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
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…
This was easy and delicious, even though we didn’t have any parsley! Not too spicy either, for someone like me who has very little tolerance for spicy foods. Will make this one again for sure.
I’ve tried around 50 recipes on this site so far, and this is my favorite!
I’ve made this a few times in the past but eyeballed measurements and it was nice. Today I actually bothered to measure and ohhhh man it was goooood. The sweetness of the tomatoes, the bite of the red pepper flakes and the garlicky shrimp, mmm! I did throw in some crumbled feta in the end, which went perfectly with the other stuff. I love how this uses ingredients I always have on hand, and I love easy recipes like this one. Great recipe!
Delicious! I added a bit of lemon to the garlic, butter and oil, and topped the pasta with parmesan.
How much white wine should I add if I want o go that route?
I would do about a 1/2 cup and add it to the skillet after you remove the cooked shrimp.
I’m going to alter this a bit. I’m going to use cherry tomato halves and fresh spinach. No butter.
I can’t wait to try this. Here’s a slight criticism though. I know prices on things will vary but when you list 22 cents for fresh parsley I can’ just buy a little bit at the store so I have to spend $1.29 for a bunch. Maybe you could suggest other recipes that use the same fresh herb so I can make them later in the week. Or post how to grow your own fresh herbs year round? Thanks so much for the website, I just downloaded the app and can’t wait to get cooking this week.
To find recipes to use up your extra parsley, just type “parsley” into the search box up at the top right hand of the page. I’m also integrating a new ingredient tagging system where you can click on an ingredient from a list and it will pull up every recipe where that ingredient is used, which will be more accurate than just using the search box. :) Hopefully that will be done in about a month!
This was amazing !
This was amazing!!! Definitely going into regular rotation. I followed the recipe to a T with one exception…I added about 3oz. of cream cheese that I needed to use up into the tomatoes while it was simmering, added just a little creaminess :)
this was fun and stressful to make! one of my first recipes! I am at the tender age of 19. I added parmesan cheese at the end and liked it a lot. Also I didn’t have any garlic and had to put garlic salt in it instead.
My little sister said she liked it at first but then said she didn’t.
My Foreign exchange student said she thought it was really good.
My mom said it was pretty alright.
I. personally am jumping over the moon.
Congratulations on experimenting with a new recipe! The more you try the better you’ll get. :) And don’t ever let failures stop you because that’s just part of learning.
Parmesan is a good idea.
This was so delicious and easy to make! Thank you. I’m a new fan!
This was really fast and delicious! I ate it over spaghetti squash instead of pasta. I loved how buttery it tasted despite only having a tablespoon of butter (Pioneer woman’s shrimp scampi dish had 1 stick of butter!) I will definitely make this again. bravo!
Hey Beth! Love how simple this recipe is.
I tried it out last night – the taste turned out to be quite heavy on the tomato side, and I couldn’t taste enough of the prawn sweetness in my sauce. Is it supposed to be like that?
Hmm, mine didn’t taste super tomatoey. I suppose it might be either the brand of tomatoes, or perhaps just a difference in our taste buds?
Thanks a lot for replying! I’ll try it again, see if the taste comes out similar haha
You eat shrimp untreated faeces
I make this all the time for my family. I have two daughters under the age of 4 so they cant take a lot of spice. I add in a small bag of Parmesan Cheese and take out the Red Pepper Flakes and my picky eater LOVES it! Love looking at your recipes!