Creamy prawn scampi pasta is a quick pasta recipe where prawn or shrimp is tossed in a garlic, butter and white wine sauce. Simple, yet indulgent, this recipe is perfect for date night or a quick dinner.
It's Monday and I wanted to bring to you an incredibly easy but indulgent recipe. I'm clearly not a believer in Meatless Monday which is why we see all kinds of stuff on this blog on Mondays. I know the start of the week is crazy for most of us, but we just need to take a minute at the end of the day and indulge a little bit. Because whew! we just got through the worst day of the week - or is that Wednesday because you still have two more days to the weekend? Ha. Can't decide. But this creamy prawn scampi pasta is really good any day of the week really!
We've had an incredible weekend, because I got a chance to speak at a summit in Jaipur about my journey as a food blogger, and hopefully, inspire other women to take a shot at doing what they love most. It was exhilarating, stimulating and really fun.
I kinda got back to an empty kitchen, but my freezer always has a bag of frozen prawns by ITC MasterChef that came to rescue this time. Recently I've been using frozen prawns a lot since learning how they can actually be better than fresh prawns, and the best part about frozen prawns is that they only take 15 minutes to thaw, which makes sure this whole meal comes together in under 30 minutes. Another great thing about using frozen prawns is that you don't need to devein them or peel them. Everything comes ready and cleaned which makes an incredible difference when you don't want to spend hours making dinner.
Key to a great prawn or shrimp scampi
The key to a great and really creamy prawn scampi pasta is the sauce. Its a quick sauce made with garlic, butter, olive oil lemon zest and juice and a white wine reduction that is finally finished with cream which adds a luxurious creaminess that feels both light and indulgent at the same time.
When making anything with pasta, the first thing to do is to make sure you salt the water really well. Because no matter what you do, extra salt while finally cooking the recipe will never add the right flavour. Also, with most pasta recipes reserve a little of that pasta water that you cooked the pasta in. The water already has the right stuff that you need to later thicken your sauce. Which is why both my aglio olio recipe and this one reserve some pasta water to use later.
Let's just say a piping hot bowl of this creamy prawn scampi pasta is always always welcome. With extra parmesan on top!
More Pasta Recipes:
- Creamy Sun-dried Tomato Chicken with Pasta
- Creamy Lemon Mushroom Kale Linguine Pasta
- White Sauce Pasta with Vegetables
- Chicken Florentine Pasta
- Pasta in Jalapeno Pesto
- Jalapeno Mac and Cheese
- Creamy Pumpkin Sausage Mac and Cheese
Watch Creamy Prawn Scampi Pasta Recipe Video (Step by Step)
Thank to our friends at ITC Master Chef for sponsoring this post, and making sure we always eat prawns that are super safe. ITC Master Chef Prawns are available across stores in Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Bangalore.
Creamy Prawn Scampi Pasta (Step by Step Video)
Ingredients
- 200 grams Frozen large Prawns
- 250 grams Dried Tagliatelle pasta or any other long strand pasta
- 2 tablespoons Butter divided
- 2 tablespoons Olive Oil divided
- Salt and Pepper
- 5 Garlic Cloves minced
- ½ cup Dry White Wine
- Zest and juice of 1 Lemon
- ¾ cup Cream
- 2 tablespoons Parsley finely chopped
- Grated Parmesan for topping
Instructions
- Transfer prawns to a bowl and cover with water. Set aside for 15 minutes or till they are completely thawed. Wash a few times with water and pat dry.
- Cook the pasta according to package instructions till al dente. Reserve ½ cup pasta water. Wash with cold water to avoid the pasta from sticking together and set aside.
- Heat a tablespoon of olive oil and butter in a pan and add the prawns. Sprinkle salt and pepper and cook the prawns for 3-4 minutes till almost cooked through. Transfer the prawns to a plate and set aside.
- In the same pan, heat the remaining butter and olive oil and add the garlic. Cook the garlic on low heat for a minute till fragrant and pour in the white wine. Simmer the wine till reduced (see video) and add the lemon zest and juice, and the reserved pasta water. Simmer the sauce for a minute or two and add the cooked prawns. Pour in the cream and simmer for a minute to let the sauce thicken. Toss in the cooked pasta and mix well. Season with more salt according to taste. Sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately topped with parmesan.
Notes
- Wine: I like to use a dry white wine like sauvignon blanc. Fruity or sweet wine don't work well in this recipe
- Frozen Prawns: Frozen prawns have an advantage of being deveined and cleaned so they help save time while making this recipe, with the same great taste
Ann Maria Job says
This was really good! Easy to make and creamy
Richa Gupta says
Thanks, Ann! Prawn scampi pasta is a regular at our place 🙂
Amanda Wirth says
Does anyone know the calories in this meal please?
Amanda Wirth says
Anyone know the calories in this meal please?
Richa says
Hey Amanda, I've updated the nutritional information for this recipe
Richard says
Which type of cream is used in this recipe?
Richa says
You can use cooking cream or heavy cream - either work.
Janine says
Wondering how this would turn out if cream is replaced with greek yogurt.
Richa says
I've never tried doing that Janine, but if you do, I'd love it if you could share the results here for other readers. Thanks!
Richa says
I've never tried doing that Janine, but if you do, I'd love it if you could share the results here for other readers. Thanks!
Joanie henley says
Where can you buy the MC food package in the instructions
Richa says
If you are referring to the prawns, these are available in India Joanie, but you should be able to use any frozen prawns.
mira says
Love creamy pastas! This one looks fantastic! Can't wait to try it!
Richa says
Thanks Mira!
maynuddin says
"creamy prawn scampi pasta (step by step video)" Thank you fro sharing this use full post on this topic.this is very nice post
Melissa Griffiths says
Oh this sounds perfect for a week night! So delicious and so simple!
Ron says
Creamy pastas are one of our favs, especially when they have juicy big prawns like yours has in it. We'll be giving this a try with our smaller shrimp and might also toss in a handful of frozen peas at the end of the pasta cook (it's a Swedish thing). I remember visiting Jaipur and enjoying a delightful Italian meal at the Jal Mahal. Jaipur is so full of things and places to visit. Thanks for the lovely post.
Richa says
Shrimp and prawns sounds like a fantastic combination Ron! I loved Jaipur too and I'm in fact going back next week with some friends. I'm glad you enjoyed your stay there!