
Free Printable: Low Carb & Keto Food List
Get It NowPasta may be off the table if you’re cutting carbs, but there are plenty of low carb pasta alternatives! Low carb keto shrimp scampi with zucchini noodles is the perfect example. It’s quick and easy with common ingredients, ready in just 25 minutes, and packed with flavor. With fresh garlic, butter, lemon juice, and parsley, it’s not just the most delicious way to make shrimp scampi keto… in my book, it’s the most delicious version of this dish, period. The added veggies and low carbs in zucchini shrimp scampi are just added bonuses.
What Is Shrimp Scampi?
Shrimp scampi is an Italian-American pasta dish with shrimp, cooked in a garlic butter sauce. Sometimes, the scampi sauce also includes white wine, but I opted for broth instead. I think it turns out a lot more flavorful.
Why Is It Called Shrimp Scampi?
Scampi are actually tiny crustaceans similar to lobster. Italians used to saute them in olive oil, garlic, and white wine. Later, Italian cooks in the United States replaced the scampi with shrimp, but kept both names, and added pasta somewhere along the way. So, shrimp scampi, as it’s commonly known today, was born. [*]
Is Shrimp Scampi Keto Friendly?
With it’s wheat noodles, traditional American shrimp scampi is a pasta dish and is not keto friendly.
However, this shrimp scampi with zucchini noodles is definitely keto friendly! With just 5 grams net carbs per serving, it makes a great keto dinner or lunch.
How To Make Keto Shrimp Scampi
This healthy shrimp scampi with zucchini noodles is ready in less than 30 minutes! It may be simple, but it’s just as tasty (and way more wholesome!) than the carb-filled version.
Here’s how to make shrimp scampi keto friendly with zoodles:
- Salt zucchini noodles. This step is vital to ensure that you don’t end up with soggy zucchini noodles!
- Saute shrimp. Heat oil in a large pan and saute shrimp without moving, until the edges start to turn opaque and bottom starts to brown. Flip and saute until cooked through. Set aside and cover to keep warm. Save pan! Alternatively, you could bake shrimp.
- Saute aromatics. Add another tablespoon of oil to the same pan and add garlic and shallots. Saute until browned.
- Make low carb shrimp scampi sauce. Add broth and scrape the bottom to deglaze. Simmer until volume has reduced by half. Stir in butter and lemon juice. Bring to a simmer, season with salt and pepper and stir in fresh parsley.
- Cook zucchini noodles. Squeeze the zoodles gently to release any additional water and add noodles to pan, cooking just until hot.
TIP: Don’t try to squeeze the noodles too hard, or they’ll get mushy.
- Finish best low carb shrimp scampi. Stir shrimp back into pan, toss with zoodles, and serve.
Can You Make Shrimp Scampi With Zucchini Noodles Ahead?
If you want to prep zucchini noodles ahead, check out this guide to zoodles for all the details.
The best way to prep things ahead for zucchini shrimp scampi is to spiralize the noodles, but wait to cook them until right before serving. The noodles can get soggy or watery as they sit, so best to cook them and eat immediately.
How To Store Low Carb Shrimp Scampi
Store any leftover low carb shrimp scampi in the refrigerator for 1-2 days. Reheat just until hot in a hot skillet.
More Zucchini Noodle Recipes
If you like this keto shrimp scampi recipe, you might also like some of these other zucchini noodle recipes:
- How To Make Zucchini Noodles – This is the ultimate guide guide to zoodles! Everything you need to know to prep, make, and serve zucchini noodles.
- Zucchini Noodle Salad – This easy salad has bright and savory flavors – it’s like a pasta salad without the carbs!
- Zucchini Alfredo – Yes, even zoodles can be turned into alfredo and it’s delicious!
- Cheesy Zucchini Casserole – Ok, technically not zoodles, but such a great way to eat zucchini. It’s rich and cheesy and hard to stop eating.
Tools To Make Zucchini Shrimp Scampi
Tap the links below to see the items used to make this recipe.
- Spiralizer – The fastest way to make a pile of zoodles for low carb shrimp scampi. Can also use it for just about any veggie noodles.
- Hand Spiralizer – Also a great options to make shrimp scampi zucchini noodles with a smaller footprint. Not quite as fast, but works well!
