One of my favorite shrimp scampi recipes is Hawaiian shrimp scampi, made famous by the Giovanni’s shrimp truck at Kahuku, in the north shore of Oahu island.
If you have been to Hawaii, it’s very likely that you have tried the legendary shrimp. It’s top of the list as a must-eat when you are in Oahu.
My Hawaiian shrimp scampi recipe is loosely adapted from this recipe.
Many of my friends have tried and tested my recipe and all gave me their thumbs up. .They taste very close to Giovanni’s version. It’s utterly delicious and best served with some cold beer. Enjoy!
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Hawaiian Shrimp Scampi Recipe
Hawaiian Shrimp Scampi - garlic butter sauteed shrimp with lemon juice and white wine. This Hawaiian shrimp scampi recipe is so good!
Ingredients
- 1 lb shrimp, headless, shell-on, tail-on, deveined
- 1/2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 oz unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
- 1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
- 5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- 2 tablespoons white wine
- salt to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce, (optional)
- 1 squirt lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
-
Clean and rinse the shrimp and deveined. Pat dry with paper towels.
-
Mix the flour and the cayenne pepper together in a big bowl. Add the shrimp to the bowl, toss a few times to coat lightly with the flour mixture.
-
Heat up a saute pan and add the butter. When the butter melts, add the olive oil. Stir in the garlic, lightly saute until aromatic before adding the shrimp into the pan. Saute the shrimp and then add the white wine, salt, sugar, and fish sauce (if using). Continue to stir until the shrimp is cooked through. Add a squirt or two of the lemon juice and the black pepper. Stir to combine well and serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
Fish sauce is optional but it adds umami flavor to the dish. If you don't use it, just add more salt to taste.
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Nancy
We just got back from Oahu where we so enjoyed the Giovanni Shrimp Truck on the North Shore (it’s amazingly delicious). So I went looking for any recipe that might be like it and this one comes darn close. This recipe is easy and delicious. Thank you!
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Nancy, awesome, please try more of my recipes, they are all very good! :)
Darlene Lockrem
I would like to add wine to my scampi, what white wine did you use?
Rasa Malaysia
I just use white wine, no particular brand.
Professor Gowdy
Delicious! I had these over the weekend, but added some cream of coconut and Old Bay seasoning added. To die for.
Rasa Malaysia
Yum, sounds very yummy. I love these Hawaiian Shrimp Scampi.
jay
Too many delicious recipes to have to subscribe to get yours. Good luck!
Selina
We just came back from Hawaii and the family wants shrimp scampi from the truck at home. We will try your recipe. What green stuff did you garnish with? Green onions? Parsley? Cilantro?
Emma
Can I not use white wine, it’s available but it’s a 2 hours drive to where it is.
Rasa Malaysia
You can skip it.
Emily
Can I not use white wine, it’s available but it’s a 2 hours drive to where it is.
Melanie
My daughter makes her own version of the garlic and hot shrimp. She uses rice flour, coconut milk. No wine or beer. Otherwise pretty much the same recipe. Awesome. Last night we inadvertently used shelled shrimp and it was good but using shell on (devained, easy peel variety) make them extra yummy.
Kyeshia
Hello is the flour necessary or can I omit that. Have someone who cant eat gluten.
Rasa Malaysia
Yes you can skip!
Steve-OH
Have made this several times, the family loves it!
In fact, voted better then the Giovannis truck by my in-laws.
Began playing with the recipe. Tonight I added ginger in place of half the garlic.
More wine and flower to increase the sauce, tossed it with past and …a new star is born!
Thanks for the great recipe and the inspiration to make it my own.
From the rainy SF Bay!
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Steve, thanks for sharing your tips! I am so glad that you in-laws said mine are beter than Giovanni’s. Maybe I should start a shrimp truck.
abhra ghosh
DELICIOUS
Erin
I made this awesome recipe inside last time and it was such a hit! However, I want to make this for my parents tonight but it’s going to be 95 degrees here today, yikes. Do you think it’s possible to use a cookie shit outside on the grill this time? Or just suck it up and get my kitchen hot? Thanks again for this recipe!
Rasa Malaysia
You can try.
Pomai
Aloha Rasa,
So interesting that you added Fish Sauce into the recipe, as when I tried Giovanni’s Shrimp Scampi this past weekend for the first time (and I’ve lived on Oahu my entire life), I KNEW there was some kind of “umami” factor going on, thinking it was Parmesan Cheese giving it that “oomph”. What brand or style of fish sauce do you recommend using for the Giovanni’s Shrimp Scampi knock-off recipe? Thai Fish Sauce (Nam Pla)? Filipino (Patis)? Other?
Also good to know it’s coated in flour, as I could also tell there as extra crunch and adhesion of the garlic butter sauce thanks to that flour coating. As for mixing Ceyenne pepper into the flour, to be honest, I didn’t taste ANYTHING spicy in Giovanni’s Shrimp Scampi, and I have a very sensitive tongue for spicy food. If there is Ceyenne Pepper in Giovanni’s flour mixture, it’s very little.
I’ve left several links and references to your post and recipe here on my food blog over at Tasty Island Hawaii (dot com).
Mahalo!
Pomai
The Tasty Island
Honolulu Food Blog
Rasa Malaysia
Pomai, thanks for your comment. I was eating both the spicy version and non-spicy version so I couldn’t really tell on whether or not there was spices. But I love cayenne pepper. For Fish Sauce, use Vietnamese fish sauce, for example: Red Boat or Magic Chef.
