This easy recipe for Sheet Pan Lemon Garlic Prawns with asparagus and roast potatoes cooks in 30 minutes. Spicy garlic butter shrimp, tender asparagus spears and crisp roasted potatoes make a quick, healthy meal!
All cooked on one pan, this Sheet Pan Lemon Garlic Prawns (or shrimp) is a simple weeknight meal that feels extra special. I'm lucky to have freshly caught prawns, but this recipe will work beautifully with a bag of frozen wild shrimp, too.
Being stuck at home and avoiding grocery stores is a great opportunity to dig down in the freezer and use all those items that may have been waiting there for a while!
I use the terms prawns and shrimp interchangeably. Depending on where you live, one term is often more widely used than another.
Here's what you'll need to make this Lemon Garlic Shrimp Sheet Pan dinner.
Ingredients for sheet pan lemon garlic prawns
prawns or large shrimp: peeled and deveined. Fresh or frozen wild shrimp or prawns. After seeing shrimp farms in Southeast Asia, I highly recommend you use wild shrimp.
asparagus spears: I used thin spears, because that's what was delivered to my door. However, if choosing your own, try to select spears that are all about the same thickness so they'll cook at the same time.
potatoes: creamy yellow potatoes work well, but any type will do.
lemon: you'll need the juice of one lemon and another for slices
garlic: fresh, minced garlic has the most flavour
ginger: about ½ inch of fresh ginger, or ½ teaspoon dried ginger
crushed red pepper flakes
paprika: adds lots of flavour and colour to the prawns
olive oil: extra virgin. Tossing the potatoes and asparagus with a little oil adds flavour and prevents them from drying out and sticking to the pan while they're roasting.
parsley: for garnish. Parsley also helps to balance garlic flavours.
Tips for sheet pan dinner success
Many of my sheet pan recipes, like Sheet Pan Chicken and Roasted Harvest Vegetables, Thai Chili Sheet Pan Salmon and Maple Walnut Crusted Sheet Pan Halibut use ingredients that cook at the same rate. Shrimp cook in no time at all, so I staggered adding the ingredients to the pan.
Chop potatoes, place in a bowl and cover with cold water. Let them sit for 20 - 30 minutes to help remove some of the starch. This technique helps to produce crispy roasted potatoes. Drain and pat dry before tossing with 1 ½ tsp of olive oil.
Start by adding potatoes to a preheated sheet pan. Roast until almost fork tender, then flip them over. Add asparagus at this point and return the pan to the oven. When the spears are almost fork tender as well, add the marinated prawns.
A quick flip after three minutes or so, and two or three minutes in the oven and you'll have a pan full of perfectly cooked and seasoned shrimp and veggies!
The sheet pan dinner pictured here served two of us. For a family meal, make two pans and double the recipe.
How to choose asparagus
The size of asparagus spears is not as important as their freshness. Look for spears that are firm, not floppy. The tips should be tightly closed. Check the stalk ends, too. If they look dry or cracked, they're probably too old.
Green asparagus spears should be bright green, or with a slight violet tinge, depending on the variety. Avoid those that are beginning to yellow, as they will be tough and stringy. For more information see this post on how to choose asparagus.
Sheet Pan Lemon Garlic Prawns and Asparagus
Equipment
Ingredients
Vegetables
- 2 medium Yukon Gold or yellow potatoes, diced
- ½ bunch asparagus * see note
- 1 tbsp olive oil, extra virgin
- salt and pepper to taste
Prawns /Shrimp
- 1 lb prawns or large wild shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 tbsp olive oil, extra virgin
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ inch fresh ginger, minced (or ½ tsp. dried ginger)
- lemon juice from 1 lemon
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp paprika
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish
- 1 - 2 tbsp butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F. Place a sheet pan in the centre of the oven.
- Chop potatoes, place in a bowl and cover with cold water. Let them sit for 20 - 30 minutes to help remove some of the starch. Drain and pat dry before tossing with 1 ½ tsp of olive oil and sprinkling with salt and pepper.
- Using stove mitts, remove the hot sheet pan from the oven and add the potatoes, spreading them out so they roast evenly instead of cooking in their own steam.
- While the potatoes are cooking, trim the tough ends from the asparagus, either by snapping them off or slicing them. Toss with remaining 1 ½ teaspoons oil and set aside.
- Combine olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, ginger, crushed red pepper flakes, and paprika in a bowl. Add prawns and toss to coat. Since the marinade has lemon juice, don't let the prawns marinate for more than 30 minutes. The acid in the lemon juice will start to break down the tender prawns and make them mushy.
- When potatoes are almost fork tender, (after about 15 minutes of roasting), remove the pan from the oven, flip them over and add the asparagus spears to the pan.
- Return to the oven for 5 minutes or until asparagus is almost fork tender.
- Add the prawns to the pan and return to the oven for 3 minutes. Use tongs to flip the prawns over so they cook evenly. Drizzle with melted butter. Return to the oven for 2 - 3 minutes, then serve while hot. Garnish with freshly ground black pepper and chopped parsley and serve the meal with lemon slices.
Laura
So easy. So tasty. We usually fry prawns, but this was a great way to mix it up.
Flavour & Savour
That's great to hear. Thanks for letting me know. Prawns or shrimp cook so quickly in the oven. Love one-pan meals!