- Hard Anodized Skillet – This is set is great quality, for even heat distribution and great browning. The sizes are the ones I use most in the kitchen.
Low Carb Keto Shrimp Scampi With Zucchini Noodles
Low Carb Keto Shrimp Scampi With Zucchini Noodles
This low carb keto shrimp scampi recipe with zucchini noodles makes a 25-minute one-pan meal! Zucchini shrimp scampi is an easy, delicious way to make shrimp scampi keto and healthier, too.
Ingredients
Tap underlined ingredients to see where to get them. Please turn Safari reader mode OFF to view ingredients.
Shrimp:
Sauce:
Assembly:
Instructions
Tap on the times in the instructions below to start a kitchen timer while you cook.
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Place the zucchini noodles in a colander over the sink and toss with salt. Let them sit for 20 minutes. The salt will bring out the water.
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Heat 2 tablespoons (29 ml) of oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat.
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Add the shrimp. Season with salt and pepper. Arrange in a single layer. Saute for 2-3 minutes without moving, until the edges start to turn opaque and the bottom starts to brown. Flip and saute for 1-3 more minutes, until cooked through. Remove shrimp from the pan, cover to keep warm, and set aside.
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Add another tablespoon (14 ml) of oil to the pan. Add the minced garlic and shallots to the pan. Saute for about 2-3 minutes, until browned.
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Add broth and scrape the bottom to deglaze. Simmer for 2-3 minutes, until the liquid volume reduces by half.
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Stir in butter and lemon juice. After butter melts, bring to a simmer and simmer for 3-4 more minutes, stirring occasionally and scraping the bottom of the pan, until volume is reduced. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in fresh parsley.
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Once the zucchini seems watery and softened, squeeze the zoodles gently to release some additional water - don’t try to squeeze hard every last drop, or they can get mushy. Add the zucchini noodles to the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes, just until hot.
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Stir the shrimp back into the pan.
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Recipe Notes
Serving size: 1 cup
Nutrition facts are provided as a courtesy. Have questions about calculations or why you got a different result? Please see our nutrition policy.
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43 Comments
Thom Pantazi
0Again, another recipe I could’ve found in Yaya’s cookbook! I’m starting to wonder if we’re related! 😀
One thing a love about this recipe is something it took me a while to learn. That’s to let the shrimp sit undisturbed. My problem always seemed to be it took a while to put in the shrimp, so I would lose track of the order to flip them. A trick I learned was to go in a spiral so when the shrimp have been placed you can follow the spiral to flip them when the first one is ready.
Thank you for another great recipe.
Janine
0Made this tonight…absolutely delicious. Could have eaten the whole thing myself. 5 🌟
Diana Melin
0I love shrimp but I’m allergic to it. Do you think this recipe would work with say, boneless, skinless chicken breasts? How would that affect the nutritional facts for the recipe?
Wholesome Yum D
0Hi Diana, Yes, that would work in this recipe. If you want the nutritional facts you will have to add all the ingredients to an online recipe creator.
Laurie
0I really enjoyed this recipe. The zoodles work very well with the tasty garlic butter sauce. Delicious!
Delray Dorsey
0Very easy and tasteful recipe. I may have to double noodles since first time cooking zucchini noodles.
Crissi Allen
0Quick and easy and it taste wonderful!
Mary
0We loved this recipe but it was so salty. I followed the recipe to salt the zucchini in the colander and let sit. I rinsed the zucchini but evidently not enough to remove the salt. Next time I won’t add any salt to the pan before tasting.
David D
0Can I use shirataki noodles instead because I have never been a fan of zoodles?
Wholesome Yum A
0Hi David, that would work great!
Lee Ann Vieck
0This was delicious!!! I used one zucchini and one package of cauliflower linguine. Hubby loved it!!! I will be putting this in our rotation of meals! Thanks!!😊
Sondra
0Wonderful recipe! My husband (and I) loved it! I only made a few changes. Added red pepper flakes for a little heat, substituted spaghetti squash (which was awesome) for the zucchini noodles and added some of my pesto. Yum!!!
Carole Baldridge
0Love the recipe. I seasoned the cooked shrimp for about an hour before heating with paprika thyme and oregano.
Laura
0Making this tonight with spaghetti squash instead of zoodles. We’ll see!
