Creamy Shrimp Pasta with Mushrooms

Creamy Shrimp Pasta with Mushrooms in a delicious homemade alfredo sauce. This recipe has all the flavors you want and need: shrimp, mushrooms, garlic, basil, crushed red pepper flakes, paprika, Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese.

I love shrimp and use it a lot in my recipes.  But not many of my friends make recipes with shrimp as much as I do, and I think for a lot of people, it all boils down to questions like:  Well, what can you do with shrimp? What food goes well with shrimp? What sauce to eat with shrimp?  To me, the best way to cook and eat shrimp is in a luscious creamy sauce with pasta!  And, don’t forget mushrooms – they go amazingly well with shrimp!

This recipe is the answer to all those questions, and it is also an embarrassingly easy recipe. Plus, this creamy shrimp pasta with mushrooms is gluten free friendly, as all you have to do is use gluten free pasta instead of a regular pasta.

Did you know that another popular name for this kind of creamy shrimp pasta is shrimp alfredo?  It’s pretty much the same thing – shrimp in a creamy cheese sauce!

So, HOW do you make shrimp alfredo?

So easy!  In a nutshell, use a large skillet, heat olive oil with garlic on high-medium heat, add shrimp, and sprinkle with spices.  Cook shrimp until pink on both sides, about 2 minutes total.  Then, cook the mushrooms in the same skillet.  Next, add 1 cup half and half, bring to boil and add all the cheese (1/2 cup shredded Parmesan and 1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese), with sauce on high heat, boiling.  Next, reduce to medium-simmer, and cook, constantly stirring, until the cheese melts.  Add a small amount of pasta water to thin out the sauce, if needed.  Your shrimp alfredo is ready!

This creamy shrimp pasta could become your next favorite dinner!

Follow along by looking at a couple of step-by-step photos right below demonstrating how to make this creamy shrimp and mushroom pasta.

First, saute shrimp in olive oil, garlic, basil, and paprika:

Then, remove the shrimp and in the same pan saute some mushrooms:

Next, to make creamy shrimp pasta sauce, add cooked shrimp back to the mushrooms, along with everything else: half and half, cheeses, more spices:

At this point, the question that often gets asked is: How do you thicken your alfredo sauce?

Make the alfredo sauce by bringing 1 cup half and half to boil in a large skillet (as described in this recipe).   Then, add about 1 cup total of shredded cheese (I used shredded Mozzarella or Parmesan, or combination of both).  Next, on medium heat, stir everything until the cheese melts and starts to bubble and the sauce becomes pretty thick . To make it thicker, add more cheese, while liquids are hot. To make the sauce thinner, add reserved warm pasta water (from cooking pasta).

I’ve also made this creamy shrimp pasta with gluten free pasta (I used brown rice fettuccine) – and it was wonderfully delicious!  The gluten free pasta had the perfect texture for this kind of sauce.

If you like creamy shrimp pasta recipes, check out these 2 recipes – they are very different from this one, but have both shrimp and pasta and a lot of creaminess:

Creamy Mozzarella Shrimp Pasta

Spicy Shrimp Pasta in Garlic Tomato Cream Sauce

 

Creamy Shrimp Pasta with Mushrooms

Delicious seafood pasta in a homemade alfredo sauce. This creamy shrimp pasta has all the flavors you want: garlic, basil, crushed red pepper flakes, paprika, Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese.  Mushrooms make this pasta really special! 

• 8 oz fettuccine pasta ((for gluten free version, use gluten free brown rice pasta))
• 1/2 cup cooked pasta water ((optional))
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 lb shrimp ((10 big shrimp or 20 small shrimp without shells, deveined))
• 3 garlic cloves (, minced)
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 8 oz mushrooms (, thinly sliced)
• 1 cup half and half
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (shredded)
• 1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese (shredded)

Cook pasta:

1. Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain. Reserve some of pasta water.  While the pasta is cooking, prepare shrimp alfredo sauce as described in the next steps.  

How to make shrimp Alfredo sauce:

1. Heat a large skillet until hot – add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and immediately add garlic and shrimp.  Cook on one side for about 1 minute until pink, on medium-high heat. Flip the shrimp to the other side, sprinkle the top of cooked side of shrimp with dry basil, paprika, crushed red pepper flakes, and salt, cook for another 1-2 minutes, occasionally stirring, until shrimp is pink on both sides. Remove the shrimp from the skillet. If shrimp is a little undercooked – it’s OK because you will continue cooking it in the sauce.

2. To the same, now empty, skillet add sliced mushrooms. Add more olive oil if necessary. Cook on high heat for about 2 minutes, occasionally stirring, until mushrooms become soft and release juices.  Sprinkle with a small amount of salt midway through cooking.

3. To the skillet with mushrooms, add cooked shrimp. Immediately add 1 cup half and half.  Bring to boil, add all of the cheese (1/2 cup shredded Parmesan and 1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella) – bring to boil, then reduce to medium-simmer, and cook, constantly stirring, until the cheese melts. Cover with lid and remove from heat.  Taste, and add more salt if needed.

4. Add cooked and drained pasta from step 1 to the skillet with shrimp and mushrooms and cream sauce.  Reheat on medium heat.  Stir well.  If the cream sauce is too thick and you want it thinner – add some pasta water in small amounts to the cream sauce (while the sauce is simmering on low-medium heat) until you reach desired consistency.  Season with more salt and add more crushed red pepper flakes and basil, if desired.

WHAT IS HALF AND HALF? If you don’t have half and half, to make 1 cup of half and half, combine 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup regular cream (by regular creamy I mean heavy, or whipping cream).

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