Creamy Shrimp Pasta

This shrimp pasta recipe is easy to make with the best big flavors: garlic, lemon and parmesan. This is a homemade dinner idea that’s always a hit!

With one bite, add it to your weekly dinner rotation. You should bookmark this recipe: Creamy shrimp noodles Recipe! It’s ultra-classic: juicy, flavorful shrimp and al dente pasta swim in a creamy sauce. Because we love options, we have from them Sauce ideas for you: a white wine sauce that is bursting with spicy taste. Or try our Easy Cream Sauce, a creamy Parmesan sauce that is actually made without any cream at all. Mix the components together and wow! The flavor is restaurant-friendly, but you can make it in about 30 minutes. Time for dinner win.

How to Make Shrimp Noodles (Basic Method)

This shrimp pasta recipe is one of those basic recipes like avocado toast or Caesar salad that are popular because they are as good as. The flavors are like perfect dance partners: salted shrimp, creamy parmesan, tangy lemon (or white wine), and of course…garlic. This recipe is easy to make, but you need to balance preparing three components at once: shrimp, pasta, and sauce. Here’s what you need to do at the same time:

• How to prepare perfectly al dente pasta: Bring the pot to a boil before preparing the other two components. Bucatini is our favorite pasta here; it’s like a hollow spaghetti. See below for more!
• Fry shrimp: In a hot pan, it only takes 3-4 minutes. You just need to make sure your shrimp are thawed if using frozen shrimp (see below).
• Prepare sauce: Once the shrimp are cooked, prepare this sauce and voila! Choose one of the two sauces below. While you’re doing this, finish off these pasta and drain them. Then mix everything! Done and done.

Option 1: white wine sauce

This shrimp pasta recipe goes great with our easy white wine sauce! This is one of our favorite ways to serve it. Here’s what you need to know about this option:

• This sauce is slightly creamy with a tangy, vinous flavor. The taste is lively and quite vinous up front. But our 3 year old Larson loves it so it’s kid friendly too.
• Cream is used, but you can add milk if you like. If you prefer not to use cream (this is not standard in our pantry!), you can use milk.
• It contains traces of alcohol (0.8 ounces per serving). We felt comfortable serving this pasta to our 3 year old. But you should only do what makes you feel good! If you prefer, read on and make the cream sauce…

Option 2: Parmesan Cream Sauce

The other option is our Easy Parmesan Cream Sauce! Here’s what you should know about this sauce option:

• This sauce is very creamy and has a thicker texture than wine sauce. It’s a bit closer to an alfredo sauce.
• It requires a little more attention when crafting. For this sauce, you make a roux by cooking flour and butter as a thickener. It is a bit more delicate than the white wine sauce. Read the instructions carefully before you begin.
• You need to add a little milk when you add it to the pasta. It’s stickier and creamier than wine sauce. Add a drop or two of milk if adding to the pasta and stir until you get the right creamy consistency.

Which do we prefer? We love them both! If you feel like it, you like the white wine sauce. When we crave creamy, fluffy pasta, we go for the cream sauce. Let us know which one you prefer!

Best shrimp for shrimp noodles

What is the best type of shrimp for shrimp noodles? There are so many choices when you come to the store. (In fact, we often accidentally choose the wrong variety!) Here’s what we recommend for this recipe:

• Large or medium shrimp. We love the look with large, but you can get away with medium too!
• tail on or off. The shrimp’s tail is nice, but it makes your fingers messy when you eat them. Tail off can be more comfortable.
• Fresh or frozen. Either it works! Frozen foods can taste just as fresh if frozen right after cooking. Make sure you thaw it the day before or use this thawing method for the day of thawing.
• Preferably wild caught. Wild fish caught in your country is generally a sustainable choice. There are also quality options at well-regulated farms; see Seafood Watch consumer guide.

Tips for cooking pasta al dente

The shrimp and sauce are important in this recipe…but the pasta is also extremely important! You definitely need to cook the pasta al dente for this shrimp pasta recipe to be the best it can be. al dente means “bite” in Italian. The ideal al dente texture is a delicate exterior balanced by a firm bite with a white spot in the center. Here are our tips for cooking pasta al dente:

• Try often. Don’t trust the instructions on the packaging! While cooking, constantly check the cooking of the pasta.
• Look for a small white spot. When the noodles are soft on the outside but have a white spot in the middle, drain! Just a few seconds can make the difference between al dente and soft pasta.

What to serve with shrimp noodles

There’s not much to add to this shrimp pasta recipe to make it a healthy dinner! Throw together a simple salad and you’re done. But if you’re entertaining, you can also get a little more whimsical. Here are a variety of options that we would combine to make a complete meal:

More shrimp pasta recipes

do you like shrimp Always goes down well with us, also (and especially) with children. Here are some other great shrimp dinner ideas and healthy shrimp recipes:

This Shrimp Pasta Recipe is…

pescetarian.