Shrimp alfredo pasta is made with sautéed garlic shrimp, tossed in a Parmigiano-Reggiano cream sauce with chewy ribbons of Italian egg pasta. It’s a restaurant-quality pasta alfredo recipe that’s so delicious, simple to make, and won’t leave you feeling like you need to take a nap. Sweet Argentinian red shrimp pan-seared to perfection is the ideal contrast to this silky, garlicky, and perfectly rich Parmigiano cream sauce that comes together in just about 20 minutes. The addition of a bit of sliced scallion and finely diced sweet Datterino grape tomatoes add a depth of flavor and brightness that some alfredo recipes miss out on.
Plus, I outline in detail a few pro tips for perfectly seared tender shrimp and for how to get a silky, creamy Alfredo sauce instead of a cloying, gummy mess. Substitute sautéed chicken or mushrooms for the shrimp in this recipe to make a delicious Chicken Alfredo or Vegetarian Mushroom Fettuccine Alfredo.
No Need for Expensive Seafood Restaurants — Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo is Easy to Make at Home
If you’re a fan of Olive Garden’s “seafood alfredo”, (or Red Lobster’s, Maggiano’s, or Romano’s Macaroni Grill fettuccini alfredo dishes), get ready because this recipe is way more delicious than any version you’ll find there and uses higher quality ingredients. Plus, for the cost of one restaurant alfredo pasta, you can feed your entire family by making it at home with this recipe instead. Everyone LOVES this no-fail pasta recipe (adults and kiddos alike), which makes for a hassle-free meal any night of the week. Keep reading below for easy techniques to make restaurant-quality Shrimp Fettucine Alfredo at home.
A Great Seafood Pasta Starts With Good Ingredients + a Few Easy Techniques
Around here, any kind of seafood is a house favorite and we tend to eat a wide variety of it (especially shrimp). There are lots of ways to cook shrimp at home and make it taste even better than your favorite restaurant. The key is a few easy professional tips and techniques to help take your shrimp, mushroom, or chicken fettuccine alfredo to the next level.
Use the best quality sweet shrimp you can find (even if they’re frozen). For this recipe, I love to use any shrimp from the red family because they’re a sweeter, fattier, and more tender variety. This may mean you have to buy quality frozen shrimp instead of sad-looking fresh shrimp (see below for tips on how to buy the best shrimp).
Splurge for Italian 24-month Parmigiano-Reggiano (or 16-18-month Grana Padano) cheese instead of American Parmesan if your budget allows. You’ll be rewarded if you do. But this alfredo sauce will still taste great, using a block of American Parmesan if that’s what you can easily find and afford.
Use high-quality extra virgin olive oil. Although there is a minimal amount of this ingredient used in this recipe, try to find the best pure Italian or Spanish Arbequina extra virgin olive oil that you can. There are plenty of other recipes you can use it in (especially those where EVOO plays a prominent role).
Use unsalted butter. I use a sweet cream unsalted butter made in Asiago, Italy for this recipe (they make excellent butter up in the mountains because their cows graze free-roaming on the steep mountainsides). A few excellent European butters you can readily find just about anywhere you are, is French Paysan-Breton, President, or Irish Kerrygold brands. American Land O Lakes or even store brand unsalted butter works well here too. Just be sure to use the unsalted variety because it allows you to control the amount of salt you add to any recipe.
Use a sweet heavy cream with at least 32% fat. We’re fortunate enough to have several local creameries in our area that produce delicious heavy cream and dairy products (from happy free-grazing Italian mountain cows). It’s extra buttery, sweet and creamy. Use what you can find and what’s within your budget (even if it’s store brand), but if you can splurge on an organic, or farm-raised heavy cream, do it.
Never add Grated Cheese to a boiling cream sauce or to a pan with the heat turned on or it will become stringy. Add the Parmigiano, Grana Padano (or Parmesan) cheese after you’ve brought the garlic cream sauce to a boil and already turned off the heat. Wait about 30 to 45 seconds and then add the grated cheese while vigorously whisking to incorporate it into the cream sauce. You will also be adding a bit of starchy pasta cooking water to the Alfredo sauce which will make it even creamier without being cloying or heavy the way mascarpone, cream cheese, or even butter, or thickeners like cornstarch and flour can be.
