Shrimp spaghetti (pasta ai gamberi) is one of the most beloved Italian seafood pasta recipes. It’s so popular that you can almost bet you’ll find it on the menu of the best Italian restaurants.
Imagine delicious long spaghetti pasta perfectly coated in super creamy seafood sauce. It's made without cream whatsoever, just like garlic butter shrimp pasta but the way it's cooked gives it an incredible creaminess without extra calories.
While, you don’t always eat at home what you get in restaurants, shrimp spaghetti is a loud exception. In fact, once you see how you can so easily replicate it at home, you’ll never have it elsewhere - for all good reasons.
Table Of Contents
What makes this recipe so good
- You have the best shrimp spaghetti recipe to start with. Just like Italians make it.
- Affordable. You don’t have to pay an arm and a leg to enjoy mouth-watering seafood pasta. At home you can make for a fraction of the price paid at the restaurant.
- Easy to make even for a big crowd. Shrimp spaghetti is a frequent choice whenever you want to do a simple “spaghettata” with your friends/family.
- You can do “scarepetta” in the pan! Mop the delicious sauce with a piece of bread.
- You have full control of the ingredients - from choosing the right pasta to adding an extra pinch of chili flakes or garlic.
Ingredients & Possible Substitutes
- Spaghetti - high quality durum wheat spaghetti (you can choose slightly thinner or slightly thicker versions) or linguine. Avoid bucatini (too thick for this delicate seafood sauce) and angel hair (will easily overcook and will not hold the sauce).
- Shrimps - fresh or frozen shrimps work equally well. Make sure you get the ones with shell on.
You’ll need to thaw the shrimps before starting the recipe.
Red royal shrimps provide the best, most rich flavor but you can use any kind you can find.
It’s a good idea to pick extra large or jumbo size shrimps as it’ll be easier to prepare them, however even smaller sized shrimps will do it will be just more work to clean AND eat them afterwards. - Cherry Tomatoes - using fresh cherry tomatoes is key. They add unforgettable light sweetness and light red color to the sauce. For this reason it’s sometimes called “rosè” sauce. Canned tomatoes or large tomatoes will not make the cut.
- Parsley - parsley fresh or frozen, you will not need much.
- Garlic - use peeled whole garlic cloves crushed with a flat knife to release flavor. Garlic should be removed when the sauce is ready. Only if you insist, add a small piece of chopped garlic once the sauce is almost ready.
- Peperoncino - a small piece of fresh peperoncino or a pinch of dried hot pepper flakes is essential to elevate seafood flavor (use it EVEN if you don’t normally cook with it - it won’t be hot but you’ll notice the difference!).
- Dry white wine - essential but hard to notice ingredient in all seafood recipes.
- Extra virgin olive oil - use high quality extra virgin olive oil since it’s also one of the key ingredients to guarantee the unforgettable flavor.
In the printable recipe below you'll find exact amount of the ingredients to make shrimp spaghetti for two. But you can easily double this recipe and even make it for a big crowed. Want to know how? See the FAQ section below.
How To Make Shrimp Spaghetti - Step By Step
Trim & Clean Shrimps
- Using a pair of scissors cut off a small of of the head that includes shrimp antennas and eyes.
- Do the same with shrimp legs.
IMPORTANT: Don’t remove the whole head as it adds so much flavor to the sauce.
Also keep shrimp tails on, both for flavor and visual esthetics. This is an essential step to make sure you don’t find shrimp pieces all over your pasta. - Run cleaned shrimps under cold water, pat dry and set aside.
Prepare The Sauce
- In a large pan pan add a generous splash of extra virgin olive oil, garlic crushed with a flat knife and a pinch of dried peperoncino/ chili flakes
- Let simmer on low heat for 1-2 minutes then add cherry tomatoes.
- Cook on medium-low heat for about 7-10 minutes, you’ll noticed how tomatoes first will have released their juices and than it slowly starts to slightly thicken.
IMPORTANT: Don’t let the tomatoes dry! If this happens add a splash of water.
- Increase the heat to high and add previously cleaned shrimps. Toss them in the pan for a few minutes then add white wine.
- Keeping the heat on high and stir. Wait till the wine has evaporated and the sauce starts to thicken. Add fresh parsley and give one final toss in the pan.
As a result you should still have liquid rosè sauce in the pan but it will be slightly thickened (see photo). - Taste for salt. Likely you won't need any as shrimp are naturally salty. But you can add a pinch or 2 if necessary.
PAY ATTENTION: Never let the sauce dry. You need to have something to cling on to pasta (the sauce!). You can always adjust it by add a splash of pasta cooking water and extra virgin olive oil.
- Cook spaghetti in salted boiling water until 'al dente'.
- Reserve about 1 ½ -2 cups of pasta cooking liquid then drain.
- Toss it in the shrimp tomato sauce and add about ½ cup of pasta cooking liquid.
- Set on medium heat and let it simmer coating in the delicious sauce.
