about my philosophy on quick, real food cooking, head over to my About Me page; I love connecting with everyone who values simple, delicious food! Happy prepping, and enjoy those amazing leftovers!
Garlic Butter Shrimp Meal Prep
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Pat the shrimp dry using paper towels. This helps them sear better.
- Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add the minced garlic and red pepper flakes (if using) to the melted butter. Cook for about 1 minute until fragrant. Do not let the garlic brown.
- Add the shrimp to the skillet in a single layer. Season with salt and pepper.
- Cook the shrimp for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until pink and opaque throughout. Cooking time depends on the size of the shrimp.
- Remove the skillet from the heat. Stir in the lemon juice.
- Stir in half of the chopped parsley.
- Divide the shrimp evenly among four meal prep containers. Sprinkle the remaining parsley over the top before sealing.