Use egg pasta vs. regular semolina durum wheat pasta (without eggs). If you want the best shrimp fettuccine alfredo pasta of your life, use egg pasta. It’s the type of pasta traditionally used in the one and only authentic Alfredo pasta originating from Rome (which is totally unlike this Americanized version of Alfredo sauce that we’re making here today). Use fresh egg fettuccine if it’s available where you live. Otherwise, use dried fettuccine or tagliatelle egg pasta noodles. Do not overcook the pasta. Keep in mind that egg pasta typically cooks in about half the time as regular semolina pasta. Cook it to “al dente” as it’s intended to be eaten. If you’re like me (and so many other Americans), you grew up eating over-cooked pasta your entire life. With knowledge comes way better pasta.
Never rinse cooked pasta noodles. If you rinse pasta noodles after cooking, you’re rinsing off valuable starches that allow the sauce to adhere to the noodle the way it was intended (and also any chance of executing a truly silky pasta sauce). These starches are what provide that well-rounded mouthfeel we all associate with a comforting bowl of delicious pasta. (more about this point below).
Do not cook the pasta ahead of time and let it sit in a strainer. Every second that the cooked pasta is sitting there, the starches that are 100% necessary for producing a great bowl of pasta (or even just a restaurant-quality pasta dish), are evaporating along with your chances of making your best pasta. Instead, time this dish so that the sauce is done just a couple (or a few) minutes before the noodles. You can always turn off the heat from the sauce and add the cheese just at the end after you’ve quickly reheated the sauce.
Always add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of starchy pasta cooking water to the final Alfredo sauce. This is an authentic and well-known Italian technique that produces the silkiest and smoothest pasta sauces and ragùs (and also the reason you should never over-salt your pasta cooking water). The starch from the cooking water serves two major purposes in achieving high-quality pasta dishes:
-
- Starches help emulsify the sauce which creates that perfect mouthfeel that we love so much about pasta in Italy and at our favorite hometown restaurants.
- Starches help the sauce fully coat the noodles and stick to them in a way they wouldn’t be able to otherwise.
Use a good heavy-gauge pan like cast iron, carbon steel, or even stainless steel to pan-sear the shrimp. If you’ve been unable to get a proper sear on shrimp in the past, there are three very easy techniques to completely remedy this issue and help you avoid accidentally steaming or overcooking them.
-
-
- Always pat the shrimp completely dry before searing. Once the shells have been removed and the shrimps have been deveined, pat them completely dry on all sides with a clean kitchen towel or paper towel. This will ensure that when the shrimp hit the hot pan with oil, there is no additional liquid (shrimp juice or water) hitting the pan creating steam and a watery surface. Dry shrimp = a good pan sear. It’s the same technique used for meats & veggies like pan-seared flank steak, burgers, and pan-seared veggies.
- Always ensure the skillet is hot and almost smoking before adding the shrimp. If you add shrimp before the skillet with oil is super hot, it will likely never sear properly without first overcooking the delicate shrimp.
- Do not overcrowd the pan. Do not force too many shrimp into the skillet at one time, or you’ll end up without a good sear and steamed shrimp. Cook the shrimp in batches if you need to. Leave plenty of room for them to sizzle and cook and get that crispness on the bottoms (which equals flavor). In fact, it’s the little bits of super-rich flavor left on the bottom of the pan (the fond) from a proper pan-sear that is part of what makes this alfredo sauce so delicious. Everyone knows the fond (those brown bits on the bottom of the pan) are flavor bombs just waiting to be released during the pan de-glazing step. Deglazing a pan with fats or liquids, take an average dish to exceptional.
-
Add a bit of freshly grated nutmeg to the final sauce. Do not be afraid of using whole nutmeg. And do NOT use pre-ground powdered nutmeg in this dish. It doesn’t taste like freshly grated nutmeg (at all). When freshly grated, this little spice can take your Alfredo sauce to a whole new flavor level. Ever been to Macaroni Grill, Olive Garden, or any other chain or restaurant that serves up your favorite creamy pasta? They use a tiny bit of freshly grated nutmeg to finish some of these dishes for a reason. It’s delicious. Although using too much nutmeg can ruin a dish, so just go easy –grate a little, stir and taste. Add more if you think it needs it.
Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo Ingredients
Sweet and tender pan-seared shrimp tossed in a silky delicious garlicky Parmigiano-Reggiano cream sauce is the perfect complement to chewy egg pasta like fettuccine or tagliatelle. Be sure to check out the tips below for how to choose good quality seafood even if your best options come from the freezer aisle♡).
- Argentinian Red shrimp (or other sweet shrimp)
- extra virgin olive oil
- garlic cloves
- unsalted butter
- heavy cream
- Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano
- scallion
- sweet grape tomatoes
- sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- crushed red pepper flakes
- freshly grated nutmeg
- fresh flat-leaf parsley
How to Make the Best Shrimp Alfredo Pasta Sauce
It only takes 3 to 4 minutes to pan-sear shrimp and the rest of the dish takes just about 15 minutes to pull together. That means this restaurant-quality shrimp pasta is ready in just 20 minutes making it perfect for busy weeknights. See above for the tips + techniques used to create this delicious shrimp alfredo pasta.
- Clean the shrimp. Remove the shells from the shrimp leaving only the tail attached and devein. Pat the shrimp dry and place them on a plate while you prepare the garlic-infused olive oil.
- Heat the pasta cooking water. Bring a lightly salted pot of water to a boil over medium to medium-high heat.
- Infuse the olive oil. Add the olive oil and garlic to a cold cast-iron or another heavy-gauge skillet and increase heat to medium. Sauté the garlic until just perfectly golden brown and fragrant and remove the garlic from the pan and reserve (You may want to add this back to your Alfredo sauce if you really love lots of garlic, but I do not).
- Sear the shrimp. Increase the heat to medium-high heat and just before the skillet begins to smoke, add the shrimp in one single layer (avoid overcrowding the pan) and sprinkle them with salt to taste. Do not move them once they hit the hot skillet. Let the shrimp cook for about 2 minutes, or until they turn reddish-orange and have a golden sear. Flip them over being sure not to move them around and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes more, until just opaque and cooked through. Remove from the skillet while you build the Alfredo sauce.
- Sautée the scallions. Reduce the heat to medium, add the butter, and allow it to melt while using a coil or other flat whisk or wooden spatula to scrape up the browned bits (shrimp fond) from the pan. Add the scallions and cook for just about 2 minutes until soft and fragrant.
- Add the cream and grated cheese. Add the heavy cream, and crushed red pepper flakes, and cook, whisking the mixture periodically for about 5 minutes or until the mixture has reduced and become a bit thicker. At about the 5-minute mark, the cream will start to show bubbles forming. At this point, turn the heat off, wait about 30 seconds and add the grated cheese while whisking vigorously to emulsify the two mixtures until you have a silky smooth sauce cohesive sauce. Adjust the seasonings with salt and freshly cracked black pepper (if using).
- Add the tomatoes and shrimp. Add finely diced tomatoes and shrimp tossing everything together to fully coat the shrimp. Set aside while the pasta finishes cooking.
- Cook the pasta. Cook the pasta to al dente doneness according to the package directions reserving a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water to add to the Alfredo sauce. Note, fresh egg pasta cooks in just 30 seconds to 3 minutes, dried egg pasta cooks in just 5 minutes, regular semolina (non-egg) pasta cooks anywhere between 9-12 minutes. Be sure to consider the cook times associated with the pasta you are using.
- Finish the sauce and assemble the dish. During the last 2 minutes of pasta cooking time, add a couple (or three) spoonfuls of the starchy pasta water directly into the sauce and whisk to incorporate. Strain the pasta and immediately add it to the sauce and toss to combine everything well. Sprinkle with a little fresh chopped parsley if desired and Enjoy!
How to Make Restaurant-Style Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo Step-by-Step Recipe Photos
What Texture Should Cooked Shrimp Be and How to Buy the Best Shrimp?
The shrimp in this Alfredo recipe should be tender and springy. In order to avoid rubbery or chewy shrimp don’t overcook it. It’s essential to cook shrimp just until it’s opaque and turns reddish-orange or pink (about 2-4 minutes total depending on the size and type of shrimp (Red shrimp cook faster than other types of shrimp and you can learn more about Royal Reds and the other varieties of shrimp here or just over here.). Also, the quality of shrimp matters. Sometimes frozen shrimp is your best option and that’s ok. If the “fresh” shrimp looks or smells old, opt for frozen instead. “Off” or old shrimp, will have an ammonia smell (similar to the smell of cat urine) and it can look “shredded” or leathery. Old shrimp also has a mushy unpleasant texture. Follow these general guidelines to avoid buying old or outdated shrimp.
