This lemon garlic shrimp zucchini ‘pasta’ is a fabulous and easy dish to make for a healthy lunch or dinner. Shrimp (or prawns) are pan-fried in the aromatic lemon and garlic olive oil, then tossed through raw zucchini noodles with a generous topping of Parmesan cheese for extra flavor. This recipe is gluten-free, low-carb and keto-friendly and can be made without cheese for Paleo and Whole30 versions.
Jump to: ℹ️ Overview | 🛒 Ingredients | 📷 How To Make | 🥗Serving Suggestions | 📝 Go To Full Recipe | 🍽 More Healthy Shrimp Recipes
This zucchini noodle dish is my take on a healthy shrimp scampi, which is usually made with spaghetti and garlic, lemon and butter sauce. While I love butter, I wanted to make this recipe with olive oil. It gets flavored with lots of garlic and lemon zest, my favourite with shrimp or prawns. Swapping spaghetti with zucchini noodles lowers carbohydrates and boosts nutrients.
As I mentioned in the introduction, you can omit the Parmesan cheese to make this dish Paleo and Whole30 friendly.
👉 If you like zucchini noodle recipes, check out: Mongolian chicken with zucchini noodles, Creamy artichoke zucchini pasta, 5-minute zucchini salad with lemon and mint and shrimp Arrabbiata with zucchini noodle spaghetti.
What You’ll Need
Here is what you need to make this shrimp zucchini pasta. Find the full measurements in the recipe card below.
- Zucchini: I recommend medium to large raw zucchini to make pasta or noodles. You will need a vegetable spiralizer to make noodles, but if you don’t have one, you can use a carrot peeler to make lovely ribbons or even slice the zucchini into thin circles. I usually do two small or one medium/large zucchini per serving, but you can do more for a bigger portion.
- Shrimp: I use shrimp and prawns interchangeably as my readers are from so many different countries. In this recipe, you can buy raw, unpeeled prawns or shrimp or frozen.
- Good olive oil is always essential as it will provide a lot of flavor and nutrients, of course. Then it’s just garlic, lemon and Parmesan, plus salt and pepper for seasoning. Easy peasy!
Using Frozen Shrimp
To speed things up and keep it affordable, I often buy peeled, frozen shrimp. I have a bag in the freezer most of the time as I like it in a lunch salad or a quick prawn and cauliflower rice or a stir-fry. To defrost, I place frozen shrimp in a bowl of hot water and it’s usually ready to use in about 10 minutes. You can also defrost overnight in the fridge (if you’re organised enough…I am not!).
How To Make Shrimp Zucchini Pasta
Step 1. Spiralize or peel the zucchini into noodles or ribbons to create our low-carb, gluten-free pasta alternative. Peel the prawns if needed. Zest 1/2 of the lemon and slice the garlic. Shave/grate Parmesan cheese. The dish comes together quickly, so have everything ready to go.
Step 2. Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the olive oil, garlic and lemon zest and turn the heat down to low. Sauté for about a minute until garlic starts to get fragrant. At this stage, add the prawns and turn the heat back to medium. Cook for a minute and a half, then stir through and cook for another minute.
Step 3. Zucchini noodles don’t need much cooking. Add the zucchini noodles to the pan, drizzle with the juice of 1/2 lemon and season with a good pinch of salt and pepper (about 1/4 teaspoon salt or so). Stir and heat through the garlic, lemon and shrimp olive oil until hot. Sprinkle with half of the Parmesan and stir through in the pan.
Transfer to a plate or a bowl and top with the remaining cheese. You can drizzle a little more olive oil on top.
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Ingredients
- 2 small zucchini or 1 medium-large, spiralized or peeled into ribbons
- 2 large cloves of garlic sliced thinly
- 3 oz. shrimp prawns, peeled (100 g)
- ½ lemon zest and juice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ⅓ cup grated Parmesan
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Prep. Spiralize or peel the zucchini into noodles or ribbons to create our low-carb, gluten-free pasta alternative. Peel the prawns if needed. Zest 1/2 of the lemon and slice the garlic. Shave/grate Parmesan cheese. The dish comes together quickly, so have everything ready to go.
- Saute. Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the olive oil, garlic and lemon zest and turn the heat down to low. Saute for about a minute until garlic starts to get fragrant.
- Add the shrimp. At this stage, add the prawns and turn the heat back to medium. Cook for a minute and a half, then stir through and cook for another minute.
- Finish with zucchini. Zucchini noodles don't need much cooking. Add the zucchini noodles to the pan, drizzle with the juice of 1/2 lemon and season with a good pinch of salt and pepper (about 1/4 teaspoon salt or so). Stir and heat through the garlic, lemon and shrimp olive oil until hot. Sprinkle with half of the Parmesan and stir through in the pan.
- Transfer to a plate or a bowl and top with the remaining cheese. You can drizzle a little more olive oil on top.
Notes
- You can use raw or frozen shrimp/prawns. To defrost, I place frozen shrimp in a bowl of hot water and it’s usually ready to use in about 10 minutes. You can also defrost overnight in the fridge.
- I recommend 2 small or 1 large/medium zucchini per serving.
Nutrition
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You had me at “lemon” and “shrimp.” I always buy the big costco bags of lemons and I love finding new recipes to use lemon in. YUM! Thank you!
Haha, I do the same but with big bags of frozen shrimp 😉
Thanks for the idea to make zucchini ‘pasta’ instead of regular pasta with shrimp. OMG! Your recipe is a treasure!! I made it for our lunch today: it was yummy and delicious!!
Glad you enjoyed it, Irina (I have same name, just spelt differently here in Australia)
My family loved it! Thanks so much!
Welcome, glad to hear it!
This low carb recipe is a keeper. It tastes delicious and the lemon makes it so fresh and satisfying.
Thanks 🙂
I love this recipe and the zoodles instead of pasta for a gluten free dish. Garlic and shrimp are just made for eachother!