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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.
BUTTER!! That is all this recipe is missing!!
Butter in right quantities will certainly make this dish even better!
Without a second consideration this recipe has hands down and hands on been THE BEST recipe for flavor and presentation in satisfying the palate of the seafood, pasta, mushroom and/or cheese aficionado. WARNING: Extremely addictive.
Thank you, Ed! What a nice comment - I am so glad you liked this recipe. 🙂
Was thinking of making this in a pot, is it possible to cook the pasta in there and drain some water out and then add the cream and cheese and shrimp and mushrooms? Then it could be one pot
I seriously could not stop eating it and I'm not a white sauce kind of gal. I've never been so excited for leftovers. I did substitute cayenne pepper for red pepper flakes, but that's a flavor preference thing. Truly delicious. Can't wait to do it again soon!
Thank you, Amanda! so happy you liked this dish! 🙂
Well I just made this recipe for the first time and It was simple and made with two of my favs, mushrooms and shrimp. I will be making this again for sure. It's extremely tasty thanks for posting. YUMMY
THANK YOU - glad you enjoyed it!
I just made this! It was sooo yummy. I did make some changes though. The boyfriend doesn't like mushrooms, so I replaced them with spinach. I just took fresh spinach and added it just like it says for the mushrooms. Also, I used pre-cooked frozen shrimp, and it worked out just fine. YUM!
Thank you - I am glad you liked it! Spinach sounds delicious in this sauce!
You combined all my favorite things into one delicious looking dish! I can't wait to try. Thanks for sharing the recipe!!!
Just made this and it was sooo good! I was concerned about the cheese getting clumpy as some said in the comments, so I took the shrimp and mushrooms out to make sauce. I just added them back when the cheese melted and had no problems. Will definitely make again!
Does anyone get mozzarella cheese to melt in this sauce? Am I missing something? Enlighten me!
What is half and half?
I made this & it turned out wonderful. This is my first time cooking shrimp (I was always afraid of over-cooking) but with your step by step instructions, it was so easy. Will definetly be making again.
Made this for the first time yesterday! Loved it and got rave reviews! Thx!
This was delicious!
Just a tip I doubled the recipe and in the future instead of 2 tsp. Red pepper flakes I would only do 1 . We love spicy but it was even a little too spicy for my husband . Also just combine cheeses slowly and it was perfect no clumps. I also used fresh mozzarella. I will definitely make again.
I made this twice and it was amazing. The third time I made it all the cheese stuck to the shrimp and didn't make the sauce. Any idea why this would've happened? Thank you!
Oh. My . Goodness was this yummy!
This recipe was quite nice. Easy to make, rich in flavor and so delicious. Thank!