- Buy shrimp from a reputable source like a local fishmonger, or mom-and-pop seafood shop.
- Buy fresh shrimp when available and always ask the employee which shrimp is the freshest and how old it is. Buy frozen if your fresh options aren’t looking good.
- Check all the dates of frozen or fresh shrimp and don’t buy shrimp with very old dates or you risk getting an inferior product.
- Smell the shrimp if they’ll let you and if it smells clean and fresh that’s a good sign, but if it smells like ammonia take a pass and buy something else.
- Check the texture and do not buy shrimp that looks leathery or “shreddy” which indicates it’s been frozen too long, stored improperly, or just old.
If You Love Shrimp Alfredo Sauce, try Our Spicy Shrimp Tomato-Alfredo Sauce (click here for the recipe)
What to Serve with Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo
Now that you’ve decided to make a delicious shrimp alfredo recipe, you may be looking for some starters, sides, or desserts to make this a true restaurant experience. Here are a few of our favorite pairings, but honestly this pasta is so delicious and satisfying, you won’t need anything else to go with it.
- Mozzarella-Parmesan Butter garlic toast
- Diver Scallops au Gratin (Capesante Gratinate)
- Delicious Shrimp Scampi for Two (or a Crowd)
- Perfect Pan-Seared 5-Minute Flank Steak to make it surf and turf
- Summer Starburst Vinaigrette with salad greens
- White Chocolate Creme Brûlée Cheesecake w/Biscoff Cookie Crust
Who Invented Fettuccine Alfredo Sauce?
The original Italian Fettuccine Alfredo pasta begins in 1914 in Rome, Italy with a pretty sweet love story. Alfredo Alla Scrofa restaurant owner, Alfredo Di Lelio, was taking care of his wife who’d just given birth to one of their children. After a difficult pregnancy and post-pregnancy illness, he created this simple nourishing pasta dish for his wife. This is how the first authentic Fettuccine Alfredo pasta originated. Using only, fresh homemade fettuccine egg pasta, room temperature butter, and finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, this pasta dish is prepared tableside in front of customers. Fettuccine is cooked for 30 seconds, strained into a deep pasta bowl with all of the ingredients, and tossed together in a rotational motion from the bottom to the top until the butter and Parmigiano become a sweet cream.
Pasta Alfredo was an instant hit and became a staple dish served in his restaurant and later made famous in America around 6 years later when Hollywood stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks dined at the restaurant while on their honeymoon. They loved the dish so much, that they commissioned a pure gold spoon and fork with “To Alfredo the King of Noodles” engraved in them, to be created in Aflredo’s honor which they have to him as an expression of their deep love for his pasta.
Mary and Douglas spread the word about this pasta to all of their Hollywood friends and Alfredo Alla Scrofa and Fettuccine Alfredo became a food mecca for the rich and famous visiting Rome. Everyone from Kathrine Hepburn to Jimmie Hendrix has dined at Alfredo’s restaurant. The rest is history. It was only a matter of time before a version of this pasta would show up in restaurants and home kitchens across America. And although the dish that we call “fettuccine alfredo” is not actually authentic, it’s incredibly delicious and deserves a spot on your pasta roster.
Let’s get started!
Print
Delicious Shrimp Alfredo Pasta Recipe (with Parmigiano Cream Sauce)
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2-3 servings depending on the hunger level
Description
Shrimp alfredo pasta is made with sautéed garlic shrimp, tossed in a Parmigiano-Reggiano cream sauce with chewy ribbons of Italian egg pasta. It’s a restaurant-quality pasta alfredo recipe that’s so delicious, simple to make, and won’t leave you feeling like you need to take a nap. Sweet Argentinian red shrimp pan-seared to perfection are the ideal contrast to this creamy, garlicky, and perfectly rich Parmigiano cheese sauce that comes together in just about 20 minutes. This is a recipe the whole family loves. Feel free to double or triple the dish for larger families or dinner parties.
