Super easy high protein 4 ingredient shrimp pesto pasta makes for the perfect weeknight dinner ready in under 20 minutes. Great for meal prep and busy nights! This recipe can be made super basic or jazzed up with additional toppings and ingredients. This recipe is both gluten free and dairy free too.
Home made pesto might just be the best thing ever. With your own batch of made from scratch pesto you can easily transform the most basic of recipes into something fantastic. And I love to make pesto at the beginning of the week to add to recipes every day, or you can easily freeze it in ice cube trays or small freezer safe containers to defrost as you need.
Home made pesto easily brings this shrimp pesto pasta to the next level.
When you need dinner on the table in under 20 minutes that’s fuss free, clean up friendly and makes for great leftovers this shrimp pesto pasta will not let you down. It also happens to heat up well the next day (and the following day) so makes for a great meal prep recipes. No complicated ingredients or fancy cooking techniques make this an approachable recipe for any home cook to try on their own! And you can easily get creative too and add your own spin by incorporating other ingredients into the mix.
Why this shrimp pesto pasta is the best:
- 4 key ingredients
- ready in under 20 minutes
- great for meal prep
- delicious leftovers
- easy family favorite recipe
- high protein meal
What’s in this pesto shrimp pasta?
- shrimp
- pesto
- pasta
- garlic
Optional additional ingredients:
- lemon juice & zest
- spinach or arugula
- sun dried tomatoes or fresh cherry tomatoes
- nutritional yeast
- toasted almonds or pine nuts
How to make my shrimp pesto pasta:
Start by choosing your pasta. I personally love the protein packed lentil or bean pastas. There are a handful of different brands making red lentil pasta, mung bean and edamame pasta, chickpea pasta, etc. My two current favorite brands are Modern Table and Explore Cuisine.
There is no need to just get straight carbs from pasta when you can get tons of protein too without sacrificing the taste. This Modern Table pasta has 11 grams of protein per serving, compared with the Explore Cuisine Edamame & Mung Bean pasta which has 24 grams of protein. That’s almost half the daily protein that you need in pasta alone. For those struggling to get enough protein in their diet, or aiming to get more from regular food pasta is a great way to sneak in more protein.
Get that pasta water boiling and add the pasta of your liking, reduce heat and simmer according to package directions; usually 10-13 minutes.
In the meantime peel and devein your uncooked shrimp. To skip this process purchase peeled and deveined raw shrimp or even cooked peeled shrimp.
Mince 3-4 cloves of garlic, enough for one tablespoon.
Heat a couple teaspoons olive oil in a pan, add the garlic. Cook until just fragrant, making sure it does not burn, about 30 seconds, and add the shrimp. If your shrimp is jumbo sized cut them into smaller pieces or cut them in half lengthwise, otherwise add them whole.
Pan fry for a few minutes until cooked through, adding salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat, add cooked drained pasta to the pan and mix. Add desired amount of pesto and mix. To brighten this dish up even more add a squeeze of lemon juice, sprinkle of lemon zest, handful of chopped sun dried tomatoes and a bit of nutritional yeast.
That’s all you need for this super simple yet delicious 4 ingredient shrimp pesto pasta.
Recipe Tips:
- To cut down on prep, purchase peeled and deveined shrimp (or even cooked shrimp)
- Watch the garlic to make sure it does not burn
- To add more flavors to this dish add other veggies, arugula, spinach, kale, cherry tomatoes, etc
- If you don’t have home made pesto use store bought basil pesto (the refrigerated products are better than shelf stable ones)
- If you are not dairy free feel free to sprinkle some shredded Parmesan or cheese of choice on the finished pasta
- If the pasta feels a bit too dry, drizzle some olive oil or add a bit of coconut cream (or heavy cream if not dairy free)
- To add more protein to this dish use a lentil or bean based pasta
Variations of this recipe:
- If you aren’t a fan of shrimp feel free to use diced chicken breasts instead.
- You can make this recipe vegan by omitting the shrimp and adding sauteed veggies – zucchini, asparagus, tomatoes, instead
- To make this recipe Paleo, Whole30, low carb and keto compliant replace the pasta with zucchini noodles or other vegetable noodles
If you love pasta here are some of my other favorite pasta recipes for you to try:
- BLT Pasta Salad
- Cauliflower Pasta with Pumpkin
- Vegan Meatballs Pasta with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
- Pesto Chicken Pasta with Sliced Almonds and Garlic Chips
- Creamy Tomato Chicken Pasta
Let me know what you think of my recipe in the comments below! What’s your favorite weeknight pasta recipe? Please share below!
Super easy high protein 4 ingredient shrimp pesto pasta makes for the perfect weeknight dinner ready in under 20 minutes. Great for meal prep and busy nights! This recipe can be made super basic or jazzed up with additional toppings and ingredients. This recipe is both gluten free and dairy free too.
- 8 oz Modern Table Lentil Pasta
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 pound shrimp peeled and deveined
- 1 tbsp garlic minced
- 1/2 cup pesto
- 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes chopped (optional)
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast optional
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Bring pot of water to a boil and add pasta & salt. Cook according to package directions.
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Heat olive oil in a pan.
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Add garlic. Cook until aromatic - 30 seconds.
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Add shrimp. Cook, stirring occasionally until cooked through - a few minutes.
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Drain pasta and rinse in cold water. Add to the shrimp pan. Mix. Add pesto. Mix.
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Optional: add sun dried tomatoes and nutritional yeast. Mix and serve.
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