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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.
How much calories does this meal have?
I made this tonight and it was great! The lemon with the tomatoes really made the dish. I added mushrooms too and it was a great combo!
Made this for dinner but used Old Bay instead of the paprika. Just my Baltimore roots showing. Oh so good.
This is the best pasta dish ever! I never leave comments after finding recipes online but I just had too for this dish! The favors are so simple but so sp delicious! I added sliced mushrooms and didn't rinse my pasta and a touch of white wine.....OMG! I will make this often, it also presents well ao it looks complicated and fancy, but it's easy, so easy!!
Awesome recipe, thanks for sharing. Very tasty.
Tim and Jim are right. Do not rinse pasta!!
It does not overcook if not rinsed with cold water. It just looses a lot of the pasta flavour.
Cheers from Europe!
This was excellent! You don't have to pre cook the spinach. Just add in with the tomatoes and it wilts nicely in about 3 minutes. Also, white wine is a nice sub for the lemon juice!
Yum! Made this tonight and it turned out great! Thanks for the recipie
Can I use chicken in this dish? I am allergic to shrimp.
I made it with cubed up chicken tenderloins instead, but didn't use paprika. After dicing chicken I sprinkled on salt and little ground red pepper. It was great!
Looks great but do not understand rinsing and cooling the pasta only to add it right back in and heat up anyway.
I am not sure, but wouldn't you cool down the pasta to stop the actual cooking process so the pasta does not get mushy? Then you add it back in to mix with the rest of the ingredients and it just heats through. Is that correct?
Awesome dish. I added some chopped, roasted walnuts and feta cheese in place of the parmesan. Delish! Thanks for the great recipe!
I made this for dinner, I thought it was simple and delicious! My husband thought it was good, but prefers a little less heat. Next time I will cut the amount of crushed red pepper in half. Thank you!
This was amazing! I didn't have spinach so used broccoli. I blanched it as the pasta finished cooking. Used bowtie pasta. Added white wine when I turned the shrimp because I had a bottle opened for dinner. Everything is better with wine, even when you cook with it! Otherwise followed directions, but cut in half for the two of us. The wine with the juice from the tomatoes made a nice sauce for the pasta. Love garlic and shrimp. This was wonderful so thank you for the recipe!
Wonderful dish! Family loved it and it was super easy to make.