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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.
Thank you for such a great recipe! The family loved it and said it was a keeper recipe! I added two spoonfuls of cream cheese to the sauce only because I had to use skim milk and it was lacking that creamy factor. Looking forward to leftovers providing it's not eaten tonight as a snack
Hello, I know you said milk is ok, but would you suggest half and half, or does it not really matter? Besides richness?
Thank you for the lovely recipe- delicious!!
Ewww... I pinned this and tried tonight, what a waste of ingredients!
Cheese didn't clump, but the flavor was really off, and sauce too thin.
Deleting this pin NOW!
I followed the instructions, but mine didn't look anything like the pictures, at all. It tasted pretty good tho, maybe you could upload a video to show step by step how you make it?
I use coconut milk if i have it instead of half and half or regular milk.
I made this for dinner tonight. It was so flavourful, so yummy. I didn't have paprika and I don't think it was missed. Thanks Julia!
Thank you, Laurel! I am glad you enjoyed it! Yes, I use paprika pretty much for adding a bit of color to this recipe, so if you don't have it, it does not really affect the flavor.
I love this recipe and have made it several times for my family. It's always a hit! Thank you!!
Thank you, Kathleen, I am glad you've been enjoying this recipe! 🙂
This was absolutely delicious! The flavours blended really well!
Thank you so much! So glad you liked it! 🙂
I made this recipe yesterday. The only thing I changed was adding a little seasoning to the shrimp. Other than that... I loved the recipe and I appreciate you sharing with us:)
Thank you, Brittany, I am glad you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂
I just made this. I didn't have any cheese so I just left it out. It turned out great!!!!! I love spicy food!!!
So glad you liked it!
This was terrible.
Cheese clumped around the shrimp and never became creamy.
What a waste of shrimp and fresh Parmesan.
Make sure your pan and the liquids are hot enough before adding cheese. Once the cheese is added, keep stirring on low-medium simmer until the cheese is melted, and the sauce is creamy. Increase the heat, if you have to. A lot of time the sauce doesn't get creamy because your pan is not hot enough or sauce liquids are not hot enough. Hope that helps.
Easy, tasty, and quick recipe. I added to much red pepper.
Made this for my husband who does not care too much for shrimp. We did not have any leftovers. Followed exactly as your recipe said. Awesome. Looking forward to other recipes.
Made this for dinner tonight & it was wonderful.