Camarao à Guilho: Portuguese Garlic Prawns

Camarao à guilho is a simple Portuguese dish, essentially quickly cooked garlic prawns; my version adds a splash of white wine and chilli.

This recipe will serve four as a starter or two as a main course, and you can get it on your table in a little over 15 minutes... even if your prawns are frozen!

Portuguese Garlic Shrimp

Prawns are an incredible ingredient to keep in the freezer.

Yes, they are a little pricy, but they will sit there, and when you need a quick meal that makes you feel special, they are pretty much the best thing to reach for!

They are also incredibly versatile! You can go Greek with a prawn saganaki, Japanese with my prawn katsu curry, Indian with my take on tandoori king prawns or even make a sarnie like my prawn sandwich with Bloody Mary sauce.

This super quick recipe is influenced by a Portuguese dish called camarao à guilho. It sounds all sorts of fancy, and it tastes like it, too. But in reality, they are quick-cooked garlic prawns, cooked in olive oil and white wine.

And given a combined cooking and preparation time of around 15 minutes, that is all there is, aside from a little chilli, salt, lemon juice and a handful of parsley.

But no one notices or cares how long things take to make when they taste this good!

Frequently Asked Questions

What size prawns do you use?

You can use any size prawns that you like for this recipe. The timings given are for prawns sized as "21-25".

If you go bigger, you will need to cook them for another minute or two.

Can I use frozen prawns?

Yes, absolutely, I almost exclusively use frozen prawns in all of my recipes.

They are a fantastic ingredient to keep in the freezer, and they always feel like a treat!

What sort of wine do you use?

I tend to use whatever dry white wine I have knocking around at home. You only need a little in this recipe.

You could also use dry sherry or dry Madeira.

Do I have to use alcohol?

No, if you do not cook with alcohol, use a little fish stock and a little extra lemon juice or a small splash of sherry, white wine or cider vinegar.

Do I have to add the chilli?

No, this is just as good without the addition of chilli... but I'm a chilli fiend, so I always add it.

Can I make this in advance?

No, cooking this dish in advance and reheating it results in chewy, rubbery prawns, and nobody loves those!

Serving Suggestions

Camarao à guilho is most commonly served as a starter with some crusty bread. If you serve this as a starter, it will comfortably serve four people. It would work wonderfully as a pre-munch for these Portuguese beef espetada skewers!

However, I much prefer to serve this as a main course with some of my favourite sides. In the pictures on this page, I have served these delicious garlic prawns with arroz con tomate, a glorious Portuguese tomato rice.

Adding some toasted bread (I used ciabatta) is a great idea if you are serving this with rice.

Potatoes are awesome with this recipe; it is easy to suggest patatas bravas as an option. But the big garlic flavours in the sauce for the shrimp allow you to go super simple too, and these crushed roasted new potatoes would be fantastic.

Equipment Used

I only name-check brands of equipment if I think that they make a material difference to a recipe. But if you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section below the recipe.

• Hob/Stovetop.
• 25cm or 10" frying pan.
• Stirring and serving spoons.
• Sieve or colander. Only required if you need to defrost the prawns.
• Chopping board.
• Kitchen knife.
• A combination of weighing scales, a measuring jug, measuring cups and spoons.