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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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.
I made this tonight and it is a keeper! So full of flavor and delicious! I doubled the garlic and substituted spinach for the arugula. Yummy!
So good! My whole family ate it up! Even the littles. Loved the little hint of spice! I doubled for my large family and it turned out great!
This was sooo delicious .. I used Butter and Olive oil with spinach, cilantra, arugula and zest of lemon. Wow what flavor!!
This recipe was sooo delicous!! Used both spinach and Arugla..
Sooooo good! I add spinach instead of arugula and use farfalle instead of fettuccine. This is a dinner and it seems kind of gourmetish!
You can also add sauted baby bella mushrooms.
The leftovers heat up nicely – just add a few sprinkles of water and pop in the microwave! Prop up your feet and enjoy your latest binge show!
Can you use olive oil instead of butter?
WOW! This is so good. And so fast. My wife and I both loved it.
Amazing just a tip DON’T OVERCOOK THE GALIC
Made this dish for dinner tonight. It was absolutely delicious! My husband told me three times how good it was! Thank you!
Oh my!! Simply AMAZING! Added 1/2 lemon. Can’t wait to make again!
Love this one! I’ve made it with shrimp and other times chicken. Either way it’s a winner!
My daughter loves this recipe and regularly ask for it. it is so simple and quick. I do substitute the arugula for broccoli which I sauté before hand with garlic and leave off the red pepper.
What I love about pasta is, you can be as creative as you want because in the end your the one who has to eat it…
About this recipe it gave me idea’s like oregano & red crushed pepper , when I got done it was just wonderful. Put it right to the top of my list.
Really delicious! I couple of things though, if you’re sensitive to heat DONT ADD ALL THE RED PEPPER FLAKES! A pinch is sufficient! I also added the juice from half a lemon.
Excellent quick and easy recipe! Thank you very much! It turned out fantastic! I made a little Texas toast garlic bread with it it was amazing. Thank you very much!
Bomb Diggity delicious! Unfortunately I didn’t have the baby arugula so I substituted some Frozen Nick’s of onions bell peppers and parsley flakes. Then threw in some Frozen mixed veggies. I also forgot the parmesan so maybe I shouldn’t even be reviewing this because I didn’t really do it according to the recipe. But mine came out as an inspiration based on this recipe and I got to give this tin Stars instead of five.
If you enjoyed it, you made it exactly like you wanted to and its a learning experience especially with pasta. That sound good to me
Delicious and easy! Kids loved it! Slightly spicy but even my daughter that doesn’t usually like spicy food enjoyed it very much!
I make this recipe on the regular. Half the time I forget arugula or spinach so I’m missing my green, oops, but it still tastes great! It’s definitely a favourite in our household; I’m so glad I found this one!
Made this the other night. The best Pasta dish we’ve made in a very long time. Couldn’t fault it