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Creamy Shrimp Pasta with Mushrooms in a homemade alfredo sauce. The creamy pasta sauce is made with Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese, garlic, basil, crushed red pepper flakes, paprika.
One of the bests ways to cook and eat shrimp is in a luscious creamy sauce with pasta! Some of my favorites are creamy mozzarella shrimp pasta and spicy shrimp pasta with tomato cream sauce.
And, don't forget mushrooms - they go amazingly well with shrimp, as in this pesto shrimp mushroom pasta!
How to make creamy shrimp pasta
1) First, saute shrimp in olive oil, garlic, basil, and paprika.
2) Then, remove the shrimp from the skillet and in the same pan saute some mushrooms.
3) Add cooked shrimp to the skillet with mushrooms.
4) Next, make creamy shrimp pasta sauce. To the skillet with cooked shrimp and the mushrooms, add half-and-half, cheeses, more spices while the sauce simmers. Simmer the sauce, stirring, until the sauce thickens.
5) Add cooked and drained pasta to the skillet with shrimp, mushrooms, and the cream sauce. Reheat on medium heat. Stir well.
How to thicken or to thin out the cream sauce?
- To make the cream sauce thicker, add more cheese, while liquids are hot.
- To make the cream sauce thinner, add reserved warm pasta water (from cooking pasta).
Gluten-Free Friendly Recipe
I've also made this creamy shrimp pasta with gluten-free pasta (I used brown rice fettuccine) - and it was wonderfully delicious! The gluten-free pasta had the perfect texture for this kind of sauce.
Other creamy shrimp pasta recipes:
Creamy Shrimp Pasta with Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 8 oz fettuccine pasta (for gluten free version, use gluten free brown rice pasta)
- ½ cup cooked pasta water (optional)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lb shrimp (10 big shrimp or 20 small shrimp without shells, deveined)
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- ¼ teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 8 oz mushrooms thinly sliced
- 1 cup half and half
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese shredded
- ½ cup Mozzarella cheese shredded
Instructions
Cook pasta
- Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain. Reserve some of the pasta water.
How to cook shrimp
- Heat a large skillet until hot - add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and immediately add garlic and shrimp.
- Cook on one side for about 1 minute until pink, on medium-high heat.
- Flip the shrimp to the other side. Sprinkle the top of the cooked side of shrimp with dry basil, paprika, crushed red pepper flakes, and salt. Cook for another 1-2 minutes, occasionally stirring, until shrimp is pink on both sides.
- Remove the shrimp from the skillet. If shrimp is a little undercooked - it's OK because you will continue cooking it in the sauce.
How to cook mushrooms
- To the same, now empty, skillet, add sliced mushrooms. Add more olive oil if necessary.
- Cook on medium-high heat for about 2 minutes, occasionally stirring, until mushrooms become soft and release juices. Sprinkle with a small amount of salt midway through cooking.
How to make creamy sauce
- To the skillet with mushrooms, add cooked shrimp. Immediately add 1 cup half-and-half. Bring to boil.
- Add half the cheese (½ cup). Bring to boil, and immediately reduce to medium-simmer. Cook, constantly stirring, until the cheese melts.
- Gradually start adding the remaining cheese (½ cup), while stirring. Do not add all of the remaining ½ cup of cheese at once. Add just enough for the sauce to get creamy without getting too thick. You might not use all of the remaining cheese.
- Remove from heat. Taste, and add more salt if needed.
- Add cooked and drained pasta from step 1 to the skillet with shrimp and mushrooms and cream sauce. Reheat on medium heat. Stir well.
- If the cream sauce is too thick and you want it thinner - add some pasta water in small amounts to the cream sauce (while the sauce is simmering on low-medium heat) until you reach desired consistency.
- Season with more salt and add more crushed red pepper flakes and basil, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
What a delicious looking meal! Will be making this in future!
Enjoy!
Wife and I made this and it was great! We used fresh basil and added spinach. We will definitely make it again!
So glad you tried this recipe and enjoyed it! The use of fresh basil and spinach sounds delicious!
My boyfriend has pretty refined tastes, so I wasn't expecting him to be wowed, but he was. The only thing I did differently was I cooked the mushrooms first in batches and set them aside while the pot of water was coming to a boil. I added a little bit of olive oil, butter, aleppo pepper, and salt with each batch. While the pasta was cooking, I cooked the shrimp and then set them aside and deglazed the pan with white wine before adding the mushrooms and the shrimp back in, along with the rest of the ingredients. I also drizzled some white truffle oil on the noodles before adding them in.
Wow, you added some really nice touches to this recipe, such as deglazing the pan with white wine and drizzling some white truffle oil over the noodles. No wonder your boyfriend was impressed!
I also added what Gemma did but i also added 1 heaped teaspoon of stock ....delicious!
Have tried lots of pasta recipes, this is at the top.. and so quick and easy! Delicious! A go to for sure. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Lindsay, for such a wonderful comment! So glad you enjoyed this recipe! 🙂
Very, very good. My husband is doing Keto, so we used spaghetti squash instead of the pasta.
Will make again.
Thank you! I am glad you enjoyed this pasta dish! Using spaghetti squash sounds delicious!
This is one amazing pasta dish! My family loves it and it has become a favorite. I add spinach just before I add the pasta and chopped parsley as a garnish.
I have found wild caught frozen shrimp from Argentina in my local grocery stores and got a deal the other week and stocked up. They are a bit more expensive but the taste is beyond amazing. They are pink when raw and turn opaque when cooked.
Thanks for sharing your recipe for others to enjoy!
You are very welcome! I am glad you found this recipe, tried it, enjoyed it, and left this wonderful comment. 🙂
Can I ask what is half and half?
If you don't have half-and-half, here is what you can do to substitute for 1 cup of half-and-half: Combine 1/2 cup of whole milk + 1/2 cup of heavy cream.
Looks delicious! Smoked paprika??
Smoked paprika will add wonderful flavor to this dish!
I have made this before, and again today, so very easy and tasty too! Just love it! BTW fell in love with the pan you used... Had to buy one for this round!
I am so happy you've enjoyed this recipe! I love this pan - it's so versatile!
Why does it look like there are green onions or scallions in the picture but the recipe does not call for any?
I topped the pasta with a small amount of sliced green onions, for garnish. It's just for garnish - that's why it's not in the ingredients list. You can also use chopped fresh parsley, for garnish.
Lactose Free... I LOVE this recipe! Flavorful and easy.
I substituted FairLife fat free milk instead of cream. Trader Joe’s Almond mozzarella cheese. Flour to thicken sauce and a little extra garlic for flavor because of adding flour. Only added aged Parmesan cheese to individual plates after it cooled.
*** funny I can have small amounts of any cheese added 12 mints or more and moldy cheese.
HOWEVER, seems like if any of these cheeses melt it activates the lactose and makes me so very sick.
Amazingly tasty and easy to make. Love, love, love it!
Thank you so much for sharing!
You are very welcome! Thank you for such a positive comment! 🙂
Very good! Makes a lot. Had enough for leftovers.
So glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Made this for dinner tonight and it was a BIG hit!!
Happy to hear that!
My husband said it's the best dish he has ever had and he never said that before 🙂
What a compliment! Thank you for stopping by and sharing such a wonderful comment!
Just made this...it was so easy nd tasted great family loved it..will make this one again nd again lol
So happy you liked this recipe. Thank you for the comment!