Shrimp spaghetti is a light and airy, mild yet flavorful dish with aromatic garlicky buttery deliciousness with pasta and sweet tender shrimp. No drowning sauces or creams yet very flavorful decadent summery pasta to have for Sunday brunch or on a beautiful sunset evening to pamper yourself.
Shrimp with spaghetti is a very comforting dish to have on busy weeknight and easily made in advance for weekday lunches. The basil flavors sink in and pasta tastes better next day. These pastas taste good in room temperature too.
What kind of pasta do you use for this recipe?
I love angel hair, spaghetti, linguini or fettuccini for this recipe. Angel hair being my favorite. It is much easier to eat and absorbs flavors faster than thicker pastas.
Ingredients and substitutes :
- Shrimp : Instead use the protein of your choice chicken or salmon would taste equally good.
- Pasta : Use angel hair, linguini, spaghetti or fettuccini or other thin sturdy noodles for making this dish.
- Olive oil + butter : This combination gives less grease and more richness from the butter.
- Basil leaves : Parsley or other dried Italian herbs work well in this recipe
- Red onion: Adds a lot of flavor to the shrimp and pasta but use shallots instead if you like.
- Garlic : Garlic is the major aroma and flavor of this preparation hence more the better.
- Parmesan cheese : A good quality parmesan cheese can elevate the simple tasting dish to the next level
Steps for making shrimp spaghetti :
How to know if the shrimp is cooked ?
Shrimp takes 2-3 minutes to cook per side, a light pinkish orange opaque color is enough. If you over cook it turns rubbery and tough. To test : Insert a knife into the center of a shrimp and it should glue through without any effort and pieces should fall apart easily.
Will the spaghetti shrimp taste good without wine?
I love it without wine but feel free to use any cooking wine of your choice.
Should the tomato be cooked?
The buttery garlic flavored shrimp and pasta doesn't need too much acidity. That will simply break the flavors down. I preferred to keep the plump sweet ripe tomato slices intact and not cook down the juices.
Will the pasta get dry as it sits?
It may get dry as it sits . Hence add extra pasta water when sautéing the pasta which will help in absorbing the flavors and keep the pasta pasta moist too without sticking to each other.
Other popular shrimp recipes to try from this blog are :
Pineapple and shrimp fried rice
Shrimp and pineapple summer salad
shrimp spaghetti
Ingredients
- 6 oz Shrimp Ideally 4-6 oz, de-shelled
- 2 oz Spaghetti
- 1/2 tsp Garlic powder
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 4-5 cloves Garlic
- 1/2 of 1 Red onion Chopped
- 1 pinch Red chili flakes
- Salt to taste
- 4 sprigs Basil leaves chopped
- 1 tbsp Parmesan cheese
- 2 tsp Olive oil
Garnish :
- 5 Cherry tomato sliced
- 2 sprigs Basil leaves
Instructions
- Marinate shrimp for 10 minutes with garlic powder and salt.
- Cook the spaghetti as per package instruction to almost al dente keep aside with a table spoon of the pasta water so they don't dry and start sticking
- Heat olive oil in a pan add butter, When butter starts to sizzle add the garlic chopped give it a minute to cook then add the chopped red onion when it softens add the red chili flakes toss well and move this to the side.
- Make space for shrimp and cook it for 2-3 minutes on both sides. Until it turns opaque. Not over cooked. Remove on to a wide plate so its stops cooking. Add basil leaves mix well in the shrimp juice then add cooked spaghetti toss well in the sauce add the cooked water a tsp at a time so the pasta is not too dry by lunch time. Let the pasta be slightly wet.
- Switch off heat add lemon juice now if you like a slightly tart pasta. Add grated parmesan cheese then add the shrimp back toss everything well. Garnish with sliced cherry tomato and basil leaves Serve immediately with a glass of wine or grape flavored soft drink.
Video
Hope you will give this pasta recipe a try and let me know.
Meena
Willy
Loved it! Not too spicy.. just the way I like it! Skipped pepper flakes used paprika powder instead.
elephantsncoconuttrees
Glad you liked it Willy. Thank you for the feedback.