Ingredients
- 1/2 to 3/4 pound Argentinian Red shrimp (or other sweet shrimp), deveined with tails attached, patted dry (300-500g)
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (14g)
- 2 medium garlic cloves, sliced thinly(6g)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (28g)
- 4 ounces (1/2 cup) heavy cream (120g)
- 1/3 cup (3 ounces) Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano, grated (85g)
- 1 scallion, finely diced
- 2 sweet grape tomatoes, finely diced (28g)
- sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
- freshly grated nutmeg to taste
- fresh flatleaf parsley, finely minced, to taste (optional)
Instructions
- Clean the shrimp. Remove the shells from the shrimp leaving only the tail attached and devein. Pat the shrimp dry and place them on a plate while you prepare the garlic-infused olive oil.
- Heat the pasta cooking water. Bring a lightly salted pot of water to a boil over medium to medium-high heat.
- Infuse the olive oil. Add the olive oil and garlic to a cold cast-iron or another heavy-gauge skillet and increase heat to medium. Sauté the garlic until just perfectly golden brown and fragrant and remove the garlic from the pan and reserve (You may want to add this back to your Alfredo sauce if you really love lots of garlic, but I do not).
- Sear the shrimp. Increase the heat to medium-high heat and just before the skillet begins to smoke, add the shrimp in one single layer (avoid overcrowding the pan) and sprinkle them with salt to taste. Do not move them once they hit the hot skillet. Let the shrimp cook for about 2 minutes, or until they turn reddish-orange and have a golden sear. Flip them over being sure not to move them around and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes more, until just opaque and cooked through. Remove from the skillet while you build the Alfredo sauce.
- Sautée the scallions. Reduce the heat to medium, add the butter, and allow it to melt while using a coil or other flat whisk or wooden spatula to scrape up the browned bits (shrimp fond) from the pan. Add the scallions and cook for just about 2 minutes until soft and fragrant.
- Add the cream and grated cheese. Add the heavy cream, and crushed red pepper flakes, and cook, whisking the mixture periodically for about 5 minutes or until the mixture has reduced and become a bit thicker. At about the 5-minute mark, the cream will start to show bubbles forming. At this point, turn the heat off, wait about 30 seconds and add the grated cheese while whisking vigorously to emulsify the two mixtures until you have a silky smooth sauce cohesive sauce. Adjust the seasonings with salt and freshly cracked black pepper (if using).
- Add the tomatoes and shrimp. Add finely diced tomatoes and shrimp tossing everything together to fully coat the shrimp. Set aside while the pasta finishes cooking.
- Cook the pasta. Cook the pasta to al dente doneness according to the package directions reserving a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water to add to the Alfredo sauce. Note, fresh egg pasta cooks in just 30 seconds to 3 minutes, dried egg pasta cooks in just 5 minutes, regular semolina (non-egg) pasta cooks anywhere between 9-12 minutes. Be sure to consider the cook times associated with the pasta you are using.
- Finish the sauce and assemble the dish. During the last 2 minutes of pasta cooking time, add a couple (or three) spoonfuls of the starchy pasta water directly into the sauce and whisk to incorporate. Strain the pasta and immediately add it to the sauce and toss to combine everything well. Sprinkle with a little fresh chopped parsley if desired and Enjoy!
Notes
*See all detailed techniques and tips within the main post, but here are a few to get you started.
- Slice the garlic instead of finely mincing or pressing which allows it to infuse the olive oil but keeps it from burning. Slicing it paper-thin allows you to quickly impart a lot of garlic flavor into the olive oil and makes it easier to remove it from the skillet before turning up the heat to cook the shrimp. Burnt garlic can ruin a dish.
- If you want even more garlicky flavor in your sauce, add the toasted fried garlic back to the skillet after you’ve added the cream and continue with the recipe.
- If you want to add a bit of white wine to the Alfredo sauce, add approximately 1-2 tablespoons (14-28g) of dry white wine to the pan after the scallions have cooked for about 2 minutes and before you add the cream. Allow the wine to cook for about 3 minutes while you whisk to de-glaze the pan and pick up all of those delicious shrimp bits from the bottom of the pan. This will unlock even more flavor and allow the wine to partially evaporate.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Skillet
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2 to 1/3 of the dish
Best Shrimp Ever!!!