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Gambas al Ajillo
Succulent shrimp sautéed with garlic, chili, and olive oil
⏱ 15 min🔥 280 kcalEasy
★4.9(1,560)
3 recipes using shrimp — Paella, tapas, gazpacho — from Iberian sun-drenched kitchens.
These 3 spanish shrimp recipes are ready in about 16 minutes on average, with 280–360 kcal per serving, and 100% are rated easy enough for a weeknight. Every recipe includes exact ingredient quantities, step-by-step instructions and full nutrition per serving.
Spanish food is generous and social — bold smoky-sweet flavours layered over a slow-cooked sofrito base, made for sharing. When Spanish cooks work with shrimp, they reach for olive oil, smoked paprika, saffron, garlic, sherry and good chorizo, and the techniques that come up most across these recipes are searing.
Sweet, quick-cooking shellfish that go from raw to ready in two or three minutes — perfect for fast, high-heat dishes. In this collection it's most often cooked with flaky sea salt. The dishes here span spanish classics ready in as little as 15 minutes to slower, more involved cooking that rewards a relaxed afternoon.
Reader favourite: Gambas al Ajillo (Spanish Garlic Shrimp) is the highest-rated dish in this collection at 4.9★ from 1,890 ratings.
Succulent shrimp sautéed with garlic, chili, and olive oil
Spain's most ordered tapa — plump prawns sizzling in olive oil with garlic, dried chili and a splash of sherry, served in a clay cazuela.
Plump shrimp sautéed in sizzling olive oil with sliced garlic, red chili, and fresh parsley — the quintessential Spanish tapa.
Look for firm, translucent flesh with a clean sea smell — never ammonia. Shell-on shrimp keep more flavour; larger counts (fewer per kilo) mean bigger shrimp.
Peel and devein, leaving the tail on for presentation if you like. A quick brine firms the texture; pat dry before searing so they brown rather than steam.
Cook just until they curl into a loose C and turn opaque pink — a tight O means they're overdone and rubbery.
Very lean and high in protein, with selenium, vitamin B12 and iodine for few calories.
Most of these 3 Spanish shrimp recipes are ready in around 16 minutes from start to finish. The quickest, Gambas al Ajillo, takes about 15 minutes, while the slower-cooked dishes run up to 18 minutes.
Across this collection they range from about 280 to 360 kcal per serving, averaging 320 kcal — Gambas al Ajillo is the lightest option at 280 kcal.
Gambas al Ajillo is a great place to start — it's rated easy and comes together in about 15 minutes. 100% of the recipes here are beginner-friendly.
In these recipes, shrimp is most often paired with flaky sea salt. Spanish kitchens also lean on olive oil, smoked paprika, saffron, garlic, sherry and good chorizo.
Cook just until they curl into a loose C and turn opaque pink — a tight O means they're overdone and rubbery.