This crispy shrimp pasta is such a treat. It’s rich, buttery, creamy, and a cinch to whip up. The golden crust on the shrimp is just glorious. I can’t say enough good things about this perfectly indulgent delight!
Boil noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, grab three-fourths of a pound of raw shrimp that’s been peeled, deveined, and tails removed. This is just the right amount for two servings.
Season generously with salt..
And freshly ground pepper. Give this a stir to evenly distribute the seasoning.
Sprinkle on one tablespoon of flour…
And stir to coat.
Add one more tablespoon of flour for good measure.
And stir to evenly coat the shrimp. Perfect.
Melt one tablespoon of butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
When melted and hot, add the shrimp in a single layer and cook one one side for about 2-3 minutes until golden brown.
Flip the shrimp and cook until golden brown on the other side, another 2-3 minutes.
When done, remove the shrimp to the plate. This golden, crispy crust, inspired by How Sweet Eats’ Crispy Shrimp Pasta with Arugula Pesto Cream Sauce is pure heaven!
Pour in the chicken broth and cook for about 5 minutes, whisking the bottom of the pan to deglaze.
Reduce heat to medium and pour in cream, whisking constantly. Cook sauce over medium heat until bubbly and the cream starts to thicken the mixture, about 5-10 minutes.
You’ll want to add some seasoning at this point. Just some salt and pepper would be nice, but I usually add 1/2 teaspoon of my favorite cajun seasoning. It’s perfect for rich, creamy sauces like this.
Season your sauce as desired, then add the drained pasta and shrimp to the sauce and stir to combine. This combination has such a rich, wonderful flavor. It’s one of our favorites!
Crispy Shrimp Pasta
4 oz fettuccine pasta
3/4 lb raw shrimp, peeled, deveined and tails removed
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp cajun seasoning
Cook pasta according to package directions. Sprinkle shrimp with salt, pepper, and toss to combine. Sprinkle 1 tbsp flour over the shrimp, and toss to coat the shrimp. Sprinkle 1 more tbsp flour and toss to evenly coat the shrimp. Melt butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. When hot, add the shrimp in a single layer and cook on each side, flipping once, until golden brown, approximately 2-3 minutes per side. Remove to plate. Pour in the chicken broth. Cook for about 5 minutes, whisking the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Reduce heat to medium and pour in cream, whisking constantly. Cook sauce over medium heat until bubbly and the cream starts to thicken the mixture, about 5 minutes. Taste the sauce and add seasonings as desired (salt, pepper, cajun seasonings, etc.) Add the drained pasta and shrimp to the sauce, and stir to combine.
*If you have trouble getting the sauce to thicken, thoroughly mix 1 tbsp cornstarch with 4 tbsp cold water and add to the sauce. Sauce will thicken immediately.
Nutritional Information for this recipe can be found at CalorieCount.com.
Make for: Dinner / Main Dish
Tags: pasta, seafood
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59 Comments
Amanda, this looks delicious! Even if touching raw shrimp is something I’ve never done, it’s something I just may brave so I can taste this for myself!
Hi Amanda, I’m a seafood buff and my DH loves pasta…so this is just perfect for us! Thanks for sharing. :)
looks delicious, thanks!!
Oh my Cajun soul singeth! LOUDLY
Looks delic girl.
So how DO you cook with one hand holding a camera anyway? ☺
Thanks for sharing, look delicious going to make tonight!
Oh this looks soooo good! Will have to post links to your blog (again) :)
This looks delicious and super simple. Thanks for sharing!!
I’d like this for dinner tonight, please! Delicious!
That looks so good, although heavy, but good :]
Amanda–
Not only does the recipe look wonderful, but I appreciate the effort you took to provide the CalorieCount breakdown. Thank you thank you thank you!
Mmm, this looks delicious! Thank you for the wonderful recipe! I look forward to making it!
I am making this for my dinner, as I type this. Oh, and I’ll make to have enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Yay! Thanks for sharing. :)
This looks amazing! I love shrimp AND pasta and can’t wait to try this. Thanks!
Made this for lunch it was awesome!!
Thanks for posting this yummy, yummy din! I made this tonight and it was a huuge hit! My 2 year old gobbled it all UP too! ;-)
Yummy! We’re eating this as we speak and it is delicioso :D
Yummy!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can’t wait to make it!
