Shrimp Tomato Spinach Pasta in Garlic Butter Sauce – a delicious Italian pasta dish with lots of fresh ingredients!
I absolutely love combining shrimp, pasta, and tomatoes. My long-time favorite is spicy shrimp pasta with garlic tomato sauce. Seafood, vegetables, and pasta are definitely a winning combination!
Why make shrimp tomato pasta
- This recipe is a great way to use up a bunch of fresh tomatoes you might have sitting around in your kitchen!
- It’s a healthy, Mediterranean style recipe. This shrimp pasta is packed with healthy ingredients. I am talking about fresh vegetables, such as tomatoes and spinach.
- It’s a vibrant and colorful recipe that makes a beautiful presentation!
- You can easily make this pasta gluten free by using gluten free noodles.
What makes this recipe work?
- In this recipe, the tomatoes are only slightly cooked. This preserves their freshness and shape.
- The shrimp has rich flavor thanks to paprika and crushed red pepper.
- The garlic butter sauce is refreshing and comforting. It’s made with fresh tomatoes, fresh spinach, minced garlic, olive oil, and butter.
This recipe became a favorite in my household. It disappeared quickly from the skillet as everybody went for seconds. And, it’s so easy to make!
When you cook the shrimp and garlic in olive oil, the shrimp will smell and look so good! You will be tempted to eat half of it before finishing up this recipe! 🙂
Resist the temptation! I promise you will be rewarded with the best garlic shrimp tomato pasta you’ll ever taste!
And, if you want something more creamy, I recommend my very popular shrimp pasta with creamy mozzarella sauce. If you like mushrooms, you’ll love creamy shrimp pasta with mushrooms.
How to make shrimp tomato spinach pasta
1) First, saute fresh shrimp in garlic, butter, and olive oil, until just pink on both sides. The shrimp will still be undercooked but it will continue cooking later.
2) Sprinkle the shrimp generously with salt and paprika, as you’re cooking it.
3) Then, add chopped fresh tomatoes and cooked spinach along with garlic and crushed red pepper to the skillet with shrimp.
4) Mix everything well. Remove from heat (while you cook the pasta). You don’t want to overcook the shrimp and tomatoes – they will continue cooking in the next step.
5) Cook fettuccine pasta in boiling water, according to package instructions. Drain.
6) Next, add cooked and drained pasta to the skillet with shrimp, spinach, and tomatoes, along with some lemon juice and more butter.
7) Heat up your shrimp tomato spinach pasta, and season with salt and red pepper flakes. Stir constantly until the shrimp is cooked through, and all ingredients are heated through.
8) Top with grated Parmesan cheese, when serving.
Enjoy this Shrimp Tomato and Spinach Pasta!
Looking for a light, healthy, Mediterranean-style seafood pasta? Look no further. Try this Shrimp Tomato Spinach Pasta in Garlic Butter Sauce. Fettuccine pasta smothered in juices from fresh vegetables, garlic, and shrimp.
- 1 lb shrimp , fresh, uncooked, shelled and deveined
- 5 tomatoes , medium size, fresh, chopped into large cubes
- 1 cup spinach cooked
- 5 garlic cloves , minced
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 lemon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper or more
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 10 oz fettuccine pasta
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated, for serving
Heat a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil, until melted.
Add fresh shrimp and half the minced garlic. Make sure the shrimp is not crowded. Cook for 1 minute on one side until pink on that side.
While the shrimp is cooking, generously sprinkle paprika and salt over uncooked side of the shrimp.
Flip the shrimp over and cook for another 1 or 2 minutes until pink on the other side.
To the skillet with shrimp, add chopped fresh tomatoes, cooked spinach, and the remaining amount of minced garlic. Add 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (or more). Mix everything well, remove from heat while you cook pasta.
- In the meantime cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water to prevent pasta from cooking and getting mushy.
Add cooked pasta to the skillet with shrimp and vegetables with 1 or 2 tablespoons of butter.
Add freshly squeezed lemon juice. Depending on the juiciness of your lemon, it could be 1/4 of a small lemon or 1/2 lemon. Don't add too much lemon juice.
Season with salt and more crushed red pepper. Warm up on medium heat until the shrimp is cooked through, and all ingredients are heated through.
- To serve, top with grated Parmesan cheese.
I described this dish to my husband before he had it…he’s not a fan of vegetables in general by the way, so he wasn’t very excited about it. About 10 minutes into dinner, he looks over at me and says “Babe, this is SO good”. I spiced it up a bit more with some sriracha sauce but he was impressed and he ate all the vegetables. I will definitely keep this one in my recipe list. Thank you!
This is an exceptional recipe! An instant hit! I did ad roasted red peppers to this recipe. After cooking the shrimp, I sautéed the red peppers. This did require me to use an extra measure of olive oil, butter, and garlic to the overall recipe. Thank you for this wonderful dish!
Made this tonight and the whole family loved it. I used spaghetti noodles and left out lemon juice and crushed red pepper because I didn’t have any. I sautéed mushrooms and spinach in a separate skillet and added them when I added the tomatoes. I also used lemon pepper when I added the noodles. So good!
I have lots of saffron and used that instead of paprika, frozen spinach, and canned Italian tomatoes and it was great. This is my third time cooking this in the age of covid.
Thank you for your awesome recipe. I made it last night using shrimp. I enjoyed it so much that I made it again tonight using fresh sea scallops that I had on hand. Both dishes were truly delicous and will make again and again. It was easy to to prepare. I did not have fresh spinach so I used fresh arugula which I enjoy as much as spinach.
You mst give a try.
Made this recipe tonight for my family. Quick and easy!! I replaced the spinach with broccoli florets. Due to the pandemic I could not readily go out to the store to pick up spinach. 🙂 I give it five starts.
I made this dish last night with a few tweaks. i substituted mini penne for the fettuccini, omitted paprika and lemon juice (didn’t have on hand). It was simply amazing! I plan on making this again next week. It was absolutely delicious. Definitely recommend…… easy and very flavorful.
This is our second week in a row to make this meal. SO quick, easy and healthy. I use precooked, frozen shrimp so I can just pull out what I need. That said, I skip the first step and throw the shrimp in later just to heat it up. This will be a go-to on weeknights when we’re actually working outside of our home again! #quarantine. Thank you!
WOW, new favorite, Made a Quarantine/ Chopped version with what is in pantry version. Used broccoli instead of spinach and caned Italian Tomatoes. Super, great, fantastic, meal. As much as I love spinach, broccoli was fantastic. Used one cup and 5 tomatoes for a half version. Would serve it to guests.
This recipe was fabulous! We followed the recipe completely and it was absolutely delicious. I will definitely keep this one in my go-to list.