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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.
Awesome recipe. I added fresh spinach and it added a nice splash of color. Big hit!!!!
I'll join the "it looks like scallions" bandwagon. If I were to add greens, I'd likely add chopped fresh basil on top. Oh, and since I'm not a seafood guy, I'd substitute chicken for the shrimp.
We enjoyed but it was very runny and the cheese clumped around the shrimp and mushrooms. Next time I'll try making a roux with flour and I think that will take care of both issues.
I noticed in the couple pasta recipes of yours that I've seen that you say to rinse your pasta after cooking. I've found that if you do that, you rinse off all the starches of the pasta and the sauce doesn't adhere to it as well. If you don't rinse your pasta (just drain it instead) and immediately add it to the sauce, the sauce adheres to and infuses with the pasta and flavors much better. This recipe sounds extremely tasty! I will definitely be trying this recipe for sure -- I just won't be rinsing my pasta. 🙂
So delicious!!!
Made this last night for dinner and it requires a little cooking knowledge to get it right, since the recipe is incomplete. I used fresh basil, about 3/4 tbsp. 1/4 tsp of paprika, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes. The basics are there, just needs a little tweaking. I'll definitely make it again, with a few modifications. (I used more half & half instead of pasta water.)
I made this tonight and it was fabulous. I followed the directions exactly, guessing at spices since no amount given, and it turned out great. I added some peas to include a veggie and could not believe how good it was. Restaurant worthy!!!
I think its an OK recipe but please note, you don't ever rinse cooked pasta. Ever! You are taking away critical starches that are needed for texture, flavor etc. That's almost as bad as throwing away pasta water or coating it in oil so your sauce don't stick to it! I would add pasta water that the pasta was cooked into the sauce to give it more depth and authentic flavor and a velvet texture and prevent any clumps like others have mentioned in the comments. Your presentation looks good but I would omit the scallions for garnish and use fresh Italian parsley instead. Scallions dont make sense for that type of sauce.
Mmmm ? I made this dish, I think there's a problem using mozzarella cheese . It's to stringy and didnt go nice and creamy. It was ok, but prefer perhaps add cream instead to make the sauce.
The sauce turned into a clumpy mess and was very thin.
Rosie, I found the same problem--mozzarella seized and the sauce wound up with no body. Should this have been fresh mozzarella? Should we use sodium citrate (how much)? Did we do something wrong? Most of the cheese glued itself to the bottom of the pan and went solid. Flavors were great, though, and I would make this again if I can solve the cheese difficulty.
This dish looks delicious but What is half and half?? I'm in the UK so what would an alternative be? Thanks
It's half heavy cream and half whole milk... In North America it's called Half & Half as we can buy it that way...
Half and half is single cream in the UK
Absolutely FABULOUS!!! I couldn't get the sauce to thicken, so I added more fresh parm. Can never have too much cheese.
Maybe the green is chives. Very mild onion flavor. Looks great. Could be made with chicken as well.
Just made this and it is so delicious. I didn't have a single problem while making it! It's so creamy and has amazing flavor! And I think the green onion is just a garnish so I don't understand what the big deal is saying that the picture is "misleading" or that there was an ingredient missing.
Thanx for sharing i made it n its delicious!!!!stop criticizing n just enjoy the dish;cuz she was so nice to share..really now