This looks great and super quick and easy! Thanks for the calorie breakdown – much appreciated!
I could eat this every night of the week and be the happiest girl ever!! Yum girl and great photos!
This reminds me of a wonderful dish we had at a little cafe on our honeymoon. I will have to make this for my husband.
Oooh, sounds amazing! Adding this to the list. :-)
This looks scrumptious and love the photo! Cheers.
Oh hello! This sounds and looks awesome!
This looks awesome! Hope to see you soon!
I am always up for pasta!
I made this last night. It was totally delish. Easy to make and I will definitely make it again. Restaurant worthy! Thanks for the recipe.
Thank you so much for the great ideas, I love shrimp and pasta. I hope you two have a restaurant or that it will be in your future. Ann
My girlfriend made this for dinner for us over the weekend and it was absolutely delicious! I can’t wait to eat it again! Super yummy!
OMG!, this was Soooo good. I made it exactly like the recipe and it was gorgeous. My husband just kept going yum and when he had finished, I could swear I heard a purr! This is definitely going on our favs list. Thanks!
Thanks so much for this recipe! Sounds so good can’t wait to try it! It really helps me out to find such a thorough recipe with step by step directions and photos!! I am still learning as far as cooking so those kind of recipes make it so much easier! To give you an idea, I am 28 years old and just boiled chicken for the FIRST TIME to make chicken and pastry last weekend… ;) I must also tell you that I search through so many recipes online trying to find ONE that I would want to try, and usually have no luck at all! So when I went to your page just now and saw this recipe, it was very exciting! =) Thanks again for the fonts and awesome recipes. Love your blog, great pics and it’s entertaining!! Great job. =)
Made this for the fam for dinner tonight – made a few small changes. I doubled the recipe (more or less) and used Old Bay instead of cajun seasoning. We also added shredded parmesan cheese at the last minute. It was terriffic!! Something we will definitely make again. I served it with homemade butter rolls. Yum!!!
Thanks so much for the great recipe, and all those awesome fonts!
Oh and I shared a link to your recipe – hope thats ok. :-)
Oh this looks yummy-licious!! I will definitely have to give this a try. I make something similar to this already but I don’t add the cream or the flour so the texture is a bit more like a butter sauce than a cream sauce. And I add tomatoes at the last minute or broccoli or onion… or all three. just depends on my mood.
Thanks for sharing!
I was so excited to try this recipe – I love your website!
For me, the sauce didn’t thicken and the shrimp turned out way to salty, so I will have to try it again with a few adjustments. I love the idea of crispy shrimp with creamy pasta!
We loved this! However, we doubled the recipe and had trouble with the sauce thickening, too. Anyone have suggestions. It took 30-40 minutes for the sauce to thicken. It hasn’t stopped us from making it twice in 3 weeks! Yum!
Wow. This is a keeper! I made it the same day my friend sent the recipe to me and even my husband, who’s not big on shrimp, couldn’t keep out of the crispy little delights. He said he’d even like it without the sauce so I thought “What the heck!” It’s on the menu for next Monday night, sans sauce, and am figuring the calorie count right now.
The cheeseburger macaroni was a huge hit, too–it’s on for next week as well. :)
I can’t wait to make this dish!! Thanks for sharing!
PS. LOVE all the free fonts as well!
Thank yall!
Holly Ann
Baton Rouge, LA
Thank you for the recipe! I made it tonight for my very picky family and it was a hit!
I have seriously looked at this meal about 25 times, mouth watering each time!! I am going to try and make it tonight and get over stalking it on your page! lol! Thanks for the yumminess!!!!
I just made this. It was simple, quick, and so delicious! Thank you for sharing.
I’m excited to try this recipe, your blog is awesome, the pictures are just amazing.
If this were offered at a restaurant I would eat there everyday. I LOVED. I made it this evening to test, and now I can’t wait to make for everyone I love. It may be what I make for my next dinner club, after I verify that everyone likes shrimp. The simplicity of this is so great, I can see where after I’ve made a few times I won’t even need to consult the recipe. Thank you for this. I SO love your blog.
OMG!!!! i going to try this recipe, for sure.. it looks delicious and i’m crazy about shrimps.. thank you for sharing!
I totally tried this recipe with my family and they LoVeD it! I am so excited to try it again! I wish I could get the specific spices you used in it for the authentic flavoring! I have never been to the “South” and hope to one day do so! I would love to try some Gumbo!
