Juicy garlic butter shrimp and pasta is the mixture your weeknight dinner wants! It is a fast and simple pasta dish which you can throw along with contemporary or frozen shrimp, ripe tomatoes, herbs, and penne in lower than half-hour.
My favourite selfmade garlic butter sauce tastes wonderful on every little 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 ladies’ dinners at Olive Backyard. Each time I’m feeling nostalgic for all-you-can-eat breadsticks, I carry that restaurant expertise dwelling with essentially the most scrumptious shrimp pasta dinner. It comes collectively quicker than you may 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 wonderful taste to something and every little thing it touches, from salmon to juicy shrimp and pasta. Tender child spinach and candy, contemporary tomatoes steadiness out the richness of the sauce. It’s good.
- (Nearly) one pan. Apart from cooking the pasta individually, you set the entire meal collectively, shrimp, sauce, and all in a single skillet.
- Adaptable. You’ll be able to simply as simply swap the protein on this recipe for rooster, steak, or one other seafood, like scallops.

What You’ll Have to Make This Recipe
Scroll all the way down to the printable recipe card for the total elements, 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 use complete 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. If you’re utilizing salted butter, style the dish accordingly and take into account 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’ve got them. Or, substitute the person herbs with Italian seasoning should you’d like.
- Shrimp – Peeled and deveined. You should use contemporary or frozen, medium or jumbo shrimp on this recipe. In the event you’re utilizing frozen shrimp, thaw them fully first.
- Cherry Tomatoes – Or grape tomatoes, chopped in half. Bigger tomatoes needs to be reduce into quarters.
- Child Spinach – Swap spinach for Swiss chard or kale should you’d like. You should use frozen greens right here, too, simply make sure to 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.
Suggestions for the Greatest Shrimp Pasta
- Salt the water you utilize to boil the pasta. That is a straightforward 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 needs to be “salty like the ocean”!
- Reserve among 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 should you can. Much 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 can be sustainably farmed.
Learn 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 must cook dinner it for lengthy, possibly a minute or so, simply sufficient to warmth it by means of.
- Uncooked, raw shrimp are grey in shade. These want longer to cook dinner, however one of the simplest ways to inform that the shrimp is completed is to observe it carefully. Cooked shrimp will kind right into a “C” and switch an opaque, pink shade.

Variations You Can Strive
- Recent lemon. Squeeze contemporary lemon juice into the garlic shrimp for a model of lemon herb garlic butter shrimp.
- Substitute shrimp. In the event you don’t eat shellfish, substitute the shrimp with rooster (like rooster scampi) or your alternative of protein.
- Vegetarian. Alternatively, skip the shrimp and meat altogether for a vegetarian garlic butter pasta with tomatoes and spinach. In the event 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 package deal instructions.
- Extra add-ins. Stir in elements like capers, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, artichokes, or anchovies to construct the flavors within the sauce.
Serving Ideas
Serve this garlic butter shrimp and pasta with a aspect of dinner rolls or focaccia, and a giant Caesar salad for sharing. I’d advocate a crisp, fragrant white wine, like Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio, to steadiness 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 package deal; 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 continuously, 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 little thing is properly mixed.
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Serve. Take away from warmth; garnish with pink 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 supplied as courtesy. Values might range in keeping with the elements and instruments used. Please use your most popular dietary calculator for extra detailed data.
Learn how to Make Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta
The garlic butter shrimp is similar to getting 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 alternative of pasta following the instructions on the package deal. Purpose to cook dinner your pasta al dente, which 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 in order 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 (should you’d like, drizzle in slightly pasta water) and toss that round till every little thing is coated. Garnish your garlic butter shrimp pasta with pink 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 want to heat up leftovers on the range to keep away from the shrimp overcooking and changing 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 advocate freezing the completed pasta, however so long as the shrimp you’re utilizing wasn’t already frozen, you may 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.