Garlic prawn (shrimp) pasta is one of the easiest, quickest kinds of pasta you can make. And it tastes sooo good! Save time by buying the already peeled, deveined prawns from the frozen section and you'll have dinner ready in 15 minutes! Pair with a side of refreshing red cabbage salad for a complete and healthy meal!
If you're in Australia, you know prawns and spring/summer goes hand in hand. This simple, tangy garlic prawn pasta is a great way to eat prawns. No cream, just light and delicious. Pair this with a simple crunchy salad and you've got yourself a perfect, healthy meal!
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Ingredients
Requiring minimal ingredients, this pasta really lets each of the ingredients shine. The flavours are just incredible.
- Prawns/shrimp it's important to buy uncooked prawns as we'll be marinating them. This will get lots of flavour into the prawns and you'll be amazed at how much of a difference just 5 minutes can make!
- Fresh parsley is a MUST in my books! It completely transforms and adds freshness to this dish. Make sure to only add them in the last 30 seconds to keep them fragrant.
- Lemon juice where possible, use fresh lemon juice. This will add that refreshing tang and works brilliantly with the prawns-parsley combo.
- Dried spaghetti is my choice of pasta, feel free to use any other pasta you like, such as linguine. If using fresh pasta (which takes minutes to cook), this dish will be done in 10 minutes!
Step by step cooking instructions
Requiring minimal prep, the part that takes the longest is really just cooking the spaghetti!
- STEP 1. Put the kettle on and marinate thawed prawns with minced garlic, olive oil and some salt and pepper. Set aside.
- STEP 2. Cook pasta according to packet instructions until al dente. Make sure to reserve ½ cup of pasta cooking water as it'll be needed later!
- STEP 3. Once pasta is ready, saute marinaded prawns in a large, hot non-stick pan for about 1 minute on medium/high heat.
- STEP 4. By now, the prawns are almost done and have started curling. Squeeze in the juice of ½ a lemon. Be careful at this point! As soon as the lemon juice touches the hot pan, it'll spit a little.
- STEP 5. Very quickly now (because we don't want the prawns to overcook), stir in the cooked pasta, reserved pasta cooking water for 1 minute. Add fresh parsley, salt and pepper.
- STEP 6. Turn the heat off. Mix a little more or until most of the pasta cooking water has been absorbed. Taste and adjust for seasoning as necessary.
That's it! literally takes 15 minutes max.
Serve with a wedge of lemon for those who like the extra lemon tang kick!
How to peel and devein prawns
If you have the patience and using fresh prawns, this is how you do it:
- Lightly twist off the head. If they're super fresh, the vein may come out too.
- Peel the shells and legs off the prawns. I always start from the legs and most of the times the shells come off together.
- Carefully, make an incision along the back of the prawn with a small knife. The safest way is by laying the prawn down on its side and cut the incision.
- Scrape off the vein with the tip of your knife.
Are prawn veins safe to eat?
Although the veins (which really is just prawn poop) are safe to eat, they're just a little gritty texture-wise. I would make the effort of deveining prawns if they're large in size (as the veins are larger too!). If the prawns are small/medium-sized and looking fairly clean, I don't bother. It's up to individual preferences really.
How long should you cook prawns?
Prawns cook QUICK! They are cooked when they've curled into a 'C' shape.
- For a large-sized prawn, peeled and butterflied (incision along its back), it takes about 2 - 3 minutes to cook.
- For small/medium-sized prawns, 1- 2 minutes on a hot pan is all you need.
Thank you so much for checking out my recipes! Let me know what you think and/or if you have any questions, drop me a note in the comments section below. 🙂
Happy cooking!
Gen
Love prawns?
Check out my Butter Garlic Prawns recipe, it is my favourite way of eating prawns! Super quick and easy to make and it's absolutely delicious!
Thank you for checking out my recipes! Let me know what you think and/or if you have any questions, drop me a note in the comments section below. 🙂
Happy cooking!
Gen
📖 Recipe
Easy garlic prawn pasta
Ingredients
- 300 g raw prawns peeled, deveined (Note 1)
- 250 g dried spaghetti or your favourite pasta
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ cup fresh parsley roughly chopped
- juice of ½ lemon about 1 tbsp
- salt & pepper
Prawn marinade
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to packet instructions. Ensure to season the water with salt. About 1 tbsp.
- Whilst pasta is cooking, mix prawn marinade with prawns and set aside.
- Once pasta is cooked to al dente, drain and reserve ½ cup of pasta cooking water.
- Saute marinated prawns with 2 tbsp of olive oil on a large, non-stick pan on medium/high heat. Cook for 1 minute.
- Squeeze in lemon juice, stir for 10 seconds then mix in cooked pasta and reserved pasta cooking water. Stir thoroughly for 1 minute. (Note 2)
- By now, the pasta cooking water should have been mostly absorbed.
- Turn heat off, mix in parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. I like to go heavy on the pepper.
- Serve immediately, with a wedge of lemon.
Notes
- Lightly twist off the head of the prawns. If they're super fresh, the vein may come out too.
- Peel the shells and legs off the prawns. I always start from the legs and most of the times the shells come off together.
- Carefully, make an incision along the back of the prawn with a small knife. The safest way is by laying the prawn down on its side and cut the incision.
- Scrape off the vein with the tip of your knife.
Delicious! I made this tonight after work without any fuss. Recipe was easy to follow, required simple ingredients which I always have at home....just had to buy the prawns.
🙂 Thanks Vicky! Happy to hear that you enjoyed simple this!