This Lemon Garlic Butter Sauce is rich, bright, creamy, and full of fresh flavor. It is especially delicious served over seafood, spooned onto grilled prawns or shrimp, stirred through rice, or drizzled over fish just before serving. The recipe is quick, easy, and fuss-free, making it a great sauce to prepare when you want restaurant-style flavor at home.
There are certain restaurant dishes that stay in your mind long after the meal is over. For us, one of those favorites has always been seafood served with a smooth lemon garlic butter sauce. The balance of butter, garlic, lemon, cream, and a little heat makes it the kind of sauce that turns a simple seafood dinner into something special.
When a craving hits and the restaurant version is not available, the best answer is to make your own. This homemade lemon garlic butter sauce comes very close to that rich seafood sauce you would expect from a good restaurant. It is simple enough for a weeknight meal, yet flavorful enough for a special dinner.
You can decide whether you prefer the sauce slightly thickened or left as it is. Both versions work beautifully. Without thickening, the sauce is silky and pourable, perfect for spooning over seafood or mixing into rice. With a little cornflour, it becomes richer and clings more easily to prawns, fish, calamari, or lobster.
One of the best ways to serve this sauce is over grilled large prawns arranged on a bed of spiced or flavored rice. The sauce soaks gently into the rice while still coating the seafood, giving every bite a fresh, buttery, garlicky finish.
Ready-made seafood sauces are not always easy to find in grocery stores, which makes this recipe a useful one to keep. It is a versatile seafood sauce that works with many different dishes and can be made in only a few minutes with simple ingredients.
Seafood That Goes Well With Lemon Garlic Butter Sauce
- Prawns or shrimp
- Fish, including most grilled, baked, or pan-fried varieties
- Calamari or squid, especially fried, grilled, crumbed, or breaded calamari
- Lobster
- Mussels
These are only a few examples. The sauce is also delicious with seafood platters, plain rice, or simple side dishes that need a creamy lemon garlic finish.
Best Lemon Juice To Use When Making The Sauce
Fresh lemon juice is always the best choice for this sauce. Bottled lemon juice cannot give the same clean, bright flavor. For the best result, use freshly squeezed lemon juice and finely grated lemon zest. The zest adds fragrance and a deeper citrus flavor without making the sauce overly sharp.
Because this lemon garlic butter sauce cooks very quickly, it is best to prepare all your ingredients before you begin. Chop the shallot, crush the garlic, zest and juice the lemon, and have the cream, wine, fish sauce, parsley, and seasoning ready. Once the seafood or rice is ready to serve, the sauce can be made at the last minute.
This is also the best way to enjoy it. Freshly made sauce has the smoothest texture and the brightest lemon flavor. Serve it immediately over seafood, drizzle it over rice, or bring it to the table in a small jug so everyone can add as much as they like.
Seafood recipes you might like:
- Smothered Fish, also known as Fish Mornay
- Red Prawns and Mussels
- Easy Lemon and Onion Fish
- Sweet and Sour Prawns with Sticky Rice
- Sweet and Sour Shrimp Fried Rice
Lemon Garlic Butter Sauce
Linda Nortje
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 shallot finely chopped, optional
- 3 teaspoons fresh garlic crushed
- ½ teaspoon chili flakes
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1 cup fresh cream double cream or whipping cream
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 large lemon juice and zest
- ⅓ cup parsley chopped
- 1 teaspoon cornflour optional, to thicken; also known as cornstarch
Instructions
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Melt the butter in a medium skillet. Add the shallot, garlic, and chili flakes, then sauté until softened and fragrant.
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Add the dry white wine and fish sauce. Simmer until the liquid has reduced by about two thirds. Stir in the cream and simmer for another 2 to 3 minutes.
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Optional: To thicken the sauce, spoon about 3 tablespoons of sauce into a cup. Stir in the cornflour until smooth, then add it back to the skillet. Simmer while stirring continuously for about 1 minute, or until thickened.
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Remove from the heat. Season with salt and black pepper, then stir in the fresh lemon juice, finely grated lemon zest, and chopped parsley.
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Serve immediately over seafood, rice, fish, prawns, shrimp, calamari, lobster, or mussels.
