Prawn pasta

Recipe for creamy shrimp pasta with cream and tomato

What is better than a fast, flavourful and delicious prawn pasta on a busy weekday or as a weekend treat? This recipe for shrimp pasta with cream, combined with sun-ripened tomatoes, is the ultimate everyday winner. It takes under 30 minutes to serve a luxurious round of spaghetti with prawns that tastes as though it came from an Italian beach restaurant.

The secret behind the perfect prawn pasta combination is high quality ingredients. When you use juicy, top quality prawns, the whole dish is lifted to another level. We recommend using prawns from Coldwater Seafood.

Ingredients for the best prawn pasta with tomato

For this creamy and flavourful round of shrimp pasta you need the following ingredients (serves 4):

• 400 g spaghetti (or your preferred kind of pasta)
• 300 g prawns from Coldwater Seafood (drained weight)
• 2 tbsp olive oil (for frying)
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp chilli flakes (leave out if the dish should be completely mild)
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 250 ml double cream
• 100 ml white wine
• A large handful of fresh spinach
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• Fresh parmesan and basil to serve

How to make the ultimate prawn pasta (step by step)

It is remarkably easy to succeed with this dish, as long as you remember the golden rule: the prawns go in at the very end, so they stay juicy and firm.

1. Cook your pasta

Bring a large pot of plenty of salted water to the boil. Cook the spaghetti according to the packet until it is al dente (with bite). Save a little of the pasta water before you drain it.

2. Make the creamy tomato and cream sauce

Heat the olive oil in a deep pan or saute pan over medium heat. Soften the onion, garlic and chilli flakes for a couple of minutes, until the onion turns translucent, without letting the garlic colour. Add the white wine (or lemon juice) and let it cook away for a minute.

Add the chopped tomatoes and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Then stir in the cream and let your prawn pasta sauce thicken gently over low heat for another 5 to 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Toss it all together

Fold the cooked spaghetti and the fresh spinach into the cream sauce. If the sauce seems too thick, loosen it with a couple of tablespoons of the reserved pasta water.

4. Add the prawns last

Take the pan off the heat. Tip your Coldwater Seafood prawns into the pan and turn them gently through the hot pasta for 1 to 2 minutes. The heat from the dish is more than enough to warm the prawns through without making them tough.

Serve at once with a generous scattering of freshly grated parmesan and fresh basil on top. Enjoy.

Tips for the perfect prawn pasta experience

• Avoid tough prawns: prawns must never boil in the sauce. Because the prawns from Coldwater Seafood are already cooked, they only need to be folded into the hot prawn pasta just before serving.
• Prawn linguine or another shape: linguine holds a creamy sauce beautifully, and penne or tagliatelle work just as well as spaghetti for an easy prawn pasta.
• Garlic prawn pasta: leave out the tomatoes and double the garlic if you want the garlic to carry the dish. The same idea as our garlic prawns, served over pasta.
• More pasta with prawns: try the full cream version in our creamy prawn pasta, or the lighter spaghetti with prawns without cream.
• Pick the right prawns in the supermarket: go for prawns that are MSC-certified. That guarantees sustainable fishing, and you can recognise Coldwater Seafood products by the blue MSC label in the chilled section.