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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.

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!

How to make garlic shrimp pasta:
Start by cooking sun-dried tomatoes with minced garlic in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, then add shrimp, heavy cream, and spices:

Add the Parmesan cheese to melt it in the sauce, then add cooked pasta and mix everything in:

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


Garlic Shrimp Pasta with Spicy Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 8 oz fettuccine pasta (use gluten free brown rice fettuccine for gluten free version)
- 1 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 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ cup half-and-half or whole milk
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese freshly shredded
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain (reserving some pasta water).
- 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 heavy cream, basil, and crushed red pepper to the skillet with shrimp, bring to a stable simmer, and make sure the sauce is hot. Whisk in half of the Parmesan cheese (½ cup) gradually into the hot cream, then stir on the lowest heat setting until the cheese melts. If the sauce gets too thick, add ¼ cup of half-and-half to thin it out. Add more Parmesan to the sauce if it's too thin. You don't have to use the whole 1 cup of Parmesan - it depends on how thick you want your sauce. Use half-and-half to thin it out if it gets too thick.
- Remove the sauce from heat. Add more salt, basil, and more crushed red pepper if desired, to taste.
- 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.
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.

Fantastic recipe full of flavor! Was a hit in my kitchen!
I love shrimp in my pasta. This pasta dish looks and sounds fantastic! It's so flavorful and with a little kick too.
Yummy! I have never cooked with sun dried tomatoes but this seems like a perfect recipe to start. I have a family of 7 and this seems like a great recipe that can be easily doubled. Thanks a bunch.
My family isn't much of a pasta fan but I tried this recipe and it turned out so well and it was so quick to make. I also added a teaspoon of fish sauce to add more flavour. I will be making this again!
I just made this for dinner and it was fabulous. Easy, quick, and so, so good. Thank you for a delicious recipe!!!
I just made this for dinner and it was fabulous!!! Easy and quick and so, so good. Thank you for a delicious recipe!
This may be a silly question. I have Lactose intolerant eaters in my household. Can I use lactose free milk? Thanks in advance for your advice
In my experience lactose free milk is a perfect sub for regular milk
Your recipe is so wonderful. I think I will try making it for dinner tomorrow. I am quite sure that my family will love it so much. Your blog is perfect to me. Thanks 🙂
Love the flavor of sun-dried tomatoes in pasta and I'm sure it makes a perfect match with garlic and shrimp. This one looks so good! Drooling!
Julia, you seem to read my mind. I was just in mood to prepare some nice pasta and your recipe looks incredibly good. Thanks for sharing.
Hello, I'm Emmy and I've found your blog quite by accident. I'm surprised by all those delicious recipes I sure going to try. I like that you have the weight measurements in both cup as grams displays. I have a blog: http://creaymme.blogspot.be/ and if I make one of your delicious recipes I will certainly link to your blog.
Good luck!
Dear greetings,
Emmy
Hi Julia!
It seem you have a passion for pasta! 😀 And you are really good at it! I'm Italian and you still give me some serious inspiration sometimes! This pasta with shrimps looks delicious. I'll try to make it and hope it will turn out just like yours!
Best wishes
Cat
This looks amazing Julia! I'm not a huge shrimp fan but I am utterly convinced that I would love it paired with this pasta and sauce! Gorgeous photos, as always 🙂