Josie
I have tried this recipe and it was perfectly made as it was I tasted it in Kauai. I have been trying to find these recipe for a long time and at last someone shared this recipe. Thank you soo much.
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Josie, thanks so much for trying my recipe. So glad that you like my recipe.
Lauren Nguyen
Love that shrimp truck. I need to figure out when we can go back!! Haha
Until then, I’m adding this to my recipe list for this week!
Venus
Would mixed seafood work for this recipe? I know you mentioned omitting white wine but I like wine in my cooking. Would red wine work too? I just want to use what I have available.
Rasa Malaysia
No red wine. Yes mixed seafood is fine.
Cheryl
When I saw this on the internet and saw you had written “Hawaiian shrimp scampi made famous by Giovanni’s shrimp truck” I just couldn’t believe it! My friend and I were in Hawaii on Oahu staying on the Marine Base, somewhere around 2007 I believe, visiting with friends and one day we went for a drive around the island and found this truck set up along the road somewhere and I had this recipe! I am so surprised to see this here, I am going to make it! I can remember it being sooooooo garlicky, I loved it. Wow, talk about bringing back good memories. ;o)
Max
Excited to try this recipe. How soon after the shrimp go in do you add everything else? And is it better to have the heat at medium or high? Thanks in advance!
Rasa Malaysia
I like high but medium is fine.
lisa
hi,
can i omit the white wine?
Rasa Malaysia
Yes you can. :)
Debra H
Just reading the recipe brought back happy memories of Oahu–can’t wait to try it! Thanks!
Rasa Malaysia
Thanks Debra…I know right, I wanted to go back to Hawaii, too.
Bonnie N
In order to serve over linguine, I shelled and de-tailed the shrimp. Marvelous recipe.
Rasa Malaysia
Bonnie, yum, what a great idea. I will have to make a shrimp scampi linguine!
Sue
Made this for dinner, and it was so easy and yummy. Didn’t have white wine, so I used vodka (what we had – don’t judge!). I also added more than a squirt of lemon because I love acid (that came out bad). Anyways, thanks for the recipe!
Essy
oh my god, I’ve been craving Giovanni’s since I got back from my vacation on the North Shore. Thank youuuuuuu, can’t wait to try this, I have high hopes! <3
Kim
I was CRAVING noodles, but I didn’t have yellow noodles, so I used soba noodles to make Bee’s Garlic Noodles & it was DELICIOUS!!! I paired the noodles with Bee’s Hawaiian Shrimp Scampi recipe… It was the easiest, most DELICIOUS dinner in 25mins I have ever whipped up!!! THANK YOU so very much for perfecting both these recipes, Bee!!! xoxo
Rasa Malaysia
Thanks Kim. That’s a great idea and combo. I will have to try that!! :)
Ralph
Thanks for the recipe. It’s delicious and taste like the one in Hawaii. My wife wants to make it every week!
anh
thank you for the recipe, i tried making it yesterday but my garlic burn. The taste was good just have to figure out how to not burn the garlic. The shrimp wasnt cook that long either, just 5 minutes each side.
Moni
Thank you for this recipe! I made it tonight and it was delicious!!
Khrystyne
Just got back from Hawaii. Tried Giovanni’s shrimp scampi and it was delicious. Tried your reipe today and it tastes exactly liked it. Definitely will make many more times and invite family and friends to try it. Thank you!
Rasa Malaysia
Thanks for your wonderful comment. :)
[email protected] from the field blog
This recipe looks awesome. It’s going to be featured on my table and my blog this weekend.
Thanks Bee.
Quinn
Do I have to add the white wine, or can I just leave it out of the recipe, or will that affect the whole entire recipe?
Rasa Malaysia
You can skip.
Nerissa
can i use Sake instead of white wine?
nico
Hi, i would like to ask a question , i dont have any white wine , so what other ingredients i need to use to subtitute the white wine?
Rasa Malaysia
You can use beer, I guess. Or skip it.
Candice
This looks absolutely delicious! I didn’t get a chance to go to Giovanni’s when I was in Oahu, but it will be a must visit on my next trip.
I’m going to attempt to make the shrimp w/out the shell…hopefully, it’ll turn out.
Barbara Rivers
Hi Rasa, Thank u so much 4 this recipe ~ I’ll be visiting
this link more often ….Again, Thank U :)
Putputt @ Putputt Eats
This looks lip-smackingly delicious! Shrimp is quite costly here though, would it be possible to do the same with, say, chicken?
Rasa Malaysia
I have never tried chicken though so not sure what to expect. You can just buy 1/2 the quantity of the shrimp and it will be good for you alone. :)
Jayne
I want to make this so bad! On Saturday I will. I must!
Compote
Now if we could just get the recipe for their hot sauce!
Rasa Malaysia
Ooops, I have to go there the next time and figure it out!
nancy
will this receipe work for peeled shrimp (no shell or tail on)?
Rasa Malaysia
Yes, should work. But you might want to go very light on the flour.
Lydia
This looks so yummy. Drove by Giovanni’s last month – but didn’t stop since we had just eaten at Ted’s Bakery.
Georgia
They look amazing. Do you eat the shells? I know at times the shells are so soft you can actually eat them whole instead of peeling them and losing some of the yummy ingredients.
Rasa Malaysia
No, you suck the flavors off the shell and peel it off before eating.
carol
Just for grins – ingredients list squirts of lemon juice, but description said lime. which is correct?
Rasa Malaysia
Lemon, thanks for catching the typo. :)
Edie Layland
The shrimp looks amazing! My mouth is watering. Thanks for the post!