- Add more pasta cooking liquid if it dries out.
- It will take another 2-3 minutes for pasta to finish in the pan.
EXTRA TIP: If the pasta is too dry or still too much al dente, add more of the reserved cooking liquid.
- As a final result you should have super creamy and rich shrimp tomato sauce.
- Give it a round of extra virgin olive oil and serve immediately.
FAQs
While the standart quantity of spaghetti per person is about 3 ounces (80-85 grams) for shrimp spaghetti or any other seafood pasta for the matter, I high recommend going up to 4 oz per person.
Unlike meat based pasta, seafood sauce is incredibly light and so incredibly delicious you will regret if you make less!
Yes! In fact, it’s super simple and it will help you adjust the number of servings for this recipe in a snap of a finger.
For every part of dry pasta you need 2 parts of shrimps (by weight).
Example: if you use 1 pound of spaghetti to make pasta for four, beIf sure to have at least 2 pounds of shrimps (total weight). You can even amp that up to 3 pounds.
The quantity of tomatoes can be slightly variable. But aim for not less than spaghetti part but not more than shrimp part - about 1 cup per person.
If you’re making shrimp spaghetti for a big crowd, chances are there’s lots of food coming before and after pasta, like appetizers, sides and desserts.
In this case consider 2.5 - 3 ounces (70-85 g) of pasta per person. Following the calculation above, double the shrimps and x1.5 the tomatoes.
It’s easy to multiply the rest of the ingredients like garlic, parsley, peperocino flakes and dry white wine but you don’t have to be super precise.
The most important tip I can give to making shrimp spaghetti for a big crowd is using an extra large pan.
For example: for up to 4 servings - use 12-inch pan
For 8 servings - use 14-inch pan
For 10-12 servings - 16-inch pan (my go-to pan).
Love shrimps? Try Also:
- Shrimp & Zucchini Skewers - perfect for dinner or as a hot appetizer for special occasions
- Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta with Pea Cream Sauce - finger-licking good!
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Full Recipe
Shrimp Spaghetti (The Creamiest You've Ever Had - Without Cream!)
Ingredients
- 16 oz shrimps (450-500 grams)
- 8 oz spaghetti (230-250 grams)
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes , cut in halves or quarters 300-350 g
- ⅓ cup dry white wine
- 3 parsley sprigs
- 1-2 garlic cloves
- Pinch peperoncino flakes hot pepper
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt to taste
Instructions
Clean The Shrimps
- Using a pair of scissors cut off a small of of the head that includes shrimp antennas and eyes.Do the same with shrimp legs.
- Don’t remove the whole head as it add so much flavor to the sauce.Also keep shrimp tails on, both for flavor and visual esthetics.This is an essential step to make sure you don’t find shrimp pieces all over your pasta.
- Run cleaned shrimps under cold water, pat dry and set aside.
Prepare The Sauce
- In a large pan pan add a generous splash of extra virgin olive oil, garlic crushed with a flat knife and a pinch of dried peperoncino/ chili flakes1-2 garlic cloves, Extra virgin olive oil, Pinch peperoncino flakes
- Let simmer on low heat for 1-2 minutes then add cherry tomatoes.2 cups cherry tomatoes
- Cook on medium-low heat for about 7-10 minutes, you’ll noticed how tomatoes first will have released their juices and than it slowly starts to slightly thicken. But don’t let the tomatoes dry! If this happens add a splash of water.
- Increase the heat to high and add previously cleaned shrimps. Toss them in the pan for a few minutes then add white wine.16 oz shrimps
- Keeping the heat on high and stir. Wait till the wine has evaporated and the sauce starts to thicken.⅓ cup dry white wine
- Add fresh parsley and give one final toss in the pan.As a result you should still have liquid rosè sauce in the pan but it will be slightly thickened (see photo).Taste for salt. Likely you won't need any as shrimp are naturally salty.But you can add a pinch or 2 if necessary.IMPORTANT: If the sauce starts to dry out add a splash of water and extra virgin olive oil.Never let the sauce dry. You have to have something to cling on to pasta!3 parsley sprigs, Salt
- Cook spaghetti in salted boiling water until 'al dente'.8 oz spaghetti
- Reserve about 1 ½ -2 cups of pasta cooking liquid then drain.
- Toss it in the shrimp tomato sauce and add about ½ cup of pasta cooking liquid.Set on medium heat and let it simmer coating in the delicious sauce.Add more pasta cooking liquid if it dries out.It will take another 2-3 minutes for pasta to finish in the pan.
- If the pasta is too dry or still too much al dente, add more of the reserved cooking liquid.As a final result you should have super creamy and rich shrimp tomato sauce.
- Give it a round of extra virgin olive oil and serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Buon Appetito!
Gaby says
Good recipe. The correct term for eating sauce with a piece of bread is scarpetta (little shoe).
Svitlana says
Scarpetta is the best!