Cajun Shrimp with Tomato Alfredo Pasta – a one pot dish of a simple and delicious tomato Alfredo sauce tossed with your favorite pasta and pan seared cajun shrimp. Dinner couldn’t get any easier!
Cajun Shrimp with Tomato Alfredo Pasta
Last night I was in the mood for pasta, as it often happens, so flying by the seat of my pants I made up this concoction with diced canned tomatoes which I pureed first, onions and garlic, some heavy cream and Parmesan cheese, of course. As I’ve said many times before, the best recipes turn out when you throw stuff together that you happen to have in your pantry and hope for the best.
But let’s face it, this dish really is two dishes in one. Cajun Shrimp and Tomato Alfredo Pasta, which if you’ve never tried before, it’s to die for. I decided to season the shrimp with some cajun seasoning and cook it in a skillet. It’s something I do often with shrimp as I really love cajun spice and find that it’s perfect on shrimp. Never tried a tomato Alfredo sauce? Well you’re about to be a convert.
What Is Cajun?
When we’re talking about food, Cajun is usually referring to a spice blend which originated from Acadians living in Louisiana. Dry Cajun spice blend is made of paprika, cayenne pepper, herbs, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper.
Ingredients In Cajun Shrimp with Tomato Alfredo Pasta
- Pasta – Any dry pasta you’d like! Like fettuccine, linguine, mafalda, bow ties, whatever!
- Shrimp – Large shrimp with the shells removed.
- Cajun – I’m using store bought cajun seasoning today, I consider this spice blend a staple in my pantry!
- Olive oil and butter – Combining these 2 to brown our ingredients gives us all that brown butter deliciousness with none of that burnt butter bitterness.
- Onion – 1 small onion chopped up to be sautéed.
- Garlic – Fresh is always best, if jarred is all you have on hand just keep in mind that 1 1/2 teaspoons equals 1 fresh clove.
- Diced Tomatoes – 1 entire cans worth.
- Cheese – Fresh Parmesan cheese grated up and sprinkled liberally!
- Cream – I used heavy cream today but feel free to use a different fat percentage if you’d like to make this dish lighter.
- Seasoning – Salt and pepper to taste.
- Basil – Fresh leaves chopped up.
How To Make Cajun Shrimp with Tomato Alfredo Pasta
- Cook the pasta: according to package instructions.
- Prep the shrimp: While the pasta is cooking, season the shrimp with the cajun seasoning. In a large skillet heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the shrimp and cook on both sides until pink, it shouldn’t take more than a couple minutes. Remove the shrimp from the skillet and set aside.
- Saute the sauteables: Add the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil and the butter to the skillet and heat until butter melts over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and garlic, then cook for about 3 minutes until the onion becomes soft and translucent.
- Create the sauce: While the onion is cooking pour the tomatoes in a food processor or blender and pulse until smooth. Add the tomatoes to the skillet, bring to a boil then turn down the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Finish the dish: Add the heavy cream and Parmesan cheese to the skillet, and cook for another 5 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. Add the cooked pasta and shrimp to the skillet and toss everything well together.
- Garnish: with fresh basil and more Parmesan cheese if preferred, and serve immediately.
How To Make Your Own Cajun Seasoning
Want to make your own jar of Cajun seasoning? This is what you’ll need, simply combine all of these spices together and you’ve got your own cajun seasoning:
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 2 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp cayenne pepper (feel free to use more or less depending on your spice tolerance)
- 1.5 tbsp dried oregano
- 1.5 tbsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
How To Prep Your Shrimp
You’ll want to start at the small legs on the shrimp. Simply pull those off and the rest of the shell should start to release. Pull off the rest of the shell – but keep the tails on. To remove the vein along the top simply cut a slit with a small knife down the middle of the shrimp’s back before removing the black vein with the tip of your knife.
Alternatives
- Instead of shrimp you can use sausage, chicken or ground beef.
- Rather than diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes will work beautifully
- To cut down on calories you can use half and half or a light cream.
- I used a type of pasta that’s shaped like calamari. Since that’s not super easy to find, you can use any type of pasta that you like.
