by An easy yet elegant recipe for pasta with shrimp and bell peppers, in a fresh tomato and white wine sauce.
It is chockfull of sliced sweet bell peppers, red onion and jumbo black tiger shrimp. You’ll find it fancy enough for those special occasions but simply perfect for any day of the week.
What pasta goes with shrimp?
Although I used spaghettoni for this Italian style pasta and shrimp recipe, you can use its less chunkier version, the classic spaghetti. But any long style pasta such as bucatini, fettuccine or linguine would also be a lovely alternative.
Spaghettoni are wider and thicker in diameter than spaghetti. They hold up wonderfully and are perfect for this more robust, shrimp and pepper sauce. However any pasta shape is just fine as well.
This shrimp and pasta recipe features white wine, but, you needn’t worry as the alcohol evaporates while cooking. What remains is a wonderful concentration of flavors as the sauce simmers while keeping the shrimp moist and succulent.
Main ingredients for an Italian style shrimp and sweet peppers recipe
- Jumbo shrimp: I used the 16-20 count per pound, quick peel frozen shrimp which I defrosted before continuing with the recipe.
- Pasta: I used spaghettoni but you can use any long style pasta of your choice.
- Sweet peppers: For contrast in colour I opted for 1 green and 1 red sweet bell pepper.
- Red onion: I love its deep red, purplish hue but you can substitute with a yellow onion if you prefer.
So let’s get started shall we!
How to make an easy pasta sauce with shrimp
- Start by prepping all the ingredients. Slicing the veggies and peeling the shrimp.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet.
- Sprinkle a dash of salt and pepper over the shrimp and sear in the hot skillet for 1 minute while turning once.
- Transfer the shrimp onto a plate and set aside.
- Add the remaining oil to the skillet and sauté the sweet peppers, onions and minced garlic for 5 minutes, while stirring occasionally.
- Toss in the sliced cherry tomatoes, basil, chilli flakes, salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes.
- Add in the white wine and allow to reduce for a couple of minutes.
- Stir in the seared shrimp and butter.
- Allow the shrimp and pepper sauce to simmer for 8 minutes while occasionally stirring.
- Drain the cooked pasta and toss the noodles directly in the pan with the shrimp sauce, if your pan is large enough.
- Or, you can transfer the cooked pasta onto a serving platter and pour the sauce with the shrimp and peppers directly over the pasta.
- Then plate and serve topped with a sprinkle of grated cheese, chopped parsley and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
How to twirl spaghetti
To make the pretty spaghetti twirls you’ll need a soup ladle and a large two pronged fork.
Scoop up a large forkful of spaghetti and twirl it directly into the soup ladle while twirling it over and over until all the noodles are neatly shaped into a nest.
One heaping forkful will yield 6 servings. This is just the right amount if you are serving a multiple course meal.
If you’re serving this shrimp and pasta dish as a main course, you can make three, slightly smaller twirls of pasta for each plate serving. In which case the recipe will yield 4 to 5 servings. But this will depend on how large you make your pasta nests.
More simple spaghetti recipes
Pasta and shrimp recipes are great for entertaining. Have extra shrimp chilling in your freezer? Then I know you’ll love my Lemon Spaghetti with Shrimp.
Or maybe you want to try some vegetarian spaghetti recipes with seasonal veggies. This Easy Zucchini Glazed Spaghetti recipe features one of summer’s favourite squashes.
How about a nutrient packed pasta dish such as this Kale Walnut Pesto with Spaghetti. It’s quick, light and fresh!
Or check out other delicious, family favourite pasta recipes!
All, are incredibly flavourful and delicious!
Have fun plating up a forkful of pasta and enjoy!
Have you tried this recipe? Please rate the recipe below!
Pasta with Shrimp and Bell Peppers
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves (minced )
- 1 cup sliced red onion
- 1 green bell pepper (sliced)
- 1 red bell pepper (sliced)
- 500 grams black tiger shrimp
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes (sliced in half)
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon of chili pepper
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 454 grams long pasta of choice (I used spaghettoni )
- freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (to taste)
- 1/3 cup chopped parsley
Instructions
Prep Pasta Water and Ingredients
- Bring a large sauce pot filled with cold water, to boil.
- While the water comes to a boil, prep all your ingredients.
For the Shrimp and Sweet Pepper Sauce
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet.
- Sprinkle the shrimp with a pinch of salt and sear the shrimp for about 1 minute, turning once. Then transfer the seared shrimp to a plate and set aside.
