oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! This Spicy Shrimp Tomato Pasta has me excited.
I’m not a person that goes crazy over anything that has shrimp in it, but this Spicy Shrimp Tomato Pasta might be a game changer. It’s basically a scaled back Shrimp Fra Diavolo. It’s so simple and delicious. Did you hear me? SIMPLE. *dramatic pause*
What we have here is a really basic sauce made with olive oil, butter (for richness), garlic, diced tomatoes, crushed red pepper, and a little salt and pepper. It’s just that simple. The shrimp helps give the sauce a little depth and the crushed red pepper adds just enough zing to balance the richness of the butter. It’s perfect.
…Although, if you wanted to, you could add a little dry white wine to the sauce. It’s not exactly economical, but it tastes awesome and if you’re going to pop a cork to serve some with dinner anyway, you might as well add a splash or two to the sauce. Just an options for ya.
I already know that some of you will try to cut the fat in the recipe and if you do, I beg you not to skip the butter. If needed, just use one tablespoon each of olive oil and butter, but DO. NOT. skip the butter. You’ll hurt my feelings.
It’s perfectly okay to use frozen shrimp in this – I did. It can be thawed super fast by running cool water over it. Just don’t let the shrimp sit in standing water.
Anyway, make this. It’s perfect for summer. Nom nom nom.
Spicy Shrimp Tomato Pasta
Spicy Shrimp Tomato Pasta
Servings 4Ingredients
- 8 oz. fettuccine ($0.95)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 1 Tbsp butter ($0.15)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.32)
- 1/2 lb. peeled & deveined shrimp, 41/50 size ($3.50)
- 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes ($0.69)
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- Freshly cracked pepper to taste ($0.05)
- Handful fresh parsley ($0.22)
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the pasta, and continue to boil for 7-10 minutes, or until tender. Drain the pasta in a colander.
- While the pasta is cooking, add the olive oil and butter to a large skillet and place over medium heat. Mince the garlic while waiting for the butter to melt.
- Rinse the shrimp with cool water and allow the excess water to drain away. Add the shrimp and minced garlic to the skillet. Saute the shrimp and garlic for 3-5 minutes, or just until the shrimp turns opaque and slightly pink (no longer grey and translucent). Remove the shrimp from the skillet and set it aside until later.
- Add the can of tomatoes with juices to the skillet, along with the crushed red pepper flakes, salt, and some freshly cracked pepper. Stir to combine and let the sauce simmer over medium heat for about five minutes.
- When the sauce has thickened slightly, add the cooked and drained pasta. Toss to coat in the sauce. Add the cooked shrimp back to the skillet and toss to combine with the pasta. Taste and adjust the salt if needed.
- Roughly chop a handful of parsley leaves and sprinkle over top before serving.
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Nutrition
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Step by Step Photos
Start bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Add the olive oil and butter to a skillet and melt over medium heat. Mince the garlic while the butter is melting.
Rinse the shrimp under cool water and allow the excess water to drain away. When the butter has melted, add the rinsed shrimp and minced garlic. Saute for a few minutes or until the shrimp is no longer translucent.
They turn white/pink and curl up when they’re done. It really only takes a few minutes. You want to remove them from the skillet at this point so that they don’t continue to cook as you finish the sauce. Continuing to cook the shrimp will make it shrink up and get very rubbery.
At this point your water is probably boiling, so you can add the pasta. Boil the pasta until it is tender. I used fancy/expensive pasta this time, and the whole dish was still very inexpensive!
After removing the shrimp from the skillet, add the can of diced tomatoes (with juices), red pepper flakes, salt, and some freshly cracked pepper. The juices left over in the skillet from the cooking shrimp adds a lot of flavor to the sauce. Stir this together and let it simmer for a few minutes while the pasta finishes cooking. (This is also where you can add a little white wine if you have it. Maybe 1/4 to 1/2 cup.)
