Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta

Name: 🦐 Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 23 min
Total time: 28 min
Ingredients: 2 teaspoons salt (divided); 1 pound linguine pasta; 3-4 Tablespoons butter; 1 1/2 pounds raw shrimp (shelled & deveined, fresh or frozen); 2-3 cloves garlic, minced; 3/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes ((optional)); 1/4 teaspoon pepper; 1 - 2 pints grape tomatoes; 3/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning; 2-3 big handfuls fresh raw baby spinach; 1 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, finely shredded or grated (+ extra for plating); 1 Tablespoon dried parsley flakes; 1/4 cup milk

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Our Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta is the PERFECT, summery weeknight meal. Packed with flavor, this dish is simple, delicious and can be made in 28 minutes or less!

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👍 Why We Love this Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta
🛒 Ingredients
🔪 Instructions
💭 Tips and Tricks
👶🏼 Customize for Picky Eaters
❓FAQs
✂️ Make a Shrimp Craft!
🍽 Other Dishes You May Like
🦐 Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta

Note: If you love light pasta dishes, be sure to also check out our Quick Cream Cheese Pasta and Lemon Garlic Pasta dishes.

👍 Why We Love this Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta

Quick and simple- Like all of our recipes, this shrimp pasta can be made in 28 minutes or less.

Bursting with flavor! The grape tomatoes and red pepper flakes give this dish a unique pop of flavor that you won't be able to get enough of!

Always a hit- Both the adults and kids in our house love this recipe!

Light and summery! This dish is fairly light, depending on how much butter and parmesan you decide to use. It's perfect for a summer gathering with friends or family.

🛒 Ingredients

Notes on ingredients:

Pasta- we prefer a longer noodle, like linguine, fettuccine, spaghetti or angel hair.

Butter- a key ingredient for sure, but adjust the amount as you see fit.

Garlic- fresh or jarred is fine, so long as it's minced or finely chopped!

Shrimp- shelled & deveined, fresh or frozen. [See tips on thawing frozen shrimp below]

Red pepper flakes- optional, but we love the added spice!

Parmesan cheese- shredded or finely grated.

Parsley- dried or fresh is fine. Dried: 1 Tablespoon. Fresh (chopped): 3 Tablespoons

🔪 Instructions

Step 1: Cook pasta, setting aside ½ cup of pasta water once pasta is done. Kid Step: Taste! Ask kids to taste the noodles to check and see if they're done cooking.

Step 2:Cook shrimp in butter with garlic, red pepper flakes, salt & pepper until cooked through. Kid Step: Stir shrimp and watch it turn pink as it cooks!

Step 3:Add tomatoes, Italian seasoning and spinach, and cook another 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Kid Step: Kids scoop up the spinach, crunch it in your hands and distribute in pan. Watch how fast it cooks down as you stir!

Step 4:Combine shrimp mixture with the pasta. And stir in parmesan, parsley, pasta water and milk, cooking another 3-5 minutes until warmed throughout. Kid Step: Measure and stir in cheese. Little ones will love tasting the cheese during the process.

Note: If you want to learn to draw a shrimp with pasta, set aside a few uncooked noodles before you start cooking for this fun craft.

Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta with Tomatoes in pot

💭 Tips and Tricks

Pasta al dente!!! We highly recommend cooking pasta al dente because your pasta will cook a few minutes more when combined with shrimp and sauce.
Avoid pasta sticking! If your pasta is ready way before the shrimp mixture, rinse the cooked pasta in cold water in a strainer right away to avoid sticking.
How to best defrost frozen shrimp: Place shrimp in a colander in the sink and run cold water over them for 10-15 minutes.
Dry your shrimp! Dab thawed shrimp dry before cooking to remove excess moisture, which can impact searing.
When is shrimp done? Overcooked shrimp can be chewy...yuk. Shrimp is fully cooked when it has an opaque, pinky color.
For softer tomatoes...Add them to the pot earlier, when cooking the shrimp.

👶🏼 Customize for Picky Eaters

🍅 Keep it mild. If your kids don't like spicy food, simply omit the red pepper flakes. Garlic also brings some heat and strong taste to the dish. So, consider cutting back on the garlic too.

🍅 Serve raw tomatoes. Some kids may not like the texture of soft, cooked tomatoes. If that's the case, set some raw tomatoes aside to serve as a side veggie for your kiddos.

🍅 Set aside some plain noodles. My kids loved the shrimp but didn't like "all the stuff" on the noodles - I think they were referring to the parsley, lol! You may want to set aside some plain noodles before you mix everything together. Pull some shrimp pieces out of the final mix and serve them next to the plain noodles on your kids' plates. Then, you can let the kids sprinkle parmesan on everything.

❓FAQs

What is the best pasta for this dish?

We prefer to make this dish with a longer pasta, like linguine, fettuccine, spaghetti or angel hair pasta. However, any pasta you enjoy should work!

How can I quickly defrost frozen shrimp?

There are several ways to quickly defrost shrimp. According to A Couple of Cooks, frozen shrimp can be quickly thawed by placing shrimp in a large bowl of cold water for 15-20 minutes, occasionally stirring away clumps of ice. You can also place shrimp in a colander and run cold water over it for the same amount of time.

What can you serve with garlic butter shrimp pasta?

This pasta dish is great on its own, but a small salad or slice of garlic bread would pair nicely with the meal.

How can I store and reheat this shrimp dish?

This dish is best served straight away. However, you can store leftovers in an airtight container for 1-2 days.

✂️ Make a Shrimp Craft!

Kids can learn to draw a shrimp with pasta with this adorable craft! Turns out, noodles make great shrimp legs! Grab some paper, glue, markers and dry noodles...and get crafting!