- Heat the remaining olive oil in the same skillet and sauté together the garlic, red onion, green and red peppers for about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the tomatoes, basil, chilli pepper, salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes.
- Add in the white wine and allow the wine to reduce for a little for approximately 2 minutes.
- Stir in the seared shrimp and butter and simmer on low heat for about 8 minutes
Cook Pasta While Sauce Simmers
- At this point your water should be at a roaring boil.
- Salt the water and add in the pasta. Cook according to package directions.
- When pasta is al dente, drain the pasta and return to the pot.
- Toss the pasta with al little of the pepper sauce.
- Place the pasta on a serving platter.
- Pour the remaining shrimp sauce over the pasta.
- Sprinkle with the grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and chopped parsley.
- You can bring the whole platter at the table and let everyone help themselves. Or, plate individual servings of pasta twirls topped with shrimp, cheese and parsley.
- Enjoy while still warm.
Looks so good Marisa!
Thanks Lynn! BTW your grand-babies are so cute!
Thanks! I have to agree xxx
xxx 🙂
Hubby and I are HUGE fans of shrimp. This looks soooo good! Those shrimp are just gloriously pink!
They do cook down to a very attractive colour don’t they!!?thank-you?
Looks so delicious. Love shrimp and pasta this dish really is wonderful.
It is really so simple and so tasty, everyone always requests the recipe! Thank-you xxx
Love this!!! and you have photographed the dish so well too!!!
Thank-you so much for your lovely comment?
Hilarious post Marisa! The pictures here are gorgeous and the dish itself looks incredible. I wish I had more confidence in the pasta department, beyond spaghetti and tomato sauce lol. This looks like something I could do!
Renee
Renee you whip up the most gorgeous desserts and I have great confidence in you my friend! It will be a breeze for you???
This dish is absolutely beautiful, and it sounds wonderful.
Hi Sheryl, it makes a delicious and easy meal to impress guests? thanks!!
I can’t speak for anyone else, but in my books, anything topped with shrimp is a must-eat. 🙂 (Especially if it’s prepared with both wine AND brandy. Hello, boozy deliciousness!)
Love the combination of heartier flavours in this sauce… it’s such a nice change of pace from the lighter, creamier flavours that are more commonly paired with seafood. There’s a bag of big fat tiger shrimp in my freezer that will probably be making their way into this dish very soon.
Hi Isabelle, I simply love your sense of humour!! I hope you get to try them….simple and yet so tasty? Thanks so much for dropping by?
Beautiful! A perfect summer pasta!
Thank-you so much Mimi?
A celebration of color, flavor and texture and if that were not enough it is over pasta!
Lol…thanks Bella, you always leave the nicest comments?
this looks soo good and I haven’t had any lunch until now…so I’m drooling 🙂
lol…thanks so much Anita 🙂
Oh wow!!! Now I’m disappointed I’m not even close to my kitchen . This dish looks so amazing!! I think I’ll have to invite company over this weekend just so I can make this fantastic looking dinner.
Enjoy Diana and thanks for dropping by 🙂
Marisa, YES – a 100 % yes to this lovely dish. Living right at the edge of the Arabian Sea we are blessed with seafood galore and we adore shrimps/prawns!!! Grazie mille, ciao Carina
PS – something must have gone wrong with my W/P connection. I know I started following you some time back but never received your notification in my mail. So, today I click “follow” once more 🙂 🙂
How wonderful living by the Arabian Sea!! Thanks for re-following, there must be a glitch with WP and others seem to have the same problem. !
Beautiful. I want to eat my computer screen. (Not kidding)
lol…thanks Sadie for all your lovely comments 🙂 xxx
My kids (9 and 5) asked if I could make this every night, they loved it that much! It was wonderful and I paired with a Pinot grigio.
Hi Shawna, that’s so wonderful to hear and am happy you love this dish as much as we do. Thanks so much for commenting!
Sauce tasted bland so I added 2T tomato paste, 1t sriracha, 1t Italian seasoning and a cup of pasta water. Then I added some of the Al dente pasta and cooked it in the sauce until done. It was delicious!
Glad you tweaked it to your liking, Rudy. Thanks for commenting.
With the combination of flavors, this is a delicious and exciting meal to enjoy. And I did! Considering the relatively short cooking time, the meal has a nice depth of flavor. I also appreciated the ease of prep. Looking forward to having this again.
Thank you for sharing.