Add the cooked and drained pasta to the skillet with the sauce. Toss to coat the pasta in the sauce.
Now that it’s pretty much done, you can add the shrimp back in. Toss to mix the shrimp into the pasta.
Finish it off with a little roughly chopped fresh parsley and you’re ready to eat! So Pretty!
Oh boy oh boy oh boy…
Stumbled on to your website via MSN and boy am I happy I did so! This was the recipe featured and I tried it out tonight. Had to substitute chicken as my husband has an aversion to seafood. And it was GREAT!!! My one-year-old loved it, and was gesturing for more. This will definitely be a part of our meal rotation. :)
I made this tonight for myself & my family. it was fabulous! and SO EASY! I added Sriracha instead of chili flakes. loved the lip-tingling kick it gave! definitely something I will make again in the future :)
So simple and so delicious! I almost always add things to a recipe but I didn’t this time and it was perfect.
Made this exactly according to the directions and it came out great!
Love this recipe! This recipe has become has a staple as I am a college student working full time and I am terrible at planning meals out! Its so easy because I always have a jar of pre minced garlic, canned tomatoes, whole wheat linguine, and frozen shrimp on hand! However, I like to make two changes to it! Instead of removing the shrimp, I like to poor the tomatoes in with sautéed shrimp and allow them to simmer together to get more flavor! I also love to add to sriacha hot sauce to the finished pasta! Serve with some steamed sugar snap peas on the side and it is a perfect meal!
I can’t have dairy. I know you said don’t skip the butter but… Would it still taste ok. It’s so hard to find yummy stuff with no dairy!
I suppose it wouldn’t be terrible, but it definitely wouldn’t be the same. Whether it’s good or not is probably subjective. :)
Is it that lactose in dairy that you can’t have? If so, Blue Bonnet makes a lactose free butter that I always buy. Tastes exactly the same. I’m lactose intolerant and buy everythingggg lactose free.
My family and I LOVED this recipe!!!! It has become a part of our menu on a regular basis!!! I did used cooked frozen shrimp instead of the raw shrimp and I made it the same way and it turned out AWESOME!!! Thanks for sharing!!!
What would be good to serve with this dish? A salad? Rolls? Any ideas?
Yes, I think a big green salad would be great and maybe some garlic rolls.
Looking forward to making this for supper tonight. Just asking…but did you clean the shrimp? In a couple of the photos they still appear to have a black vein running down the back.
No, I didn’t. They were supposedly peeled and deveined, but I guess a few slipped through?
This looks delicious. I rarely cook with shrimp- how long do you think it would last in the fridge?
Probably about 3-4 days.
Super easy and delicious! I used fresh tomatoes I diced myself instead (I have a lot of problems opening cans, so I just decided to never use them haha) and it still turned out great, added extra red pepper flakes for more heat! Will definitely be making this again.
Made this tonight and it was so good I shared on facebook! Hubs loved it too! Used whole wheat angel hair pasta. Simple and easy and didn’t change a thing because it was perfect as is!
The recipe looks sooooo delicious! My SO and I are having some friends over for dinner tomorrow night and this will be perfect with a simple side salad and something fancy for dessert.
Do you think I could get away with frozen, already cooked shrimp? Just realized the ones I have in the freezer are pre-cooked “salad shrimp”.
Well, you could, but the sauce won’t have quite as much of a shrimp flavor. When you cook them from raw, they give off juice that adds flavor to the sauce.
Made this for dinner tonight. It was AWESOME! My family loved it and it was so easy. The hardest part was peeling and deveining the shrimp. Thank you!
Oh boy, this was so tasty and fast to make for my hungry family on a hot humid night (so kitchen didn’t get more heated!) I had some frozen broccoli florets so tossed them in when pasta was done, then drained. Pretty, yummy, and still enough sauce for everything – I love Beth’s idea of a bit of goat cheese and will try that next time. Oh yeah girl, you’re getting me quite a reputation as a good cook…! ;-)