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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.
This is going to a Valentine's Day dinner for my hubby and I! I can't wait to dig my teeth into it 🙂
Just made this and it's so tasty! I added chicken as well as shrimp!
OMG!!!! I absolutely LOVED this and so did my hubby! It's a keeper. Thank you for posting the recipe.
I just want to say that this recipe was amazing, super delicious and easy to make!
I wish Scallions (obviously in the pictures) were in the ingredient list as well as the pasta water instructions.. Im sure its to thin the sauce, but in my first attempt here thinning was unnecessary. Flavor was terrific, for additions one commenter said broccoli and I think that would be dynamite.. I'd cook it first then add at end but I'll do that next time as well as add scallions. I think you can't overseas this... More basil would be nice as well as paprika to get the color of the sauce in your photos closer to actual "real life". But the taste and ease is just great. If the cost of a jar of these tomatoes scares you remember you can basically make four dishes out of it. My house smells amazing and this dish is really delicious. (for the commenter that said their cheese curdled, make sure you have the heat on the barest level and add cheese 1 oz. at a time and really whisk it before adding any more... my dish turned out great). Looking forward to trying more of your pasta dishes!
Made this dish last night. Was perfectly delicious. I may add some broccoli next time to add a little color. I will definitely make this recipe again.
Hi you say 1/2-1/2 for milk can you explain what half-half means. Your recipe looks very inviting. Want to try.
Thanks
Firozee
Half-and-half is a mixture of milk and cream. It is sold in most grocery stores. Very easy to find. Hope this helps!
Hi I stumbled on this recipe by accident and decided to try it for supper! I loved it but instead of using half and half I used regular milk. Also I used pre-shredded parm cheese and it didn't really become creamy. All the cheese stuck to the shrimp and almost became hard /:
I made this tonight and love the flavor! The consistency of mine looks nothing like your pictures though. Mine is very thick and sticky. What did I do wrong? I followed the directions and amounts to a T, but mine is more the consistency of gooey mac and cheese. Would love to make it again if I can make it like your picture!
I made tonight after a long 7 hour drive home from vacation. It was not only very easy to make, but was DELICIOUS as well!! Thank you for the fantastic recipe!
Hey Julia,
This is a fabulous recipe. I have made it a couple of times now and I use your recipe as a template. It has not failed.
I would love to feature your recipe as part of a must try food for the winter months. Who doesn't love a comforting bowl of pasta which has been given this amount of oomph right?
Anyway, my post will feature you on 1st of December. I will have a picture of your pasta with the proper citations of course. Hope that is alright by you.
Thank you,
Cheers!
Excellent, easy and LOTS of flavor!
In step #5 of your recipe it says to reserve some of the pasta water, but doesn't say why or when to use it.
Hi Tammy, anytime I make pasta I keep some pasta water to thin out the sauce should it get too thick while simmering.
I am making this right now and the cheese will not melt! It's clumps
Thank you for your great recipe! Whole family loved it! Hubby said good enough to be served at a restaurant!
Supercalifragidelicious! And easy to double as well. The cheese is the key component here! Thank you for the beautiful photo that steered me in this direction tonight 🙂