Shrimp Carbonara
Restaurant-quality pasta made right at home in 25 minutes. Not to mention the creamy sauce with crisp bacon and tender-juicy shrimp!
Crisp bacon bits. Cream sauce. Shrimp and pasta.
It looks super fancy and all but trust me – it doesn’t get easier than this.
The secret here is the cream cheese.
It works as a really convenient shortcut in this cream sauce, coupled with the salty bacon bits along with the juicy shrimp chunks nestled throughout. And the peas add just enough pop of color to make this dish really stand out.
Not to mention Barilla Collezione Bucatini – my absolute favorite pasta to use here. It’s a thicker spaghetti to soak up all that creamy goodness without any waste.
And as always, you can finish this off with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to taste. Remember, 1/4 cup is just a guideline. You know you can always add more.
You can follow Eat Shrimp on Facebook and Pinterest for more shrimp recipe inspiration!
Shrimp Carbonara
Ingredients
- 12 ounces bucatini*
- 4 slices bacon, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 ounces medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and roughly chopped
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 4 ounces cream cheese, cubed
- ¼ cup half and half*, or more, as needed
- ½ cup frozen peas
- 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.
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add bacon and cook until brown and crispy, about 6-8 minutes. Drain excess fat; reserving 1 tablespoon in the skillet. Transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Add garlic to the skillet and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.
- Season shrimp with basil, oregano, salt and pepper, to taste. Add shrimp to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until pink, about 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in cream cheese, half and half and peas until well combined, about 1-2 minutes. If the mixture is too thick, add more half and half as needed until desired consistency is reached.
- Stir in pasta and bacon.
- Serve immediately, garnished with Parmesan and parsley, if desired.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the National Fisheries Institute Shrimp Council. All opinions expressed are my own.
I made this tonight, it was easier than I thought. Thanks!!!
I made this tonight for my son and I. It was delicious and so simple to make. I usually only like shrimp if it’s fried, but it was so tasty with this sauce and bacon. It was also super easy to make. I used evaporated milk instead of half and half because I didn’t have any half and half. I will definitely be making this again. When my son says”that was really good” then I know it’s a hit because he’s like a food critic, lol!
Ugh, I’m so sad. I really wanted to like this but I must have done something wrong. I halved the recipe for my husband and I since I didn’t think leftovers would reheat particularly well. It seemed kinda gummy. Perhaps I needed more half and half? This is my first fail out of dozens of your recipes, so I’m going to chalk it up to a chef error haha. I want to try your regular carbonara next!
Oh no – what a bummer! Yes, halving the recipe will only result in 2 tablespoons cream cheese and 2 tablespoons half and half, which just isn’t enough. But you can always add more half and half as needed until the desired consistency is reached. Hope that helps!
That looks so yummy. I can’t wait to try it! Carbonara has always been one of my favourite pastas. Can’t go wrong with bacon and shrimp! And the cream cheese—what a clever substitute for eggs that are usually found in a carbonara!
Made this recipe tonight (minus peas) and loved it!!! really easy and damn delicious!!!
Cream cheese! What a clever shortcut to making cream sauce. This shrimp carbonara is totally fabulous.
Tried this tonight, perfect comfort food for a gloomy day! Rich and creamy, with the bacon giving a salty crunch! I’ll definitely do this one again – thanks!
The photographs in this post are amazing. And here’s another dish I can’t wait to try! Thanks for sharing.
Now I’m craving for carbonara! I need to make this 🙂 Thank you!
This looks positively decadent and delicious! Will be trying this very, very soon – like this week!
This looks absolutely delicious..Great way to start week.!!
Thanks for sharing such amazing recipe!!