Garlic Butter Prawns

Andy | Dinner | Spanish

Prep time: 5 min Cook time: 20 min Servings: 4

Prawns cooked in a rich garlic butter and served with steam rice and grilled asparagus… this is the dream summer dish for me. I live close to the water in Australia so we have access to an incredible range of fresh prawns. I think they’re a great protein to cook with during the week as they don’t take too long to make and you don’t need to do too much to them as they have great flavour.

For this recipe, I’ve used large green tiger prawns but you can swap it out for whatever prawns you have access to. I keep this dish pretty simple and serve it with some steam rice and grilled asparagus. You could add more grilled veg on the side or serve the prawns in a fresh salad or over a grain salad.

Ingredient notes

Prawns: I use large raw green tiger prawns here. You want uncooked prawns for this recipe as we'll cook them in the butter. If you can get them fresh from a fishmonger rather than frozen, the texture will be noticeably better. Pre-peeled and deveined is fine to save time, but leaving the tails on looks better on the plate and gives you something to hold when eating. You could opt for some smaller king prawns or banana prawns, or use this butter sauce for scallops, small yabbies or even squid.

Asparagus: Thick stems work better on a chargrill because they hold up to the heat without going limp before they get any colour. Snap the woody ends off rather than cutting them: bend each spear near the base and it will naturally break at the point where the tender part begins. If asparagus isn’t in season, broccolini or green beans make a good alternative.

Sweet paprika: Sweet paprika adds a mild, earthy warmth and a little colour to the prawns without any heat. It’s fat-soluble, so sprinkling it over the prawns as they hit the butter means the flavour blooms properly. Don’t swap it for smoked paprika here as the smokiness will overpower the delicate butter sauce. If that's all you have, just use less. You should be able to get sweet paprika from the supermarket.

Equipment

Chopping board
Chef’s knife
Tongs
Large frying pan
Chargrill pan or heavy-based frying pan
Rice cooker or medium saucepan with lid
Citrus juicer

Ingredients

1kg raw prawns, peeled and deveined, tails on
1 head of garlic
120g butter
1 bunch asparagus
20ml extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp sweet paprika
sea salt, to season
½ bunch flat leaf parsley
juice of 1 lemon, plus wedges to serve
jasmine rice, to serve

Directions

Make the rice and garlic butter
Start cooking your rice either on the stove or in a rice cooker.
Peel and finely chop the garlic.
Add the butter in a large frying pan over low heat. Season the butter with some salt, then add the garlic. Let it melt and cook slowly, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 minutes until soft, sweet and fragrant. Do not allow it to brown.
Grill the asparagus
Trim the ends of the asparagus. Heat a chargrill pan (or standard pan) over high heat with the olive oil.
Place the asparagus on the grill, season with some salt and cook for 5 minutes, turning until charred on all sides.
Cook the prawns
Add the prawns to the garlic butter in a single layer, season with salt and sprinkle over the paprika. Increase the heat to medium-high.
Cook on the first side for 3 minutes, until they change colour, then stir and turn to cook the other side for 3 minutes.
Finely chop the parsley leaves, then add to the pan with the lemon juice. Toss briefly to combine, then remove from the heat.
Divide some steamed rice between serving plates. Top with the prawns and drizzle with the garlic butter sauce. Serve with the asparagus on the side and a lemon wedge.

Recipe notes

Chef Tips

Prep your prawns

Prep your prawns at the start of the cook as this step will take the longest and you want them ready to go. Make sure you’re buying raw prawns and then peel and devein them. Devening them just means pull out the digestive track aka poo shoot. An easy way to do this is hold the head and the body of the prawn and then twist the head round and slowly pull away from the body, the digestive track should come with it. The hold the body straight and carefully pull on the track to pull it out. You can also watch my video on 3 ways to devin your prawns - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/oOD9n5WIruY

Chopping parsley

Now, I have a little trick to make it easier to roughly chop your parsley (or any herbs!). All you need to do is roll the herbs as tightly as you can into a ball or log shape. Then chop from one end to the other, moving your hand down the herbs as you chop. You may have to run over it one more time to make sure there’s no big pieces.

Melting your butter

You’ll need to watch this step as you want your butter to melt and give it time for the garlic to infuse without letting the butter brown or burn. To do this, make sure your pan is on a low heat so it cooks slowly. It will only take about 8-10 minutes until it is ready but you’ll need to stir it every couple of minutes.

Storage

This is best eaten straight after cooking, but any prawn leftovers should be stored in the butter sauce separately to the rice ideally in airtight containers and refrigerated for up to 3 days.

FAQs

Can I make this dish ahead of time? I wouldn’t recommend it for the prawns. They cook in under 10 minutes and overcooking is the main risk with prawns, so reheating them tends to make them rubbery. The garlic butter can be made a day ahead and kept in the fridge, which saves you a bit of time on the night. The rice can also be cooked in advance and reheated.

Is it spicy? No, this dish isn’t spicy. The sweet paprika adds warmth and colour but no heat. If you want to add some kick, a pinch of cayenne pepper or dried chilli flakes stirred into the butter at the end would work well without changing the overall character of the dish.

Can I freeze it? I wouldn’t freeze the cooked prawns as the texture suffers significantly when thawed. If you want to prep ahead, buy raw prawns, peel and devein them, and freeze those. Thaw in the fridge overnight before cooking. The garlic butter sauce freezes fine on its own for up to a month. But I think fresh prawns are the best for this recipe.

Can I make it vegetarian? The garlic butter can be utilised for king oyster mushrooms or some firm tofu.