Quick & Easy Shrimp Pasta

Quick. Easy. Delicious.

Shrimp with pasta, a light sauce, and gobs of blue cheese.

This is one of our go-to meals when time is short, or I don’t want to go to the store, or I’m totally out of ideas of what to cook.

I try to keep a bag of frozen shrimp in the freezer (I like the uncooked, easy peel variety) just for these occasions. You can easily change up the ingredients to fit your own taste or what you happen to have on hand.

I’ve been known to add fresh spinach to this dish, or sundried tomatoes, or even white beans. Not a fan of blue cheese? Try goat cheese, or Boursin (SO good but SO addictive), or even good old Parmesan.

Options. We’ve got them.

Here’s what you need:

Shrimp, Pasta, Diced Tomatoes, Onion, Mushrooms, White Wine, Olive Oil, Heavy Cream, Blue Cheese, Parsley and/or Fresh Basil, Red Pepper Flakes (not pictured), Salt & Pepper

Click here for a Quick & Easy Shrimp Pasta Shopping List.

The sauce comes together in the time it takes to cook the pasta so start by bringing a large pot of water to a boil. You can prep the other ingredients, then salt the water and drop in the pasta when the pot is boiling.

Chop up an onion. Mine was huge so I’m only using half. You’ll want about 1 cup when chopped.

Want even more flavor? Toss in a few cloves of garlic too.

Mushrooms. I love them. For this dish I like to use Shiitakes but regular old button mushrooms would be fine. If you have shiitake mushrooms, just be sure to remove the entire woody stem as it is not good to eat.

Slice 8 ounces of your favorite mushroom.

Add 2 Tablespoons of olive oil to a large pan over medium high heat. Add the onions and mushrooms and saute for 3 -5 minutes until tender but not browned.

Add 3/4 cup of dry white wine to the pan and cook until reduced by about half.

If you like a little kick, add a few red pepper flakes to the pan.

Dump in 1 (14 oz) can of diced tomatoes with their juice. I’m using fire roasted tomatoes for a bit more flavor.

Cover the pan with a lid, turn the heat down to low, and simmer for a few minutes while the pasta cooks.

This is a very light sauce so I like to use a long pasta like linguine, spaghetti, or fettuccine. I have about 3/4 of a pound of pasta.

When the pasta is almost al dente (tender but still with a little firmness in the middle), add 1- 1 1/2 pounds of peeled and deveined shrimp to the pan of sauce.

Turn the heat on the pan back up to medium high to quickly cook the shrimp. Season with salt and pepper.

The shrimp only take a few minutes to cook. When they have turned pink and have slightly curled around the edges, add 1/4 cup of cream.

Let the cream bubble for just a minute to slightly thicken the sauce then turn the heat off or down to the lowest setting. Taste and adjust the seasonings if necessary.

I like to put the cooked pasta directly into the sauce to really coat it in all that creamy tomato goodness.

If you are a purist who doesn’t believe that cheese should go on seafood, look away.

Serve up a bowl of pasta and top with the shrimp, mushrooms, and lots of sauce. Then add some crumbles of blue cheese and top with fresh basil or parsley.

The cheese will melt over the hot pasta making a ridiculously good sauce.

Start to finish, you can have this on the table in 20 minutes – 30 max.

Tell the pizza delivery guy to come back some other night…you’ve got tasty shrimp & pasta for dinner!

Here’s the recipe:

Quick & Easy Shrimp Pasta