Make this easy, one-pan shrimp pasta recipe with a Cajun flair and creamy sauce that’s sure to satisfy any seafood lover.
Jump to RecipeNormally, I don’t like a lot of seafood, but shrimp is one of my favorites. Mix that in a pasta with a creamy sauce and I am sold! That’s why I knew this recipe for shrimp pasta would be a winner in our house.
I found the original recipe in one of my cooking magazines and knew we had to give it a try immediately. Most of the ingredients are items we usually have on hand, so we only had to grab a couple of things to make this delicious meal.
The original recipe called for green bell pepper. We decided that a red bell pepper would be better in it. I think we also were forced into that decision because the grocery store was out of green peppers at the time. We made a few changes to the shrimp pasta as we cooked. But, that’s just how I cook. And it gives us a unique dish to share!
Step by Step
Ingredients
- 6 oz whole-grain linguine
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp Cajun seasoning
- 1 lb large shrimp (peeled and deveined)
- 2 tbsp canola oil (divided)
- 1 cup red bell pepper (chopped)
- 3/8 tsp cayenne pepper
- 5 cloves garlic (minced)
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 can diced tomatoes (undrained)
- 1/2 cup half-and-half
- 1 green onion (sliced)
- 1 cup parmesan cheese
Preparation
Prepare the pasta according to the package. When you drain the pasta, reserve about 1/3 cup of the water.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add one tablespoon of oil to the pan. Add the bell pepper to the pan and cook for a few minutes until they are crisp-tender.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the Cajun seasoning, flour, and shrimp and toss to coat the shrimp.
Add the shrimp. Cook for another 2-3 minutes until they are done. Make sure to flip the shrimp at least once while cooking.
Put the remaining oil in the skillet and add the cayenne and minced garlic. Then stir in the liquid reserved from the pasta.
Mix in the salt, bay leaves, and tomatoes. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
Discard the bay leaves and add the half-and-half, cooking until heated through.
Serve garnished with green pepper and parmesan cheese.
Recipe
Originally Published On: November 28, 2017
Last Updated On: June 25, 2021
Creamy Shrimp Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 oz whole-grain linguine
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp Cajun seasoning
- 1 lb large shrimp (peeled and deveined)
- 2 tbsp canola oil (divided)
- 1 cup red bell pepper (chopped)
- 3/8 tsp cayenne pepper
- 5 cloves garlic (minced)
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 can diced tomatoes (undrained)
- 1/2 cup half-and-half
- 1 green onion (sliced)
- 1 cup parmesan cheese
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions
- Drain in a colander over a bowl, reserving 1/3 cup pasta cooking liquid
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat
- Combine Cajun seasoning, flour, and shrimp in a medium bowl and toss to coat
- Add 1 tablespoon oil to the pan
- Add the bell pepper to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes, until crisp-tender
- Add shrimp mixture to the pan and cook 2-3 minutes or until shrimp are done
- Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the pan
- Add cayenne pepper and garlic
- Add reserved 1/3 cup cooking liquid, salt, bay leaves, and tomatoes, bringing it to a boil
- Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until thickened
- Discard bay leaves
- Stir in half-and-half
- Cook 1 minute over medium heat or until thoroughly heated
- Sprinkle with green pepper and parmesan cheese
All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutrition content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
Love Shrimp & always looking for new recipes to try for the family! Thanks for sharing!
Shrimp is my favorite too! I hope your family likes this as well.
This reminds me of the spicy Cajun pasta served at Chili’s! I had some a couple of weeks ago. So glad to have found this recipe!
I think it’s similar, I just don’t like spicy foods so I don’t add much spice to mine.
It’s been so long since I’ve eaten pasta. No worries. Our annual holiday party on Christmas eve is italian themed this year.
I love pasta! What an awesome idea for a themed Christmas Eve.
This dish looks so delicious and healthy. I need to make this for my siblings because they love shrimps.
It’s one of my new favorite ways to make shrimp now!
Oh my word that looks delicious! My son will absolutely LOVE your pasta shrimp!
Going to give it a bash this week sometime!
Thanks so much!
Awesome, I hope he enjoys it!
The great thing about this recipe is that I can use all kinds of pasta noodles and shapes in it 🙂
You definitely could use any type of noodle with this that you like!
Shrimp and pasta go so well together, no matter the sauce! This one’s really lovely though, and creamy is always my favorite when it comes to pasta sauces. Thanks for the recipe!
I agree, not sure what about it works so well together, but it does!
Oh my goodness! That looks really delicious! I wanna grab it right now!!
It’s so yummy, and not too hard to make either!
