Miso Butter Shrimp Scampi Recipe

Shrimp is an easy protein to make if you need to get dinner on the table quickly, thanks to its speedy cooking time. It pairs well with a wide range of flavors, from fiery spice rubs to creamy sauces. Mashed recipe developer Deniz Vergara shares one more idea for this popular shellfish: miso butter shrimp scampi. It's packed with richness from a luscious sauce, which comes together with minimal time and ingredients. 

"I love how this dish takes a popular and familiar dish and adds a unique and savory twist," Vergara says. "The miso has such a complex and umami flavor, which [is] complemented by the other ingredients." A few key elements keep the sauce pleasantly balanced. "The deep miso flavor is lightened up a bit with the white wine, a touch of sweetness from the mirin, and the acidic punch from the lemon," Vergara explains. You'll want to grab a crusty baguette to mop up the sauce or boil some noodles to toss with this savory shrimp dish.

For this recipe, you'll need shrimp (peeled and deveined), sea salt, extra-virgin olive oil, garlic cloves (thinly sliced), crushed red pepper flakes, miso, dry white wine, mirin, butter, lemon juice, and sliced scallions for garnish. Crusty bread is an easy option to serve with the buttery shrimp. 

Season the shrimp with ¼ teaspoon salt.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the olive oil and cook shrimp until pink but slightly undercooked, about 1 minute per side. (Shrimp finish cooking in the sauce later.) Transfer to a bowl and set aside, leaving as much oil in the pan as possible.

Add the garlic, crushed red pepper, and miso. Saute, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add the wine and mirin and reduce by half, about 1 to 2 minutes. Scrape the fond (brown caramelization) from the bottom of the pan.

Add the butter and stir until melted and the sauce is thickened, about 3 minutes.

Add the shrimp back into the pan and toss to coat for about 2 to 3 minutes or until the shrimp are fully cooked. Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice.

Garnish with scallions and serve with crusty bread, if desired.

Once you taste the miso butter scampi sauce that covers the shrimp, you will want to ensure that every last drop makes its way into your mouth. For this reason, Vergara suggests enjoying the scampi with a nice loaf of crusty bread to soak up any excess miso butter sauce. Alternatively, she recommends a few other starchy companions that pair nicely. Consider using ramen, udon, or rice noodles, or whatever long pasta you have on hand in your pantry. White rice or even fried rice would also work well.

Store any leftover miso butter shrimp scampi in a sealed container in the fridge, but make sure to consume it within a couple of days since seafood isn't a keeper. "When you heat it up in the microwave or on the stove, add a little bit of water to loosen up the sauce," Vergara recommends.

You'll notice that Vergara calls for deveining the shrimp as well as peeling them. Removing the shrimp shells is a more apparent step, but not all recipes call for deveining the shellfish. Vergara prefers to devein shrimp (and notes you call also buy them deveined) because the vein is actually the shrimp's digestive tract. While it's safe to consume fully-cooked shrimp with the vein, the tract can have a gritty texture that you might not find pleasant. 

The easiest option, of course, is to pick up a bag of shrimp that is already peeled and deveined. However, the technique isn't that difficult to master and it adds just a few minutes to your prep time. To do so, find the black line on the shrimp's back. Make a small and shallow slit along the vein, slide your knife under the digestive tract, and then pull it out and discard.