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Spicy Shrimp Pasta in Garlic Tomato Cream Sauce - shrimp seared on stove top with crushed red pepper, paprika, and salt, then smothered in a spicy cream sauce made with chopped onions, minced garlic, crushed tomatoes and cream. Seasoned with basil and oregano. Delicious, creamy shrimp pasta recipe with lots of bold flavors!
This spicy shrimp pasta has everything you crave for in an Italian pasta: easy creamy tomato sauce made from scratch, seafood, spices (garlic, paprika, basil, oregano, crushed red pepper) - all of that over the perfectly shaped penne pasta. Simple recipe that you can make at home.
Penne is perfect for this pasta dish as it holds the sauce very well, and with every bite you will get not only pasta and shrimp but a generous scoop of spicy tomato cream sauce too! I've used gluten free pasta (brown rice penne) for this dish as well, and it was marvelous!
Whichever pasta you use, make sure to cook it al dente, then rinse it with cold water, drain it, and only then add it to the sauce. This will preserve the pasta structure and prevent it from getting mushy in a creamy sauce.
How to make spicy shrimp pasta with garlic tomato cream sauce:
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet on medium-high heat and cook shrimp on one side for about 1 minute, until shrimp turns pink on that side. While it cooks, GENEROUSLY sprinkle the top of shrimp with crushed red pepper, paprika and SALT to cover every single shrimp. Do not crowd the shrimp and don't skimp on spices:
Using spatula, turn the shrimp over to the other side and cook for 2 more minutes (on medium-high or medium heat):
Remove shrimp to a plate, being careful to leave all the oil in the skillet. To the same skillet, add chopped onion and minced garlic and cook on medium high heat in the olive that will have a nice reddish color from paprika and crushed red pepper. Cook for about 2 minutes until onions soften:
Next, add crushed tomatoes and chicken bullion cube dissolved in ¼ cup boiling water. Add basil and oregano, mix everything, bring to boil, reduce to simmer. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes, mixing occasionally and crushing all tomatoes into very small bites, until the garlic tomato cream sauce reduces just a bit. Season with more red pepper and salt, if needed.
Add heavy cream, while on simmer, and mix it in on very low simmer:
Almost immediately after you added cream and mixed it in on low simmer, remove the skillet from heat. Your garlic tomato cream sauce should look like this:
Add back the shrimp and pasta. Mix everything well to combine. Add more salt and pepper if necessary. Add more spices (crushed red pepper, basil, oregano), if needed. Gently reheat your spicy shrimp pasta.
Spicy Shrimp Pasta in Garlic Tomato Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound shrimp without shells, and deveined
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
- ¼ cup water
- ½ cube chicken bullion (I used Knorr)
- 1 tablespoon basil
- ¼ teaspoon oregano dried
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 8 oz penne pasta (for gluten free version, use brown rice penne)
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add shrimp and cook on one side for about 1 minute, until shrimp turns pink on that side. While it cooks, sprinkle the top of shrimp with crushed red pepper, paprika and salt to cover every single shrimp. Make sure not to crowd the shrimp in the skillet, otherwise moisture will form and shrimp won't sear right. And, don't skimp on spices. Using spatula turn shrimp over to the other side and cook for about 2 more minutes.
- Remove shrimp to a plate, being careful to leave all the oil in the skillet.
- To the same skillet, add chopped onion and minced garlic and cook on medium high heat in the olive oil that will have a nice reddish color from paprika and crushed red pepper. Cook for about 2 minutes, occasionally stirring, until onions soften.
- Add crushed tomatoes and chicken bullion cube dissolved in ¼ cup boiling water. Add basil and oregano, mix, bring to boil and reduce to simmer. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes, mixing occasionally and crushing all tomatoes into very small bites, until the sauce reduces just a bit. Season with more red pepper and salt, if needed. In the end, while on simmer, add heavy cream, mix it in, and immediately remove from heat.
- In the mean time, bring a large pot of water to boil and cook pasta al dente according to the package instructions. Drain.
- Add back the cooked shrimp and cooked and drained pasta to the skillet with the sauce. Mix everything well to combine. Reheat on low simmer, if needed. Do not bring to boil or high heat as it might affect the sauce texture. Add more salt and pepper if necessary.
- When serving, I like to sprinkle the top of pasta with just a touch of crushed red pepper.
Notes
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 many does this dish serve?
This recipe serves 4 people.
I am trying this recipe for the first time. I addwd some white wine to the tomato sauce and let it rwduce before adding the cream. Well as luck would have it I'm out of cream so I will make a Bechamel sauce to thicken it ip a bit. Hope it works.
Adding wine to the tomato sauce sounds delicious! And making a Bechamel sauce is a good substitute for cream.
What can I sub for the chicken cube? My boyfriend is pescatarian
You can use a vegetarian cube or vegetarian broth.
what is a chicken bullion? im in the UK. Is that a oxo chicken stock
I used a chicken bouillon cube, such as this: https://www.knorr.com/ca/en/products/knorr-bouillon/cubes-and-instant-stock/chicken-bouillon-cubes.html
Hi thank you for this nice recipe, i am thinking to try it today! Whoever i wanted to know if we can remplace the heavy cream by fat milk?
You can use heavy cream or half and half.
Could I use Fage 5% yogurt as the cream replacement? That’s all I have in the fridge right now
No, it's better to use half and half or heavy cream.
Love this recipe. My daughters said it wss restaurant quality
So nice to hear that! Thank you!
Awesome recipe!! Made it for my wife and she loved it. Definitely will make it again.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Did you mean diced tomatoes?
The canned tomatoes I used were labeled as crushed tomatoes, but you can certainly use diced tomatoes, too.
I absolutely love this recipe! It is divine!
However, I am wondering what kind of onion is best? I usually use a yellow onion, simply because that’s what I have lying around, but the recipe doesn’t specify.
Thank you, Rebecca! So glad you liked the recipe! Yellow or white onion will work.
my boyfriend ate a plateful then proceeded to eat it out of the pan. he absolutely loved it.
Sandra, this is the biggest compliment to the cook! My husband does the same thing. 🙂
Loved it! An easy meal in less than an hour that has great flavor! FYI...I omitted the bullion cube and used fire roasted tomatoes.
I am thinking of trying to make this with my boyfriend cuz it sounds delish! Just wondering though, what if we also want to add chicken? Should we cook the chicken first before the shrimp?
Adding chicken together with shrimp is a great idea! Yes, I would cook the chicken first, before the shrimp, because shrimp cooks really fast, and you don't want to over cook it.
Boyfriend and I tried your recipe and IT IS GREAT!!! Thank you for this amazing recipe Julia! We also didn’t try it with chicken and I am more than fine without it. Maybe next time though 😀
Thank you! 🙂 So glad to hear that!
Thank you for this Recipe I absolutely love it it was so easy to make my family enjoyed it! Second time making it!
So glad you've been enjoying this recipe! Thank you for stopping by! 🙂
I’ve made this more than 10 times and it’s absolutely fantastic! Tonight I added leftover crab meat in during the simmer....divine!
Wow! Made it 10 times! So glad you've been enjoying this recipe. Adding crab meat sounds delicious!
It's baby approved! She wasn't bothered by the spice at all! Also, I used plain soy milk in place of the heavy cream and my husband liked it. I didn't tell him I used that until he was done eating, haha!