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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.
Excellent flavor! Came together easily. Used 1 lb. shrimp. Added fresh spinach to wilt at the end. Will make often!
So glad you loved it, Jacqueline! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. ❤️
I made exactly to the recipe. Loved it
Do you think this sauce would freeze well
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.
My family loved it! The feedback was “Restaurant quality!”
Maggie, thank you for this positive feedback! 🙂
Simply delicious and so simple to make. I will be making this next time people come over. Thank you so much!
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.
Karla, thank you for this rave review! 🙂 So glad you loved this pasta!
My daughter, who’s a Pescatarian, loved this recipe. I believe I’ll be making it over & over again for her!
Ron, I am glad the recipe was enjoyed! Thank you for sharing such a positive comment! 🙂
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.
Dan, I am glad you gave it a try and enjoyed it! Thank you for the 5-star review! 🙂
This is my go to meal! Absolutely amazing and my fiancé loves it and requests it often!
Cari, thank you for stopping by and sharing your wonderful comment and the 5-star rating! 🙂
Watching dairy and gluten intake. Used rice noodles, coconut milk and nutritional yeast instead of parm. It was delicious!
Marie, those are great substitutions! Thank you for sharing your changes - they will be so helpful to me and other readers!
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
Deanna, I am so happy you've enjoyed this recipe enough to make it one of your regular meals. 🙂
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
Sally, thank you for your generous comment! 🙂 I am happy you've enjoyed this recipe and took the time to share your feedback!
Hi Julia, is 4 oz of sundried tomatoes equal to 2 cups ?
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.
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!
Michelle, you are very welcome and I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe! 🙂
This was excellent and fairly easy to make.
Glad you liked it! Thank you for the 5-star review! 🙂
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!
Oh I also put Italian seasonings instead of the basil just because that was what I had in my pantry
Can heavy cream be used, instead of half and half?
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).