I love seafood. My husband does too except for shrimp, so I am always making shrimp dishes for my lunches! This is definitely going to be one of those!
Oh, I hope you enjoy it! And I’m sure you could also make it with other seafood if you wanted to make it a dinner together.
I do think the red bell pepper would be quite a bit sweeter and would go better with the pasta. But I am curious as to how it would taste with Green Bell Pepper.
I agree, we liked it with the red pepper, but are probably going to try the green next time just to know which is better.
Oh my this recipe looks so delicious! This is a perfect recipe for Christmas day.
We will be having traditional Christmas Dinner with my family this year, but other years we have gone outside the tradition, and yes, this would be a great dinner to try for the holidays. I hadn’t even thought about that!
This looks delicious and amazing and I am definitely making this recipe! I love shrimp and I love creamy shrimp pastas! YUM.
I hope you get to make it and enjoy it as much as we do! We will be making it again very soon, it was so good!!
We’re the same, give me shrimp and creamy sauce any day and I’ll be happy! This looks super flavourful.
There are so many great flavors that come together in this. It’s definitely a punch of flavor, but so yummy!
Great pictures. On each of your recipes you do such a great job with the pictures. This one especially looks tasty.
Thank you! I have to give credit to my husband. I do the process shots but he is more creative than me so has taken over all of the final shots this year with great success!
this sounds lovely. My husband doesn’t like shrimp but I would totally make this for myself for lunches. I find it fascinating using the water the pasta is cooked in. It makes a difference in flavor!
Using the pasta water was a new idea for me, too, but it makes so much sense! And you know I hate wasting things in the kitchen, so it’s a great way to give the water a second use rather than just dumping it all out.
I have never tried creamy shrimp pasta before but this looks really tempting. Will try to make this for lunch tomorrow.
It’s a great lunch recipe. It has enough substance to fill you up but isn’t so heavy that it will have you dragging throughout the rest of the day.
I have hardly ever had shrimps pasta. Would love to try it out. I am not a sea food person but pasta with seafood is always welcomed
I will eat seafood sometimes. I have to be in the mood for it. But adding it to pasta is a great way to add some flavor to everything without the seafood being overpowering.
I’m slightly obsessed over anything with shrimp so I am for sure going to try out this recipe. It looks so good, anything with pasta I love trying.
Shrimp is definitely my favorite type of seafood. Combining shrimp with pasta sounds like a perfect meal if you love both, so I hope you enjoy this recipe!
Ooh…this sounds perfect. I was just thinking that shrimp sounded good for dinner! Now I know what to make!!
How perfect! The pasta is a great meal with so many flavors combined together. There’s a little something for everyone in this recipe.
This dish looks like the ultimate comfort food dish for a cool night with friends and family. I love the ingredients added to give it that special kick..
It’s such a great meal for both cool nights and in the summer. It’s comfort food but also feels light at the same time, which is why we like it for a summer night as well.
What a great idea! I love Seafood, and came to live to the only European country without Sea coast, LOL
Just one question, Would this work without the cream? and what would you replace it for?
If you are looking for a dairy-free version of the half-and-half, you can try mixing butter with almond or another dairy-free milk. I do this for my tomato soup recipe since a good friend is allergic to all dairy. You would melt 1/2 tbsp of vegan butter, then fill with enough milk to get to 1/2 cup needed in the recipe and stir it together.
This looks really yummy, I would like to try this. I don’t know if we have Cajun seasoning here in Japan, is there a substitute that you recommend?
I haven’t tried it personally, but when I looked online for “cajun seasoning substitute” I found this recipe that you could try to mix together:
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon onion powder
Oh I love any kind of cream sauce! This sounds so so good! I wonder how it would be with chicken!
I do too! I haven’t tried it with chicken (yet) but I told my husband the same thing when we ate it!
I can eat pasta every single day. It’s so versatile and filling! I love a creamy sauce and can’t wait to try this take.
I agree, there is so much you can do with pasta. I hope you like this version when you make it!
Love me some pasta! I’ve had a dish similar to this in a Thai vegan place but with tofu rather than shrimp, it was super yummy!
I’ve never had tofu before, but you could probably substitute almost any type of meat (or non-meat) and it would taste delicious.
This looks absolutely incredible! I want to make this for dinner tonight! Love anything with shrimp!
Shrimp is my favorite seafood. And I love cream sauce, so this is a perfect combination. You should give it a try!
I love seafood, trying to eat more of it and cut back on meat and this is a fun new recipe to add to my recipes to try
Oh, that’s a great idea! I can’t eat too much seafood at once but we are trying to cut back on meat and have more meatless days, too.