Grilled Prawns with an Asian Citrus Garlic Butter – Al fresco Inspiration
We’re obsessed with this grilled prawns recipe in citrus garlic butter. It’s flavorful and amazing. But it’s the bright citrus and asian inspired dip that makes it special with the grilled large shrimp.
Grilled Prawns Recipe in Garlic Butter
A rare day off, the sun was out, and the air springtime warm. A day peacefully spent meddling about in the garden, harvesting the last of the sugar snap peas and planting tomatoes and veggies. Add a platter of these grilled prawns on the bbq or (grilled large shrimp) and it’s a perfect day. As the sun was dropping, hunger set in and we needed something quick, delicious and al fresco. After a day like this, the only apropos ending would a meal licked by the flames of mesquite, so with the inspiration for some grilled prawns .
Video: Making the Grilled Prawn with an Asian Citrus Butter
As the mesquite heated up to almost out-of-control hot, we let our noses and tongues guide the way in creating the garlic-butter sauce for the grilled prawns. Gently heating the butter with crushed garlic, adding a little bit of homegrown chilies for a touch of spice, dried yuzu zest for citrusy brightness (although any bright citrus would do), and nuoc mam (fish sauce) for umami and because it makes everything better. The prawns already have a great natural sweetness, so no need to add anything for that taste profile.
The freshwater prawns. were rolled through the garlic butter then sent to grill on the BBQ. With the coals’ heat on the verge of an inferno, the slightest outburst of oil would ignite a prawn consuming flare-up. Playing it fast and loose, at moments of flare up, the grill lid would get closed just long enough to starve the flames to help everything settle down, then opened back up again to allow the coals their high-heat oxygen.
Dancing the line between perfect high heat grilling and flare up combustion, the prawns cooked quickly, charring bits of their extremities and at contact points with the grill. After retrieval with the long tongs, the prawns received a final dousing of the garlic butter, beers were opened, and dinner was served.
Some moments and meals in life are perfect due to their simplicity and spontaneity. It wasn’t trying to be a perfect moment. It just was.
As the al fresco opportunities become abundant, let the open air inspire your senses and cook without inhibitions. You may just create a perfect meal. Hope you enjoy these grilled large shrimp or prawns.
-Todd
Grilled Prawns with Asian Citrus Garlic Butter
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. (907 g) Freshwater Prawns (or large head-less shrimp)
- 2 Tablespoons (30 ml) Grapeseed oil (or other high-flash point oil)
- 1/2 cup (1 stick or 115g) unsalted Butter
- 6 cloves Garlic , crushed
- 1 chopped or crushed thai chili , optional for spicy version
- 2 teaspoons (5 ml) Fish Sauce , or soy sauce
- 1 teaspoons (5 ml) citrus zest of 1 medium lemon , or 1 lime
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon or lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt , or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper , or to taste
- 1 Tablespoons chopped green onion
- lemon or lime wedges , for serving
Instructions
- Make the Citrus Garlic Butter Sauce: Heat butter over low to med.-low heat. Add garlic, crushed chili, and fish sauce (or soy sauce) and gently cook for about 1 minute. Remove from heat then add citrus zest, juice, salt and pepper. Set sauce aside.
- Heat your grill for high heat, direct grilling. *Grilling note - if using charcoal, natural lump charcoal with cook hotter than briquettes. Competition briquettes hotter than regular briquettes.
- Rinse prawns and place in a large bowl. Coat with oil and season with about 1 teaspoon salt over prawns.
- Give grill grate one last cleaning scrape, oil grate, and put prawns over direct heat. Grill for about 3-5 minutes or until cooked through, turning at least once. (If you have a flare up, close lid for a minute or so to starve flames of oxygen. Open lid back up to allow coals to stay very hot. If the flare ups are persistent, squirt coals with a little water to tame them. You want to try and keep the coals as hot as you can without having live flames charcoal the outsides of the prawns.)
- When prawns are just cooked through, remove from grill and place in a large serving bowl/platter. Pour about half of the citrus garlic butter sauce over the prawns. Reserve the remainder of the sauce for dipping.
- Add some minced green onion and slices of lemon/lime for serving.
Video
Nutrition Information per Serving
This recipe was originally published in 2010 and was updated in 2021.
What plug in did you use for th “print this recipe” icon?
Tahnks,
Valerie
Valerie- It is a slightly modified version of WP-Print. Love it.
Great post Todd. Love the fresh grilled prawns with slightly burnt tips. The smokey and sweet flavors are great…and nouc mam…how can this not be a a great dish!
One of my favorite WOR posts to date. The photos look like something out of Gourmet (sniff). This recipe reminds me a little of the whole salt-baked prawns from Chinese restaurants. Except on those, you can eat the shells, heads, everything. They’re incredible. Anyone know if you have to buy a special type of prawn so that the shells are edible?
As far as we know, shells are edible on just about any prawn. Some crustaceans may have a thicker shell than others, making one variety more appealing than another, but that is the only difference we know of.
Another great use for the shells is to make a shrimp stock out of them. Delicious!
Good to know. Thanks! If all goes well, I’ll be making these this weekend.
This looks simply delicious! A cold beer and a few napkins…that is all you need! This truly is my favorite time of year. Nothing is better than casual food and more time spent cooking on the grill!
Wow that looks super tasty! So excited for summer seafood cookouts!
OK. Sounds beyond delicious. Head on is so the way to go. I, myself, cook over mesquite wood that I hauled from Texas to New Orleans. I am oh so familiar with the quick cap for flare up dance. But sooo worth it.
Gotta love how mesquite cooks, huh! Nothing like it.
T
Gorgeous! Great post – I agree completely, some of the best and most fun meals I’ve ever made have been cooking instinctively, tasting as I go, using what’s fresh and on hand. As always, love the photos.
that looks so awesome, we’re def. going to have to save this recipe–we eat the crispy skin, the best part!
God damn, I need a grill or bbq. These look so incredible good.
Yum prawns! Yum Garlic butter! It’s only 6:46am and I could go for a plate full of those babies!
Those prawns definitely look scrumptious. The garlic butter with a hint of garlic and citrus looks to be an amazing complement to the already deliciously grilled prawns. Getting really hungry.
Saturday had prawns like this in MIL place, she did with olive oil , tyme, garlic etc….. but then in the oven under the grill.
These look so so yummy too.
I’ve never seen prawns cooked with heads…butter sauce: mmmm.
I just got my boyfriend to realize that shrimp (or prawns) with the head on are so much better than those without. I love the butter sauce. I think I’ll try it on grilled lobster since giant Maine lobsters are on sale at my local Asian market and I better the butter sauce would be perfect. I would lose out on the crunchy eyes though…
Love this! Esp. those extra crunchy eyeballs…
Such a summery treat! Looks absolutely delicious and I bet it smelled even better!