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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The dish was easy and super delicious!
It’s the best a pasta I have ever made I am very happy I found this receipt.
Made this tonight exactly as per the recipe and it was deliciouis!…you might even say DamnDelicious! Very easy, not much clean up, great meal. Will make this often!
Made this today, and it’s was fantastic! My husband doesn’t usually eat shrimp unless it’s breaded and fried, but he adored this dish! Thank you so much!
Amazing version of this recipe. Being doing something similar for a while with olive oil and it was ok. But doing this with butter, watching the melted butter brown with all the little garlic bits after cooking the shrimp was magical. Even my son, who doesnt like shrimp, ate this up.
Outstanding recipe! Our teenage boys loved it. It was super easy to make. Thank you for sharing
Girl, that was Damn Delicious. I didn’t have Arugula bit still delicious!
I made mine with low carb edamame noodles and they were so delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
Has anyone used ghee instead of butter for this recipe? If so, how did it turn out?
Ghee IS butter. It should be fantastic. Fhee is simply butter that has been slowly melted and the milk solids that form are removed. It lasts longer than butter that hasn’t been treated that way and has a long shelf life. Both are real butter.
It is Damn good! We used a little less butter and a little less pasta. So good. I’ll use the recipe for scampi as well.
I’ve been looking for a good simple pasta recipe to make with shrimp and I final found this one. This recipe is excellent and was enjoyed by the whole family. This will be added to the repertoire and used often. Instant family favorite.
Absolutely delicious. Even my Daughter loved it!!!!
OMG! This was ABSOLUTELY delicious!!.. My family & I enjoyed this dish! I wish i could leave a picture of what my pot looked liked before & after… I did tweek the ingredients a bit!.. I used 1head & and half garlic head! 1 whole bunch spinach! And 2 cups parmesan cheese! With 2lbs of shrimp & one 16oz fettuccine noodles! No pepper flakes! But BUGGAH WAS SO ONO… ALOHA FROM HAWAII
Made this tonight – delicious! I used farfilla pasta. I will add a bit more cheese next time.
Extra cheese is always a good idea! Thanks for sharing, Donna!
Perfect! Top with giant sea scallops… side with a lobster tail and asparagus! Now we’re cooking
I am going to try this but I’m going to use queso instead of parmesan I can’t stand parmesan cheese everything I have except the arugula so we will see how good this turns out I will be making cod as a main piece with bread sticks!!!!
Rachel Smith , queso is spanish for cheese.
i used spinach and cotija cheese, very delicious.
Super quick and delicious recipe….the hubby loved it!
Made this tonight for dinner and the family absolutely loved it! So simple and easy to make thank you for sharing!
As a mother of three and a small business owner this recipe was AMAZING! Super easy and quick to make it was crazy and super delicious! My husband said it smelled like we were at Red Lobster. Lol
Thank you for this!
Easy and delicious, even my 4 year old loves it!
For the record, I am not a cook nor do I enjoy it. But I am a great lover of food. Saw this recipe and thought, too easy. Well.. my family now craves this dish at least 3 times a month. Easy, delicious, and fun. THANK YOU…do you have any other easy and tastee recipes I can try?
Thanks for sharing, Marion! Easy and tasty is our specialty! Feel free to look through our pasta section here – most of these recipes are very quick to whip up!