Juicy garlic butter shrimp and pasta is the mixture your weeknight dinner wants! It is a fast and simple pasta dish you can throw along with contemporary or frozen shrimp, ripe tomatoes, herbs, and penne in lower than half-hour.
My favourite home made garlic butter sauce tastes superb on every thing from shrimp to garlic butter rooster and steak bites. Simply wait till you’ve tossed it along with your favourite pasta!

My garlic butter shrimp pasta recipe has tender, juicy shrimp cooked in a savory sauce with herbs, garlic (in fact), and loads of butter. Toss in contemporary cherry tomatoes and spinach, and it’s able to serve!
Garlic butter shrimp pasta at all times jogs my memory of women’ dinners at Olive Backyard. At any time when I’m feeling nostalgic for all-you-can-eat breadsticks, I carry that restaurant expertise residence with essentially the most scrumptious shrimp pasta dinner. It comes collectively sooner than you possibly can say zuppa Toscana (one other OG favourite, thoughts you).
Causes to Love This Buttery Garlic Shrimp Pasta
- Dinner in half-hour. Or much less. It doesn’t get higher than that for a weeknight meal!
- Recent but buttery flavors. Garlic butter brings superb taste to something and every thing it touches, from salmon to juicy shrimp and pasta. Tender child spinach and candy, contemporary tomatoes stability out the richness of the sauce. It’s excellent.
- (Virtually) one pan. Other than cooking the pasta individually, you set the entire meal collectively, shrimp, sauce, and all in a single skillet.
- Adaptable. You may simply as simply swap the protein on this recipe for rooster, steak, or one other seafood, like scallops.


What You’ll Must Make This Recipe
Scroll right down to the printable recipe card for the total components, quantities, and recipe particulars.
- Pasta – Nearly any pasta will work on this recipe. I discover the garlicky butter sauce clings properly to penne, however you could possibly additionally use rigatoni, cavatappi, linguine, and even crammed pastas like ravioli and cheese tortellini. You should utilize entire wheat, common, or gluten-free pasta.
- Butter – Since there’s fairly a little bit of butter on this recipe, unsalted is greatest, as salted butter dangers the sauce being a bit too salty. In case you are utilizing salted butter, style the dish accordingly and think about much less added salt.
- Garlic – Please, please use contemporary garlic within the sauce! The flavour of jarred or powdered garlic simply doesn’t examine.
- Dried Parsley and Oregano – Be at liberty to make use of their contemporary counterparts when you have them. Or, substitute the person herbs with Italian seasoning if you happen to’d like.
- Shrimp – Peeled and deveined. You should utilize contemporary or frozen, medium or jumbo shrimp on this recipe. In case you’re utilizing frozen shrimp, thaw them utterly first.
- Cherry Tomatoes – Or grape tomatoes, chopped in half. Bigger tomatoes must be reduce into quarters.
- Child Spinach – Swap spinach for Swiss chard or kale if you happen to’d like. You should utilize frozen greens right here, too, simply be sure you thaw and drain them.
- Recent Basil – Dried basil will work, however I at all times attempt to use contemporary after I can. The flavour stands out a lot extra! You’ll want about 3x the quantity of dried basil as contemporary.
Ideas for the Greatest Shrimp Pasta
- Salt the water you utilize to boil the pasta. That is a simple trick for flavorful, well-seasoned pasta. Merely stir 2-3 heaping spoonfuls of kosher salt into the boiling water earlier than you cook dinner the pasta. To paraphrase the Italians, it must be “salty like the ocean”!
- Reserve a number of the pasta water. Talking of pasta water, don’t drain your pasta earlier than scooping out about ½ cup of the leftover pasta water and setting it apart. Including a splash of starchy water to the sauce helps emulsify and bond the butter, making the sauce thick and silky.
- Use wild-caught shrimp. I like to recommend utilizing medium to massive shrimp that’s wild-caught if you happen to can. Just like sockeye salmon, wild-caught shrimp have a cleaner taste than farmed shrimp. If wild-caught shrimp aren’t out there, attempt to search for manufacturers which are sustainably farmed.
Tips on how to Keep away from Overcooking Shrimp
The precise cooking time for shrimp varies relying on dimension, thickness, and whether or not it’s been pre-cooked in any respect.
- Pre-cooked shrimp will already be pink. On this case, you received’t have to cook dinner it for lengthy, perhaps a minute or so, simply sufficient to warmth it via.
- Uncooked, raw shrimp are grey in shade. These want longer to cook dinner, however the easiest way to inform that the shrimp is finished is to observe it carefully. Cooked shrimp will kind right into a “C” and switch an opaque, pink shade.