CHERYL
0I don’t eat chicken…can beef broth be used instead of chicken bone broth?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Cheryl, Yes, beef or vegetable broth will work. Enjoy!
Jennifer Bonham
0I’d love to print out this recipe, but the spacing is all screwed up which leaves blank areas and 3 pages. Is it just me? I’m fairly computer literate and usually can solve most issues.
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Jennifer, Sorry you are experiencing problems with printing. Are you using the ‘Print it’ button in the recipe card, or printing the who post? It is much simpler (and cleaner) to use the ‘Print it’ button.
Susan Ravens
0Excellent! Allowing the zucchini to sweat really made a huge difference to a meal I was anticipating to be “just ok”.
Excellent and so easy!
Donna
0Made this last night and it turned out awesome!! I will be making this again.
Brenda
0This was the very first keto dinner that I have made. It was delicious. I used riced cauliflower instead of zoodles. It was late and I was very hungry. I also put a little cream cheese in it because I have seen it used in other recipes and was excited to see how it would taste with it. I wanted something a little creamier. Thanks for all you do Maya.
Sharon
0This is delicious! i will remember this recipe. My husband loved it.
Kathy
0I do not have any white wine, can you use chicken broth or any suggestion?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Kathy, Yes, chicken broth will work well. Enjoy!
Terri
0The flavor was delicious! Actually turned out like ordering from a restaurant! I will definitely make it again and again!!
Sarah
0Very tasty! And I finally found a way to properly cool zucchini noodles! This was such a treat to make – I overcooked the shrimp but it was still tasty enough to eat!
Lynda Pedersen
0I made this last night (minus the zucchini as I don’t have a spiralizer) and it was delicious!! I served the shrimp with a side of roasted green beans and a salad. This will be my go to shrimp recipe from now on.
Cindi
0We really liked the recipe. I did not rinse the zoodles after 20 minutes, so it was a bit too salty for us. I will know for next time!!
Paula Brubaker
0Never saw instructions to rinse the zoodles, but makes sense now thinking about salting them earlier to draw out some water. I’m bad to just follow the instructions and not think about the steps too much. Will see how mine turns out tonight! Does look scrumptious!
Paula Brubaker
0Not rinsing the zoodles didn’t affect the saltiness for us. Came out fine and was delicious. I did go easy on the salt to begin with though- Great dinner recipe! My daughter and I almost ate all four servings between the two of us!
Glad
0I made this minus the zucchini, shallot, and broth. I also used pre-cooked frozen shrimp. I heated the sauce which was mainly fresh lemon juice & butter. Added the shrimp and parmesan cheese and just mixed it around for no more than three minutes. I’m no expert, by far. But it came out delicious! Yay!
Marilyn O'Neal
0OMG this is delicious. So quick to make and zucchini is better than noodles. Thank you.
Toni
0Question I have frozen pre-cooked shrimp. Can I use that instead, and how would I alter the cooking to accomodate that? I LOVE the sound of this recipe, but I bought a whole bunch of frozen cooked shrimp when it was on sale, and I am looking for ways to use it. Thank you.
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Toni, This recipe should work well with pre-cooked frozen shrimp. I don’t think any changes are necessary, just be sure to heat the shrimp through. Enjoy!
Barbara
0Love your recipes…. really annoying website…. I am happy for you but all the ads ….the auto scrolling…not great
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Barbara, Thanks for your feedback. Ads keep the Wholesome Yum website running and allow me to develop recipes that readers like you can access absolutely free. However, you may be interested in Wholesome Yum Plus, which includes an ad-free version of the website, along with other perks.
Nicole Rubinow
0This is my favorite keto recipe yet!!
Susan
0This was amazing. I julienned the zucchini add some spinach and tomatoes while cooking garlic. Perfection
Carrie Robinson
0This looks absolutely delicious! Definitely adding this to my weekly dinner plan soon. 🙂
Kelli
0Salting zucchini noodles was a game-changer for me! No more soggy zoodles! Love this keto-twist on an Italian classic.
Charla
0I have some zucchini and spare shrimp laying around. I think I might make this dish with it, looks great!
Anita
0Such a delicious pasta dish! The whole family loved it and there will be many repeat in the future.
Lisa | Garlic & Zest
0I’ve got a whole bunch of zucchini in the fridge, so this is a perfect meal for us tonight! Thanks for inspiring.