Meal Prep
Garlic Butter Shrimp Mac & Cheese
Garlic Butter Shrimp Mac & Cheese is what happens when shrimp scampi and mac & cheese accidentally create the world's most macro-friendly child. You get buttery garlic shrimp, a creamy cheddar sauce, plenty of pasta, and enough protein to make this feel like way more than just another comfort food meal prep. Rich, cheesy, and somehow still around 615 calories - this one has absolutely no business fitting the macros the way it does.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 20 min
- Makes
- 4 servings
High protein
Garlic Butter Shrimp Mac & Cheese
64.8g protein615 calories per serving
- Prep Time
- 10 mins
- Cook Time
- 20 mins
- Total Time
- 30 mins
Equipment
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Ingredients
Ingredient links open Walmart products from our grocery planner. Links marked “Walmart search” need your product choice. Confirm package details and local availability at Walmart.
For the mac & cheese base:
For the shrimp:
Instructions
Boil pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
8 oz dry penne pasta
Toss shrimp with garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper. In a skillet over medium-high heat, add olive oil and cook shrimp 1- 2 minutes per side until pink and opaque. Set aside.
2 lb raw shrimp, 1 tbsp garlic powder, 1 tsp paprika, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper, 1 tbsp olive oil
In the same pot you used for the pasta, melt butter over medium heat. Add minced garlic and sauté for 30- 60 seconds until fragrant.
2 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp garlic
Lower the heat slightly, then add cream cheese and skim milk to the pot. Stir until smooth. Add cheddar, Greek yogurt, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Stir continuously until melted and creamy.
4 oz low-fat cream cheese, ½ cup skim milk, ½ cup nonfat shredded cheddar cheese, ½ cup nonfat Greek yogurt, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper
Add cooked pasta to the cheese sauce and stir to coat. Top each serving with shrimp or fold shrimp in if preferred.
Top with optional lemon zest for a fresh finish. Divide into the selected number of meal prep containers & enjoy!
½ tbsp lemon zest
Nutrition
Per servingEstimates for one serving.
- Calories
- 615 kcal
- Protein
- 64.8 g
- Fat
- 16.2 g
- Carbs
- 52.6 g
Full nutrition and how it’s calculated
All values are per serving. Changing the recipe yield scales the ingredients and keeps these per-serving amounts the same.
- Saturated Fat
- 7.43 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat
- 1.47 g
- Monounsaturated Fat
- 5.43 g
- Trans Fat
- 0.41 g
- Cholesterol
- 400 mg
- Sodium
- 1,160 mg
- Potassium
- 980 mg
- Fiber
- 2.7 g
- Sugar
- 5.1 g
- Added Sugar
- 0 g
- Vitamin A
- 282 mcg RAE
- Vitamin C
- 1.88 mg
- Vitamin D
- 0.7 mcg
- Calcium
- 438 mg
- Iron
- 3.62 mg
Estimated ingredient cost
$5.75 per serving · $23.02 for this batch
Ingredient costs and assumptions
Estimated US grocery prices for the amounts used, including purchase waste and discarded marinade. Your store, brands, and package sizes may cost differently. Buying full packages can cost more. Price sources and methodology.
Quantities without exact weights use the nutrition library’s portion estimates. Purchase yields are estimates. Separate citrus ingredients are costed independently; reusing the same fruit for juice and zest can lower your cost. Labor, utilities, and delivery are excluded.
- dry penne pasta: $0.62
226.8 g purchased · Uses the reviewed ingredient quantity before cooking or marinade losses.
Authored ingredient weight. Representative product for this ingredient; your brand and package size may differ.
Walmart: Great Value Penne Pasta, 16 oz · Price checked 2026-09-21
- butter: $0.24
28.4 g purchased · Uses the reviewed ingredient quantity before cooking or marinade losses.
1 tbsp = 14.2 g Salted butter reference; unsalted uses this as a substitute estimate.
Walmart: Great Value Salted Butter · Price checked 2026-09-21
- garlic: $0.30
16.8 g purchased · Uses the reviewed ingredient quantity before cooking or marinade losses.
1 tsp = 2.8 g; USDA SR Legacy household weights used as an approximate physical conversion for the current ingredient profile; nutrition remains from its own mapped record. Representative product for this ingredient; your brand and package size may differ.
Walmart: Spice World Fresh Peeled Garlic, 6 oz, Pouch · Price checked 2026-09-21
- low-fat cream cheese: $1.73
113.4 g purchased · Uses the reviewed ingredient quantity before cooking or marinade losses.
Authored ingredient weight. Representative product for this ingredient; your brand and package size may differ.
Walmart: Philadelphia Reduced Fat Cream Cheese, 1 Tub, for Smooth, Spreadable Mornings, Original, No Artificial Preservatives, Flavors or Dyes, 8 oz · Price checked 2026-09-21
- skim milk: $0.09
123.5 g purchased · Uses the reviewed ingredient quantity before cooking or marinade losses.
1 cup = 247 g Representative product for this ingredient; your brand and package size may differ.
Walmart: Great Value Fat-Free Milk, Gallon, 128 fl oz · Price checked 2026-09-21
- nonfat shredded cheddar cheese: $0.84
56 g purchased · Uses the reviewed ingredient quantity before cooking or marinade losses.
1 cup (shredded) = 112 g; Editorial shredded hard-cheese estimate: 112 g/cup (four 28 g quarter-cup portions); loose packing varies. Representative product for this ingredient; your brand and package size may differ.
