The Spicy, Saucy, Very Buttery BBQ Shrimp I Make Over & Over

Every so often, we scour the site for cool recipes from our community that we then test, photograph, and feature. This one comes by way of Food52er Waverly. Your shrimp can thank her later.

Let’s not beat around the bush. This recipe has 2 pounds of butter—and it serves 6 people. That’s 1/3 pound of butter per person. But so what? Is that wrong? And if it is, do we even want to be right? I don’t.

I stumbled upon this spicy, saucy—and, yes, buttery—shrimp recipe during what I like to call The Most Magical Summer. I had just started running and meditating, and I felt happy, like so happy, like I was falling in love with my own life.

In retrospect, I wonder if it was all the butter I was eating. Because that summer, my family and I made this recipe a lot, maybe more than anyone should make any one recipe. (“More times than I could count” is how my mom remembers it.) But it was just so good.

When I reached out to its creator, Waverly, she shared that same sentiment: “It’s so easy and so good.”

After she contributed her recipe to Food52 in 2012, it went on to become a finalist in our Best Shellfish recipe contest.

And when Waverly says “so easy,” she means it. Basically, you melt some butter and add your pantry’s punchiest ingredients: garlic, paprika, hot sauce, and Worcestershire. Pour this over heavily peppered, shell-on shrimp. And roast. That’s it. Serve with lemon wedges and lots of crusty bread.

Pascal's Manale in New Orleans invented the dish in 1953. Accordingly, many might peg BBQ shrimp to The Big Easy, but Waverly told me it can be “found up and down the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida and beyond.” She now lives in Houston where BBQ shrimp are “just part of the region.”

Lucky for us, now that she’s shared her version, it can be part of wherever you—and you and you—are. Just don’t skimp on that butter. And don’t forget the bread!

What's your favorite shrimp recipe? Tell us about it in the comments!