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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!
Shrimp Tomato Spinach Pasta in Garlic Butter Sauce
Ingredients
- 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
- ¼ lemon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper or more
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- 10 oz fettuccine pasta
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese grated, for serving
Instructions
- 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 ½ 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 ¼ of a small lemon or ½ 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.
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.
Can i used diced tomatoes?
Yes, you can!
Delicious recipe.My husbands loves this , says it's better than any restaurant. Thank you so much , bursting with fresh flavor. I've made it with zoodles ,a little healthier and delicious. I add fresh mushrooms as well .
Gayle, I am so flattered by your comment. This is a great recipe to make with zoodles!
I made this for my client, she LOVED it so much!!! Thank you for sharing your recipe it was absolutely DELICIOUS!
Nikkie, thank you for such an enthusiastic comment and 5-star review! 🙂
Awesome!
Thank you.
Absolutely wonderful recipe with such a great taste, my husband loved it too! I will definitely be serving this again. Thank you!
Sandra, I am glad you liked this recipe and glad you stopped by and left this wonderful and positive comment! 🙂
One of my favorites, delicious
Happy to hear that! 🙂
Great dish, but fresh basil will put it over the top!
Yes, fresh basil would be a nice addition!
Loved this recipe! I only changed one thing, I added 8oz of sliced baby bella mushrooms. I loved the simplicity and freshness of it and how I could taste every single ingredient's flavor in the dish.
Forgot to mention my husband said it was so "pretty" an called it "gourmet"!
Love this! ❤️❤️
Yolanda, thank you for your wonderful feedback! I love the addition of mushrooms. 🙂
I've made this recipe a few times and it's a keeper for me. However, I do not recommend cooking the spinach before adding it to the pan.
Carol, glad you enjoyed this recipe! You're right - you don't have to use cooked spinach - can add fresh spinach directly to the pan and let it wilt!
If you add the spinach not cooked, would you use around a pound of spinach?
Jenny, I would use about 10 oz of fresh spinach to make 1 cup of cooked spinach.
I didn’t like this. I found the preparation technique to be strange but followed it anyway - figured I’d learn something. But I didn’t really understand why the spinach had to be precooked. It was extremely liquidy which I think diluted all of the flavors. I guess the tomatoes were too juicy? I don’t know. I didn’t like how the recipe said to cook the different components, then set them aside (where they cooled), then mixed them together to re-warm. Just seemed unnecessary and to add additional steps. Sorry, it just didn’t work for me.
You can certainly add fresh spinach and cook it together with the rest of the ingredients! You can also use pre-cooked spinach or frozen spinach (thawed and drained of any liquid). Whatever works the best.
You were right! My entire family loved it. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I am so glad you've enjoyed this recipe!
Sorry but we just didn't enjoy this. I followed it closely - the only thing I did differently is add the spinach later because we like wilted spinach rather than cooked. Anyway - we just felt it was bland. We added extra red pepper flakes and we also added regular pepper but it still just was not exiting. If you like comfort food this would be more for you though! Don't want to totally diss it
If the dish tastes bland, I would add extra salt in small pinches to bring out the flavor. Adding extra garlic when you cook the shrimp and freshly squeezed lemon juice will also add flavor.
Really good! And easy too! Will definitely make again. Next time I think I’ll add some mushrooms!
Brenda, I am so glad you gave this recipe a try and enjoyed it! Adding mushrooms is a great idea!
Loved it!
Do you think you can add scallops or lobster meat to this recipe?
John, glad you've enjoyed this recipe! I think adding scallops or lobster meat is a great idea!
As a matter of fact, we are having this tonight for dinner. We won't rinse the Noodles, and will had lots of Italian herbs to the dish since we grow our own and the spinach was fresh picked. I couldn't think of a better recipe to use fresh. thanks for the recipe Julia and have a great Holiday!
Thomas, thank you so much for such a positive comment - I appreciate it! Glad you like this recipe - it's great for using up fresh spinach, tomatoes, and herbs.
The noodles I'm try is artisanal pasta instead of spinach I'm use mushrooms
Fresh shrimps and roma tomatoes
But I did make this recipe b4 and it was delicious
Natasha, mushrooms sound delicious here!
Please don’t rinse the pasta. There’s no need for that. Just cook it until almost al dente, drain, reserve some of the pasta water to add back to the dish to help loosen the noodles and help with the sauce. Also, remove the shrimp completely and add back right before you add the pasta so the shrimp doesn’t overcook.
Dana, great feedback, thank you! I've used gluten-free pasta in this recipe, which is why I recommended rinsing.
Yummy. I forgot to get the fresh spinach and used some frozen - frozen shrimp also.. The fresh spinach would have been better. It still tasted great.
Marie, I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for the comment!
Light, fresh sauce with lots of flavor. Easy weeknight dinner!
Well-said! It's truly a light and refreshing sauce! So glad you liked it!