Storing Leftover Alfredo Pasta
This recipe will last well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 – 4 days. If you’d like to freeze this recipe you may want to only make the sauce and store for up to 3 months, thaw in the fridge over night and make the pasta fresh as needed.
More Must Try Recipes:
- Cajun Shrimp Tacos with Mango Salsa
- Crispy Cajun Shrimp Fettuccine
- Cajun Shrimp with Tomato Alfredo Pasta
- Creamy Cajun Pastalaya
- Cajun Meatballs in Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce
- Shrimp Scampi
- Cajun Honey Pork Tenderloin
- Penne Arrabbiata
- Cajun Chicken Pasta
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Cajun Shrimp with Tomato Alfredo Pasta
Equipment
Ingredients
- 12 oz pasta uncooked, such as fettuccine
- 12 oz large shrimp uncooked, shells removed
- 1 tbsp cajun seasoning
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 15 oz diced tomatoes (1 can)
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 oz Parmesan cheese grated
- 1/4 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/4 tsp pepper or to taste
- 3 leaves fresh basil chopped for garnish
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to package instructions.
- While the pasta is cooking, season the shrimp with the cajun seasoning. In a large skillet heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the shrimp and cook on both sides until pink, it shouldn't take more than a couple minutes. Remove the shrimp from the skillet and set aside.
- Add the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil and the butter to the skillet and heat until butter melts over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and garlic, then cook for about 3 minutes until the onion becomes soft and translucent.
- While the onion is cooking pour the tomatoes in a food processor or blender and pulse until smooth. Add the tomatoes to the skillet, bring to a boil then turn down the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the heavy cream and Parmesan cheese to the skillet, and cook for another 5 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
- Add the cooked pasta and shrimp to the skillet and toss everything well together.
- Garnish with fresh basil and more Parmesan cheese if preferred, and serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
- I used a type of pasta that's shaped like calamari. Since that's not super easy to find, you can use any type of pasta that you like.
- You can used crushed tomatoes instead of diced.
- To cut down on calories you can use half and half or a light cream.
- You can use sausage or ground beef if you don't like shrimp.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Rae says
2 words…The Bomb! Tweaked it just a tad used Italian seasoned diced tomatoes and stewed. It’s a keeper…thank you!
Larry H McCurley says
I doubled the recipe except for the pasta. I also used tomato’s with green Chile’s since it was all I had on hand. Family loved it. I have a very picky 12 year old who went back for 3 helpings and I caught my oldest catching a bedtime snack of it. Will definitely be repeating this one. Have you tried a dash of Cayenne with it.
jo says
I haven’t but that sounds like a great idea! Happy to hear you guys enjoyed this recipe!
Nicole says
Made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious!
Briana says
Can I used crushed tomatoes instead of diced or will that mess up the consistency?
Joanna Cismaru says
I think crushed tomatoes will work just fine.
Sanna says
There are ingredients that are imported by necessity, but are generally perceived as expensive, fussy and snobbish. Add to that how 99% of the time they’re prepared wrong, and the reputation is in tatters.
With this recipe, I finally convinced my 61-year old mother that shrimp is not the root of all evil! In fact, she and I both loved this!
Myra K. says
This was wonderful, even though I didn’t have Cajun seasoning (smoked paprika, red pepper flakes, and seasoning salt was a great substitute) the flavor was excellent. This satisfied my tomato cravings. I do have a question; could zucchhini noodles from a spiralizer be a good substitute for the pasta noodles to cut carbs?
Joanna Cismaru says
Yes, absolute, but I’d make a bit less sauce because pasta soaks up that sauce whereas zucchini noodles won’t really soak up much sauce, but yeah great idea!
Carol G says
Jo, I made this tonight and oh we loved it!!! I loved the amount of spice it had but husband gave it more of a kick with cayenne. He told me this one is a keeper. Thank you so much!!!!!!
Joanna Cismaru says
Glad you guys liked it Carol!
Michelle says
I am gonna make this dish. What about adding sausage. I don’t like to alter people’s recipes, but the addition of sausage sounds awesome.
Thanks for sharing!
Michelle
Joanna Cismaru says
Sausage would work great here, some spicy chorizo? 🙂
Carol G says
This recipe looks delicious!! Would it also work with fat free half and half?
Joanna Cismaru says
Yes, absolutely!