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    Garlic Shrimp Pasta with Spicy Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

    Published: May 23, 2015 / 208 Comments

    961.7K shares
    • Facebook4.5K
    Recipe Print

    Garlic Shrimp and Sun-Dried Tomatoes with Pasta in Spicy Cream Sauce - a delicious, Italian-inspired seafood pasta recipe.   If you want to make something different with shrimp, try this recipe! It's easy and you'll love it if you like sun-dried tomatoes.

    Garlic Shrimp and Sun-Dried Tomatoes with Pasta in Spicy Cream Sauce in a stainless steel skillet

    There is lots of sauce in this seafood pasta. Be careful not to overcook the shrimp (which is easy to do). But even if you do overcook the shrimp, there is so much cream sauce, you won't even notice if the shrimp does get rubbery. That's the beauty of this recipe. Garlic Shrimp together with Sun-Dried Tomatoes is smothered in Spicy Creamy Sauce and served over fettuccine pasta. With everything spiced up with basil and crushed red pepper. Italian-inspired comfort food that's super easy to make!

    fork lifting pasta and shrimp from the stainless steel skillet filled with spicy shrimp pasta

    How to make garlic shrimp pasta:

    Start by cooking sun-dried tomatoes with minced garlic in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, then add shrimp, half and half, and spices:

    cooking shrimp in garlic and olive oil, with sun-dried tomatoes in a stainless steel skillet

    Add cooked pasta and mix everything in:

    adding cooked pasta to the sauce in the stainless steel skillet

    Adjust spices by adding more of basil, crushed red pepper, and salt:

    Garlic Shrimp and Sun-Dried Tomatoes with Pasta in Spicy Cream Sauce in a stainless steel skillet

    4.82 from 145 votes

    Garlic Shrimp Pasta with Spicy Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

    This is an Italian-inspired seafood pasta recipe with lots of flavors at play.  Garlic Shrimp together with Sun-Dried Tomatoes is smothered in a lot of Spicy Creamy Sauce and served over fettuccine pasta. Everything spiced up with basil and crushed red pepper.  YUM!
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 10 minutes mins
    Cook Time 30 minutes mins
    Total Time 40 minutes mins
    Course Main Course
    Cuisine Italian
    Servings 4 servings
    Calories per serving 522 kcal
    Author: Julia

    Ingredients

    • ½ lb shrimp (Use unfrozen uncooked shrimp. If you have to, you can use unfrozen cooked shrimp - it will work here too)
    • 4 oz sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
    • ¼ teaspoon salt
    • ¼ teaspoon paprika
    • 4 garlic cloves minced
    • 1 cup half-and-half or whole milk
    • 1 teaspoon dried basil
    • ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
    • 1 cup Parmesan cheese , freshly shredded
    • 8 oz fettuccine pasta (use gluten free brown rice fettuccine for gluten free version)

    Instructions 

    • Note: if using sun-dried tomatoes in oil (in a jar), make sure to drain sun-dried tomatoes from oil, before using them. Reserve 2 tablespoons of this drained oil for sauteing as described below:
    • In a large skillet, saute minced garlic and sun-dried tomatoes (drained from oil) in 2 tablespoons of oil (reserved from the sun-dried tomatoes jar - see note above) for 1 minute until garlic is fragrant.
    • Add shrimp, sprinkle with a small amount of salt, paprika, and cook on medium heat for about 2 more minutes.
    • Add half-and-half, basil, and crushed red pepper to the skillet with shrimp, bring to boil and reduce to simmer. Whisk the Parmesan cheese into the hot cream and stir to melt cheese, on the lowest heat setting, until cheese is melted. 
    • Remove the sauce from heat. Add more salt, basil, and more crushed red pepper if desired, to taste.
    • In the meantime, cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain (reserving some pasta water).
    • Add cooked pasta to the creamy mixture, add more salt, basil, and more crushed red pepper if desired, to taste.  If the sauce is too thick, use the reserved pasta water to thin it out.

    Notes

    Follow Julia on Pinterest and Facebook to get more recipes and dinner ideas for your weekly meal planning!

    Nutrition

    Nutrition Information
    Garlic Shrimp Pasta with Spicy Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce
    Amount per Serving
    Calories
    522
    % Daily Value*
    Fat
     
    15
    g
    23
    %
    Saturated Fat
     
    8
    g
    50
    %
    Cholesterol
     
    182
    mg
    61
    %
    Sodium
     
    1087
    mg
    47
    %
    Potassium
     
    1257
    mg
    36
    %
    Carbohydrates
     
    62
    g
    21
    %
    Fiber
     
    5
    g
    21
    %
    Sugar
     
    12
    g
    13
    %
    Protein
     
    33
    g
    66
    %
    Vitamin A
     
    755
    IU
    15
    %
    Vitamin C
     
    14.9
    mg
    18
    %
    Calcium
     
    496
    mg
    50
    %
    Iron
     
    5
    mg
    28
    %
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

    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.

    Tried this recipe?Be sure to leave a comment and provide a Star Rating below - I love your feedback and try to respond to every comment!
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    Please share your comment and Star Rating in the comments section below.

    I appreciate your feedback!

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Kathy

      August 08, 2023 at 4:57 pm

      I made exactly to the recipe. Loved it

      Do you think this sauce would freeze well

      Reply
    2. Lisa M.

      June 29, 2023 at 10:12 pm

      This recipe is definitely restaurant quality! Excellent and easy to prepare. My husband couldn't get enough. This will be added to our regular rotation.

      Reply
    3. Maggie

      May 15, 2023 at 8:54 pm

      My family loved it! The feedback was “Restaurant quality!”

      Reply
      • Julia

        June 07, 2023 at 8:10 pm

        Maggie, thank you for this positive feedback! 🙂

        Reply
      • Ann

        September 10, 2023 at 6:12 pm

        Simply delicious and so simple to make. I will be making this next time people come over. Thank you so much!

        Reply
    4. Karla

      March 11, 2023 at 3:08 pm

      What a terrific recipe! I used fresh sun dried tomatoes from the produce section, subbed cayenne for paprika and had to use Italian blend because I didn’t have plain basil on hand. I used a couple more garlic cloves because that’s to my taste and I was also generous with the crushed red pepper. The flavor profile is outstanding! This will become a staple in my recipe rotation, I’m sure.

      Reply
      • Julia

        March 18, 2023 at 5:58 pm

        Karla, thank you for this rave review! 🙂 So glad you loved this pasta!

        Reply
    5. Ron T.

      July 21, 2022 at 8:30 pm

      My daughter, who’s a Pescatarian, loved this recipe. I believe I’ll be making it over & over again for her!

      Reply
      • Julia

        August 22, 2022 at 5:00 pm

        Ron, I am glad the recipe was enjoyed! Thank you for sharing such a positive comment! 🙂

        Reply
    6. Dan

      July 16, 2022 at 4:21 pm

      I tried the recipe but used a little more shrimp and a few more dried tomatoes. I really liked the spicy flavor. Fairly easy to put together.

      Reply
      • Julia

        August 22, 2022 at 5:56 pm

        Dan, I am glad you gave it a try and enjoyed it! Thank you for the 5-star review! 🙂

        Reply
    7. Cari

      July 12, 2022 at 7:58 pm

      This is my go to meal! Absolutely amazing and my fiancé loves it and requests it often!

      Reply
      • Julia

        August 22, 2022 at 6:14 pm

        Cari, thank you for stopping by and sharing your wonderful comment and the 5-star rating! 🙂

        Reply
    8. Marie

      March 21, 2022 at 4:30 pm

      Watching dairy and gluten intake. Used rice noodles, coconut milk and nutritional yeast instead of parm. It was delicious!

      Reply
      • Julia

        March 21, 2022 at 10:09 pm

        Marie, those are great substitutions! Thank you for sharing your changes - they will be so helpful to me and other readers!

        Reply
    9. Deanna

      January 03, 2022 at 7:24 pm

      Thank you so much for this recipe! Followed the recipe and turned out perfect! Definitely going to be a rotation on our weekly meals. Loved it

      Reply
      • Julia

        February 11, 2022 at 11:26 pm

        Deanna, I am so happy you've enjoyed this recipe enough to make it one of your regular meals. 🙂

        Reply
    10. Sally Ingenthron

      December 15, 2021 at 5:27 pm

      So good! Made a double batch and it's gone. Made just as the recipe says and it's delicious. Julia you have so many good recipes on your site...thank you.

      Sally

      Reply
      • Julia

        December 17, 2021 at 6:29 pm

        Sally, thank you for your generous comment! 🙂 I am happy you've enjoyed this recipe and took the time to share your feedback!

        Reply
    11. Alicia

      December 11, 2021 at 4:30 pm

      Hi Julia, is 4 oz of sundried tomatoes equal to 2 cups ?

      Reply
      • Julia

        December 11, 2021 at 8:53 pm

        No, it's sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil in a glass jar, and 4 oz will be much smaller than 2 cups. I would guess estimate - maybe 1/2 cup? I usually get an 8 oz glass jar and use half of it.

        Reply
    12. Michelle

      October 11, 2021 at 5:39 pm

      My family and I loved this dish! I did have to add quite a bit of pasta water to thin out the sauce but it was so worth the extra “work”. Thank you for sharing!

      Reply
      • Julia

        October 11, 2021 at 9:03 pm

        Michelle, you are very welcome and I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe! 🙂

        Reply
    13. Lynne Casal

      August 26, 2021 at 4:45 pm

      This was excellent and fairly easy to make.

      Reply
      • Julia

        August 30, 2021 at 6:11 pm

        Glad you liked it! Thank you for the 5-star review! 🙂

        Reply
    14. Charlotte

      April 17, 2021 at 11:18 pm

      This was really good!
      I used frozen seafoods like clams, mussels, scallops in addition to the tiger shrimps and heavy cream (less quantity) and spaghetti pasta noodles. It was still yummy! If I were to cook this again later, I’d cook these seafoods with different timing but thankfully my husband was not picky about overcooked seafood today haha.
      Thank you for the great recipe!

      Reply
      • Charlotte

        April 17, 2021 at 11:21 pm

        Oh I also put Italian seasonings instead of the basil just because that was what I had in my pantry

        Reply
        • Jasmine

          January 01, 2022 at 7:09 pm

          Can heavy cream be used, instead of half and half?

          Reply
          • Julia

            February 11, 2022 at 11:44 pm

            Yes, you can use heavy cream. If using heavy cream, reduce the amount of cheese in half (use 1/2 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese).

            Reply
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