Grilled Spot Prawns with Garlic Herb Butter
- Gluten-Free
- Dairy-Free
- Paleo
- Low Carb
- Keto
- Whole30
- Pescatarian
Nothing says summer quite like fresh grilled seafood, am I right?? It’s such a fun way to celebrate the season, enjoy time outside, and seafood cooks up super quickly, leaving you more time to hang with family and friends.
Grilled Spot Prawns with Garlic Herb Butter
These spot prawns literally only take 10 minutes total to make. 10 MINUTES!! I just love throwing these on the grill because they cook so quickly and you don’t even have to worry about peeling them! The meat is ready to be eaten right away!
I’ve had spot prawns at restaurants before but never cooked them at home until a few weeks ago. And wow, they are so easy to prepare and a much better bargain than what you’ll pay in a restaurant. Not to say that these babies are cheap though, they’re actually quite expensive because they live in deeper water and are more difficult to harvest than other crustaceans.
But don’t shy away because of the price tag because these are a real delicacy. They rival lobster in terms of taste and actually are a bit sweeter! Dare I say, they’re better than lobster? If I were given a side-by-side taste test, I’m pretty sure I’d choose these any day. They’re just THAT good. And I do love my lobster, so that’s saying a lot!
Getting to Know Spot Prawns
Spot prawns are sold live. You’ll want to get them right on the grill after you split them in half. So, one they die they begin to secrete an enzyme. This enzyme can make the flesh mushy, so get them cooking right away! You’re going to grill them for just 90 seconds per side and you don’t want to overcook them. In fact, better that you undercook them because they can actually be eaten raw as sashimi!
You’ll generally only find spot prawns for sale if you live on the Pacific coast of North America. However, if you live elsewhere you can special order them by overnight mail and they arrive live to your doorstep! How fun is that??
If you don’t live on the Pacific coast and don’t feel like paying for shipping, this recipe can actually be used for other prawns and shrimp of similar size. Royal red shrimp from the Gulf coast are perfect for this recipe too!
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Grilled Spot Prawns with Garlic Herb Butter
- Gluten-Free
- Dairy-Free
- Paleo
- Low Carb
- Keto
- Whole30
- Pescatarian
Ingredients
- 1 lb spot prawns can substitute with other large prawns or shrimp
- 1/2 cup butter or ghee melted
- 1/2 shallot minced
- 2 large cloves garlic pressed or minced
- 2 Tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes*
- Avocado oil
Instructions
- Preheat grill to 450ºF (med-high heat).
- Prep the herb butter. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once it's hot, add the minced shallot and garlic and allow to cook for about 5 minutes to infuse the butter, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, add parsley, lemon juice, sea salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Set aside.
- Prep the spot prawns right before you're ready to grill. Once they die they start to release an enzyme that can make the flesh mushy, so you want to cook them right away after you slice them in half. To humanely kill the spot prawn, place on a cutting board, hold the tail down, and quickly place the tip of a very sharp chef’s knife right in the middle of the head of the prawn, behind the eyes. In one fell swoop, press the knife down forcefully toward the nose, slicing the head down the middle between the eyes. This will kill the prawn instantly as you sever the brain. The prawn will continue to twitch afterward, but don’t worry, it is just the nervous system. Rotate the prawn around and finish slicing through the tail with your knife. You are cutting them in half lengthwise like you see in the photos above.
- Brush the flesh side with a bit of avocado oil. When the grill is hot, place the prawn halves flesh side down on the grill.
- Grill for 90 seconds. Flip each piece over and spoon the herb butter onto prawns. Be careful because any dripping butter could cause flames to rise above the grill grate! Grill for another 90 seconds or until the flesh is just opaque. Take care not to overcook! They are better slightly underdone than overdone.
- Carefully remove the prawns to a serving platter. I like to use tongs and a spatula to prevent the herb butter from spilling out.
- Serve immediately with lemon wedges and enjoy!
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Notes
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We followed the ingredient part of the recipe exactly, but to prevent flare-ups we cooked our spot prawn tails(no whole live available to us right now) first and then tossed in the butter. The benefit of this was there was lots of delicious garlicky butter to dip our bread in!
WOW! Really easy and flavorful! Thank you for the detailed instructions!!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe!