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.
Thank you! This is dinner tonight!
The prawns looks scrumptious. I would love to know where in San Diego (or SoCal) to find prawns with their heads on. I’m a displaced Cajun and used to bring back Gulf shrimp from trips home, or have them shipped to me. In light of the devastating oil spill, I am looking for a new supply of shrimp/prawns, since I can no longer get them from home.
Martin at I Love Blue Sea usually has them and of excellent quality. He ships anywhere in the US and is awesome.
That sauce looks absolutely scrumptous! Prawns with the heads in butter sauce with a touch of fish sauce. How can you go wrong? ๐
These prawns look so enticing and the recipe sounds awesome. I love the combination of flavors of butter, garlic and citrus. I must try this soon. When I was little, we used to boil prawns in peppercorn and just eat them plain with beer. Well, I had a little sip of it, being that I was 7. My parents had most of the beer. Some of the best food out there requires minimal spice addition โ because itโs so good on its own. Love the photos!
I have to laugh because I’m a fish sauce convert now. I made some Dirty Rice last night that was a bit blah, so I added some fish sauce and jazzed it up nicely.
A bunch of friends & I were just talking about how much we love shrimp so it’s nice to see a post about its big cousin! This looks like quite a cookout. I love the pictures!
Oh my goodness. What a perfect way to usher in the grilling weather! (Fingers crossed, we ARE going to get some more, aren’t we? Enough of this rain!) Do you guys have a favorite brand of nuoc mam?
Oooh, the toasted eyes are a little scary, but the rest of it sounds good. Maybe it’s that garlic butter. No matter, it’s time to eat!
And now I know exactly what I’m doing for a little dinner party this weekend ๐ We have some beautiful prawns available to us here in Tokyo and these Garlic Butter Prawns would be the perfect way to showcase their delicious flavor. LOVE love love the photos!
Oh Wow, I can’t wait until May when our local spot prawns are in season. I’m definitely making your Grilled Prawns. They look amazing.
~Ann~
So did any of that flavor in the sauce penetrate into the shrimp meat or was it simply finger seasoning? Seems like a pan crush and 2 hours in your sauce might take these to the next level. I know you were playing it fast and loose though- Just a thought.
Very nice dish!
Thanks!
Since the sauce was also poured over the prawns after grilling, the flavors are intermingled when you eat them. Yet there is still a nice distinctive layering of flavors where the sweet flavor of the prawns doesn’t get enveloped completely in the flavor of the garlic butter sauce.
T
I am totally jealous. Here I am, living in a great city for seafood, and have never come across shrimp that look as darn good as those. I love the presoaking with garlic butter. The shot with the beer makes me want to fly down and say hi to you guys. And heck, your description of the grilling of these bad boys – just mouth watering. Fantastic guys!
You’re killing me here! I’m literally salivating, and I haven’t even had my second cup of coffee. But I can’t quite figure it out — does your food look so good because it IS so good that any picture of it looks delicious, or does it look so good because your photography is so good that it makes any food look delicious. It’s the White on Rice conundrum.
It’s symbiotic of course! Thanks Tamar!
These look unbelievable. I’m jealous.
Grilled (good) prawns will always be one of my favorite things ever– allergies be damned, I’ll bear it all just for a big plateful. Our go-to has always been just butter (sometimes even margarine!), salt and garlic, but I love some of the other additions here too (especially the chili pepper!).
All I can say is…YUM! Looks amazing!