Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta
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An easy peasy pasta dish that’s simple, flavorful and hearty. And all you need is 20 min to whip this up!
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Spring is here and it’s all about staying in, wearing your favorite sweatpants and cooking up some major comfort food. Specifically, 20 min quick comfort food with al dente pasta, quick pan-fried garlicky shrimp, and sneaked in greens, all topped with freshly grated Parmesan.
And let me share with you again – this comes together lightening fast. You can whip up the garlicky, buttery shrimp so quickly while your pasta cooks through. And with wide, long strand fettuccine noodles, we have just enough space to coat all that silky buttery heavenly goodness.
It’s the most perfect quick and easy dinner – for family, for friends, for company. All of the above. It’s all just so so good.
tips and tricks for success
- Fresh pasta goes a long way. We love using homemade pasta whenever possible as it is much smoother and silkier (and cooks much faster than store-bought!).
- Use high-quality shrimp. Medium or large wild-caught shrimp are much more meatier and juicier than farm-raised shrimp.
- Long strand-like pasta is ideal. Fettuccine is a great pasta to use because it holds up sauce very well. Linguine, spaghetti or angel hair pasta are also good options.
- Add in leafy greens. This is a great recipe to sneak in leafy greens for those picky eaters. Arugula, spinach, kale, collard greens or swiss chard are all great options.
what to serve with shrimp pasta
Tools For This Recipe
Large cast iron skillet
Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta: Frequently Asked Questions
You can thaw frozen shrimp overnight, transferring it from the freezer to the fridge the day before. For a quick thaw, you can run them under cold water until completely thawed, about 5-10 minutes. Pat them dry as thoroughly as possible to remove any excess moisture (so they can brown nicely and evenly).
Fresh or dried long strands of pasta such as fettuccine, linguine or spaghetti will all work very well.
Absolutely! You can substitute thyme or rosemary (dried or fresh!) or any other herb of your choosing. And because dried herbs are often more potent/concentrated than fresh herbs, you need less when using dry. The correct ratio is 1 tablespoon fresh herbs to 1 teaspoon dried herbs.
Baby spinach and kale are both nutrient-rich and great alternatives.
Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 ounces fettuccine, linguine, or spaghetti
- 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 cups baby arugula or spinach
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Season shrimp with salt and pepper, to taste; set aside.
- Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic, oregano and red pepper flakes, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add shrimp and cook, stirring occasionally, until pink, about 2-3 minutes; set aside.
- Melt remaining 6 tablespoons butter in the skillet. Stir in pasta, arugula and Parmesan until arugula begins to wilt, about 2 minutes. Stir in shrimp.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
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Question : you state that fresh pasta is better than dried, and I agree. However, the recipe asks for 8 ounces of pasta, would this be dry or fresh? This recipe looks delicious and I’m anxious to try it.
I made this for dinner last night. It was so delicious and I didn’t change a thing except add a bit more red pepper flakes as I like my pasta a bit spicy.
Love your recipes and have so many of them in my meal rotation!
This was fantastic and it really did come together lightening fast! The longest thing to do in this recipe is peel the shrimp and chop the garlic. Super flavorful and sort of healthy. I may sub some of the butter with olive oil next time but wow this was so good.
Love this! Thank you for sharing your great simple recipes!
I made it with spinach and it was absolutely amazing! We bought it to our friends’ house and enjoyed it together. I also added a small amount of chicken broth and white wine. Fantastic!! Thank you!
Really like this so simple to make
I made this for dinner tonight with a few changes. Used fresh basil instead of oregano and added a fresh chopped tomato for additional veggies. Also, used cheese tortellini as my pasta. Delicious!!! So quick and easy. Definitely adding to my rotation.
We truly love this recipe. Because we like spicy, I do add a little blackening seasoning with the salt and pepper on the shrimp. I also use less butter… but it’s a great recipe. Thank you.
Eeek! No unsalted butter! What to do?! Google is of no use!
Use salted butter! (I never use unsalted butter. If you are concerned that things will be too salty, just decrease the amount of salt called for in the recipe.)
My family loves it. I have to double the recipe!
This just moved to the top of my list for pasta dishes! This was so good!
This is one of my top 10 favorite recipes on ever. Make it just as it says, or double everything and it comes out just as good. If you wanna mess with it, maybe add a little white wine and reduce it down, or double the arugula. But really the recipe is perfect as is.
I love this recipe, spinach maybe subbed for arugula. BUT I like about a 1/2 cup of ‘pasta water’ when it is combined. This takes the greasiness away and it is wonderful!
Can you send the recipe for easy quick shrimp fettuccino
What a great dish. Easy to make and so flavorful. Will be making it again and again.
Can olive oil be used instead of butter? If so how much olive oil?
Wll be over in 8hrs. Coming over from across the pond in UK. It looks completely yummy. Will also bring nice wine. Ok?
This was excellent. I added mushrooms and substituted spinach.
Very delicious, I did use spinach instead as well and a splash of lemon..
I pretty much never leave comments on recipes, but this was so incredibly delicious I absolutely had to join in the rave reviews! The great thing about this is it’s amazing as is, but if you have some asparagus laying around, throw it in. Corn? Put that in there! Grape tomatoes? Heck yeah! What if you have chicken, but not shrimp? No problem! I added a squeeze of lemon and it was a great addition. And it was was so to clean up after! Will make this again and again.