Walmart: Kraft Natural Fat Free Cheddar Shredded Cheese, 7 oz Bag · Price checked 2026-09-21
- nonfat Greek yogurt: $0.41
113.5 g purchased · Uses the reviewed ingredient quantity before cooking or marinade losses.
1 cup = 227 g; Editorial Greek-yogurt volume proxy using King Arthur's generic yogurt weight, 227 g/cup. Plain nonfat Greek yogurt reference; unspecified-fat Greek yogurt uses this as a price estimate.
Walmart: Great Value Greek Plain Nonfat Yogurt, 32 oz Tub · Price checked 2026-09-21
- garlic powder: $0.03
3.1 g purchased · Uses the reviewed ingredient quantity before cooking or marinade losses.
1 tsp = 3.1 g Representative product; brand and package size may differ.
Walmart: Great Value Garlic Powder · Price checked 2026-09-21
- onion powder: $0.03
2.4 g purchased · Uses the reviewed ingredient quantity before cooking or marinade losses.
1 tsp = 2.4 g Representative product; brand and package size may differ.
Walmart: Great Value Onion Powder · Price checked 2026-09-21
- salt: $0.00
3 g purchased · Uses the reviewed ingredient quantity before cooking or marinade losses.
1 tsp = 6 g Iodized table salt reference; not a kosher salt price.
Walmart: Great Value Iodized Salt · Price checked 2026-09-21
- black pepper: $0.05
1.2 g purchased · Uses the reviewed ingredient quantity before cooking or marinade losses.
1 tsp (ground) = 2.3 g; texture=ground Ground black pepper reference; cracked pepper may cost differently.
Walmart: Great Value Ground Black Pepper · Price checked 2026-09-21
- raw shrimp: $18.03
907.2 g purchased · Uses the reviewed ingredient quantity before cooking or marinade losses.
Authored ingredient weight. Representative product; brand and package size may differ.
Walmart: Great Value Frozen Raw Peeled Deveined Tail-Off Small Shrimp · Price checked 2026-09-21
- garlic powder: $0.11
9.7 g purchased · Uses the reviewed ingredient quantity before cooking or marinade losses.
1 tbsp = 9.7 g Representative product; brand and package size may differ.
Walmart: Great Value Garlic Powder · Price checked 2026-09-21
- paprika: $0.04
2.3 g purchased · Uses the reviewed ingredient quantity before cooking or marinade losses.
1 tsp = 2.3 g Representative product; brand and package size may differ.
Walmart: Great Value Paprika · Price checked 2026-09-21
- salt: $0.00
3 g purchased · Uses the reviewed ingredient quantity before cooking or marinade losses.
1 tsp = 6 g Iodized table salt reference; not a kosher salt price.
Walmart: Great Value Iodized Salt · Price checked 2026-09-21
- black pepper: $0.05
1.2 g purchased · Uses the reviewed ingredient quantity before cooking or marinade losses.
1 tsp (ground) = 2.3 g; texture=ground Ground black pepper reference; cracked pepper may cost differently.
Walmart: Great Value Ground Black Pepper · Price checked 2026-09-21
- olive oil: $0.18
13.5 g purchased · Uses the reviewed ingredient quantity before cooking or marinade losses.
1 tbsp = 13.5 g Representative product for this ingredient; your brand and package size may differ.
Walmart: Great Value Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 17 fl oz · Price checked 2026-09-21
- lemon zest: $0.26
60 g purchased · Whole lemons bought for zest; conservative full fruit cost assigned to zest. Estimated usable yield: 5% of purchased weight; per-100 g price includes the discarded portion.
1 tbsp = 6 g Whole lemons bought for zest; conservative full fruit cost assigned to zest. Estimated usable yield: 5% of purchased weight; per-100 g price includes the discarded portion.
Walmart: Fresh Lemons, 2 lb Bag · Price checked 2026-09-21
Make it yoursRecipe notes & meal-prep tips
Macro breakdown
- Protein64.8g42%
- Carbs52.6g34%
- Fat16.2g24%
Per serving · Share of calories from macros
Calculated using 4 calories per gram of protein and carbs, and 9 for fat. Rounding and fiber can affect the listed calorie total.Triple B's Meal Prep Notes
Garlic butter does the flavor work before it ever meets the cheese sauce. Sauté the fresh garlic briefly, then lower the heat as you add the cream cheese, milk, cheddar, and yogurt. Browning the garlic too far at the beginning carries that flavor through the whole pot, so have the next ingredients measured and ready rather than leaving the garlic alone while you search the fridge.
You can fold the shrimp into the mac or portion them on top. Keeping them on top makes it especially easy to divide the batch evenly and avoids losing track of how much shrimp each container gets. The optional lemon zest is a small but useful finishing detail against the creamy sauce. This version adds a seafood option to the mac-and-cheese collection without needing a second main dish. Drain the macaroni while it still has a little bite before combining it with the cheese sauce. That small head start makes more sense for several reheated meals than boiling it completely soft.
Add a little milk or water if the chilled pasta is thick. For a refrigerated serving, microwave on high for 90 seconds, stir, then heat for another 45 seconds. Use that as a starting point and continue in short intervals as needed until the food reaches 165°F throughout. Loosen the pasta underneath and move the shrimp through the serving during the pause. Once everything is heated through, stop rather than adding extra microwave time just to make the sauce bubble. The shrimp meal-prep archive offers lighter sauces and rice-based options for a different day of the week.
Notes from your kitchen
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From the community
This one exists because every mac and cheese recipe does NOT have to have chicken or beef. Why not show the shrimp some love? Try it out- I think these other blogs are missing something by neglecting the shrimp mac concept.