Variations You Can Attempt
- Recent lemon. Squeeze contemporary lemon juice into the garlic shrimp for a model of lemon herb garlic butter shrimp.
- Substitute shrimp. In case you don’t eat shellfish, change the shrimp with rooster (like rooster scampi) or your selection of protein.
- Vegetarian. Alternatively, skip the shrimp and meat altogether for a vegetarian garlic butter pasta with tomatoes and spinach. In case you’d like, add further veggies like steamed or sautéed broccoli, bell peppers, onions, and so forth.
- Gluten-free. Make this recipe with gluten-free pasta. Simply cook dinner it in keeping with the bundle instructions.
- Extra add-ins. Stir in components like capers, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, artichokes, or anchovies to construct the flavors within the sauce.
Serving Recommendations
Serve this garlic butter shrimp and pasta with a facet of dinner rolls or focaccia, and an enormous Caesar salad for sharing. I’d suggest a crisp, fragrant white wine, like Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio, to stability the richness of the shrimp. For dessert, attempt these 2-ingredient Nutella brownies or a slice of peach blueberry pie.
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Boil the pasta. Cook dinner pasta in keeping with the directions on the bundle; drain.
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Put together the garlic butter. Soften 2 tablespoons of butter in a big skillet over medium-high warmth. Add garlic, parsley, and oregano; cook dinner, stirring steadily, for 1 minute, or till aromatic.
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Cook dinner the shrimp. Season shrimp with salt and pepper; add to the skillet and cook dinner for 4 minutes, or till pink; take away shrimp from skillet and put aside. Cowl to maintain them heat.
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Sauté the veggies. Soften remaining butter within the skillet; add tomatoes, spinach, and basil, and cook dinner for 3 to 4 minutes, or till spinach is wilted and tomatoes start to launch their juices.
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Put all of it collectively. Add ready pasta to the skillet with the tomatoes and spinach. Add shrimp to the skillet; stir till every thing is effectively mixed.
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Serve. Take away from warmth; garnish with purple pepper flakes and grated parmesan, and serve.
Serving: 1.5cups | Energy: 429kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 32g | Fats: 14g | Saturated Fats: 7g | Ldl cholesterol: 315mg | Sodium: 532mg | Potassium: 503mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 5930IU | Vitamin C: 30.5mg | Calcium: 241mg | Iron: 4.4mg
Dietary data is an estimate and offered as courtesy. Values might fluctuate in keeping with the components and instruments used. Please use your most well-liked dietary calculator for extra detailed data.
Tips on how to Make Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta
The garlic butter shrimp is similar to making ready shrimp scampi. You’ll cook dinner the shrimp and put together the garlic butter sauce in the identical skillet!




- Cook dinner the pasta. Boil the penne or your selection of pasta following the instructions on the bundle. Goal to cook dinner your pasta al dente, that means tender, however nonetheless barely agency within the center.
- Put together the garlic butter. In the meantime, soften half the butter in a skillet, and stir in your minced garlic cloves and dried herbs.
- Cook dinner the shrimp. Toss peeled and deveined shrimp with salt and pepper, then add them to the skillet with the garlic butter. Cook dinner till the shrimp flip pink and curl right into a “C” form, then instantly switch the shrimp to a plate so that they don’t overcook.
- End the sauce. Now, soften the remaining butter in the identical skillet. Add the tomatoes, spinach, and contemporary basil to the garlic butter sauce, and cook dinner till softened.
- Put all of it collectively. Lastly, add the cooked pasta to the skillet (if you happen to’d like, drizzle in a bit pasta water) and toss that round till every thing is coated. Garnish your garlic butter shrimp pasta with purple chili flakes and sprinkle over freshly grated Parmesan, and luxuriate in!
Storage and Reheating
- Refrigerate. Retailer leftover shrimp pasta in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 3 days.
- Reheat. I favor to heat up leftovers on the range to keep away from the shrimp overcooking and turning into rubbery. Heat the pasta over low warmth, including a splash of water or broth as wanted to loosen up the sauce.
- Freeze. I don’t suggest freezing the completed pasta, however so long as the shrimp you’re utilizing wasn’t already frozen, you possibly can freeze the cooked garlic butter shrimp to thaw and add to the pasta later. Freeze the shrimp for as much as 2 months, and thaw them within the fridge.