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, half and half, and spices:
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
- 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
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.
Made this tonight for the first time and added par cooked cut up asparagus and chopped red pepper. WOW, it was great and my husband said its a definite keeper.
This looks delicious! thanks for sharing...
We made your recipe tonight. It was terrific! I didn't have sun-dried tomatoes so I used artichokes in oil and some fresh tomato pieces. I grow fresh basil. Thank you for sharing, I've added this recipe to my monthly rotation.
Hi! Do you mean milk, or cream?
Thanks, Robin Blitzblum
I used chopped sundried tomatoes in oil and when I added whole milk, the milk "broke" (fat congealed) before I got the Parm into the pan. Maybe too hot? I tried the recipe twice and finally moved on. Dinner served at 9:30. LOL.
I make this a LOT!! it's delish! Julia's Album is my fave for many things..
I make this a LOT!! it's delish!
This has become a family favorite in my house! Delicious!
This is so good, and not difficult to make. It has become a family favorite - even our son who doesn’t typically like pasta dishes (what???) loved it! I can’t wait to make it again!
I made this tonight for dinner. It was amazing! Used fresh basil instead of dried. Followed everthing to the letter. I didn't use the pasta water, as I really didn't need to. Husband said, " this is the kind of dish you would get in a restaurant!" Thank you for sharing, definitely a keeper.