Thanks for sharing this delictable dish!
Finally made it and it was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good. Loved it!
Awesome! Though I had a tough time getting the sauce to thicken… any tips??
Looks absolutely delicious. Can you substitute the cream for like regular cream if you don’t have it on hand?
Or would whipping cream be more preferred?
Thanks!
Hello Amanda! I must say that this recipe is amazing! I discovered it about a month ago and have probably made it at least 5 times since. Today I decided to make it again but changed up the recipe a bit. I had some sun-dried tomatoes in the cabinet that I needed to use so, I threw them in after I added the cream. It was even more delicious! I have found that the tomatoes give the recipe a nice mix of Italian and Cajun seasoning. I add that I love this recipe by itself but it has so much versatility! I will also say that the homemade cheeseburger mac recipe you posted is also amazing…..no more Hamburger Helper in this house…..EVER!!!
This came out very flavorful! I used cornstarch instead of flour to make the shrimp extra crisp. However, in the end when tossed with the sauce and pasta, there was no “crispiness” to the shrimp, it just had a nice crust to it. I also added some fresh minced garlic to the butter and olive oil before adding the shrimp. The shrimp had a nice butter garlic flavor to it! I can’t tell you how lovely and aromatic my kitchen was as I was cooking the shrimp! As with many others, I too had trouble getting the sauce to thicken up. I found that melting some butter in the pan and whisking with flour for a couple minutes before adding the broth and heavy cream will thicken it right up and give it more of that alfredo consistency. Instead of cajun seasoning (since I don’t like even the slightest of spicy), I used salt, pepper, and Mrs. Dash, which I love to use with everything I cook in! While the sauce is simmering, I covered the pan to let it thicken up, whisking every now and then. It worked! The end result is a very tasty and flavorful pasta dish! I used bowtie pasta instead of linguine the second time around since it’s easier for my toddler to eat. She loves it! The sauce is not enough for me, so I think from now on I will double the sauce or use just half of a 1lb. pasta box. Next time I will add capers and sauteed mushrooms and maybe a squeeze of lemon juice! I also like the idea of finishing it off with grated parmesan as someone had mentioned, but I didn’t have that on hand! This dish can be quite versatile! Thanks for sharing!
Amanda, you are a PEARL. Love this site, keep ‘em comin. Asheville NC USA
This looks to die for – will definitely have to make it for my husband who loves shrimp. I think you could also get away with using chicken tenders or flattened breasts as well (using the same dredging technique). Sauté them the same way, remove from the pan and finish the sauce. Mix a little sauce in with the pasta, then just before serving, dip the chicken in the sauce, place it on top of the pasta, and pour the remaining sauce over everything. Mmmm. Now we need breadsticks to go with it.
We loved this shrimp pasta and have made it several times since you posted it. Thanks so much for sharing! :)
This is just like recipe my Mom makes but she coats the shrimp in flour AND grated parm cheese and doesn’t do the cream sauce–just shrimp over rice pilaf YUM! I will definitely try this recipe though–love the photo for every step–so helpful! =)
This is just like a recipe my Mom makes but she coats the shrimp in flour AND grated parm cheese and doesn’t do the cream sauce–just shrimp over rice pilaf YUM! I will definitely try this recipe though–love the photo for every step–so helpful! =)
I made this last night for dinner. It was simple to make and came together quickly. It was good; however, one whole teaspoon of pepper on the shrimp turned out to be a bit too much for my family, especially my four year old son, who usually loves shrimp. I would make it again, just reduce the amount of pepper. Also, I did have trouble getting the cream sauce to thicken, so I added the suggested water and corn starch mixture and it worked like a charm!
My family LOVED this recipe! It was delicious and so easy. My 2 year-old ate 5 shrimp, which he normally doesn’t like shrimp. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe. (I found it on Pinterest…love that site!)
A friend of mine recommended your blog and I cannot thank her enough eventhough I have trouble getting ahold of all required ingredients here in Germany.
This recipe is simply irresistable!
However, it lacked a bit of color for my taste so I added about half a cup of halved cherry tomatoes and arugula to the sauce just before combining it with the shrimp and the pasta. To die for! :)
Yesterday I googled shrimp pasta and your recipe popped up it looks amazing and I am making it tonight for Valentines’s dinner. I pinned it and it got over 50 repins! Thanks for sharing :)