Creamy Cajun Shrimp Pasta with Sausage is easy to make weeknight one pot pasta dish! With only 40 minutes of total work, this shrimp pasta dinner recipe is simple, fast and delicious!
Quick and easy dinner is always something I have on my mind. I happen to love shrimp and sausage combination because it’s so flavorful and delicious. Besides, there’s nothing better than having a restaurant quality pasta dish on the table for my family and friends! This creamy pasta dish disappeared quickly from our dinner table!
CREAMY SHRIMP PASTA:
If there is one thing I can always count on my family to eat it is my Cajun food. We love this traditional Southern shrimp pasta recipe in our house! I always make it with large shrimp and smoked sausage. By the way, I like to use Andouille sausage. We recently had some company over for dinner and this creamy sausage pasta became a huge hit! It is a family favorite Southern shrimp pasta recipe! This easy sausage pasta recipe is so vibrant with flavor! And I like that this delicious, creamy shrimp pasta is ready in less than 40 minutes!
Because the Cajun sauce is homemade, it is so much better than anything in a jar! And so incredibly simple! The cooking time for this creamy shrimp pasta recipe is only 40 minutes as it all comes together pretty quickly. And if you enjoy eating Cajun as much as we do, you might also like this Cajun themed Instant Pot Chicken and Rice. Yes, I made it Cajun as well!
What kind of Cajun seasoning should I use
This is Sodium Free Cajun seasoning that I like to use just because it gives me control over the amount of salt I am consuming. Be aware that various Cajun seasoning brands contain significant amount of sodium. Therefore always be sure to check the Nutrition Facts on the spice blends to see if they contain sodium. I have seen blends with as much as 300 mg sodium in ¼ teaspoon. Please choose a blend with little or no salt as the one I listed above.
There are many other low sodium options for Cajun seasoning in your local grocery stores! Just be sure to check the labels!
What is closest to Cajun seasoning?
Definitely Creole seasoning. To recreate the heat found in many Cajun seasoning blends, what you can do is simply add cayenne pepper to the blend or use fresh or dried chili peppers elsewhere in the recipe. This way you can use Creole seasoning as a 1:1 substitute for Cajun seasoning.
I like to use this Creole Seasoning: Tony Chachere’s Original Creole seasoning
HOW TO MAKE CAJUN SHRIMP SAUSAGE PASTA:
- You will start by adding olive oil in a large skillet.
- Then you will cook your seasoned shrimp until browned. Remove it from the pan.
- Next you will add sliced sausage to the same pan and brown it. Remove it from the pan as well.
- Then, you will cook your diced onions, bell peppers, and garlic until softened. You will only need about 5 minutes.
- While they are cooking, you will start preparing your pasta by boiling some water.
- Now, back to the sauce. The next step is to pour in crushed tomatoes, chicken stock and heavy cream into the pan. Bring to a simmering point.
- While the sauce is simmering, add your Parmesan cheese. You finished the sauce work!
- Now let’s complete the assembly. Once you cook the pasta, add it to the pan with Cajun sauce.
- At this point you will also add your shrimp and sausage back to the pan and reheat them. If you like your sauce a bit thicker, you may want to add extra Parmesan. But keep in mind that the sauce will thicken as it sits.
How do you make Cajun Pasta with shrimp?
I cooked shrimp just pink enough. This is what my shrimp looked like. Perfect for creamy shrimp pasta!
Then I emptied the skillet and added my sausage. And just like the shrimp I cooked the sausage just till brown enough. It will be delicious in creamy sausage pasta!
Finally, I made the creamy Cajun sauce. You can use either Cajun or Creole seasonings to make it. I like to use this Louisiana Cajun Seasoning or this Original Creole Seasoning. This sauce is delicious!!! While I was making it, I already knew it was going to be a hit. All you need to do now is combine all three. And then add cooked pasta. Sausage and shrimp pasta is done!
This Cajun shrimp pasta is so decadent and yet easy! And the flavor is out of the world. It is restaurant quality pasta dish that you can make right at home.
If you like spicy food and more, you can always follow us on FACEBOOK where we share the tastiest recipe videos. And if you enjoy Cajun and pasta, I do have a few other Cajun pasta recipes on this website. For example, my family loves our Louisiana Chicken Pasta and Cajun Chicken Pasta.
Creamy Cajun Shrimp Pasta with Sausage
Ingredients
- 1 lb. large shrimp (peeled and deveined)
- Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper (to taste)
- 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning (or Creole seasoning)
- ½ teaspoon dried Oregano
- 2 tablespoons Olive oil
- 6 oz andouille sausage or smoked sausage (thinly sliced)
- 10 ounces fettuccine pasta
- ½ yellow onion (thinly sliced)
- 1 red bell pepper (thinly sliced)
- 4 teaspoons Cajun seasoning (or Creole seasoning)
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 2-3 cloves garlic (chopped)
- ½ cup crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup chicken broth sodium free
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ⅔ cup Grated Parmesan
- 1 tablespoon parsley (chopped)
Instructions
- Toss shrimp with salt, pepper, Cajun seasoning and Oregano, and coat well. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and drizzle bottom of pan with olive oil.
- Add shrimp and cook for 2 minutes. Flip shrimp over and cook another minute or two. Then remove to a plate and set aside. Drizzle pan with a little more olive oil, add sausage and brown until nicely caramelized, about 4 - 5 minutes. Remove to plate, set aside.
- Add pasta to salted boiling water and cook until al dente.
- Lower heat to medium and add a bit more olive oil to the pan, add the onion, red bell pepper, Cajun seasoning, brown sugar, and a generous pinch of salt. Sauté until onion and pepper have softened a bit, scraping up any browned bits that you can. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add crushed tomatoes, chicken broth and heavy cream. Bring to a simmer, stirring and scraping up any brown bits from bottom of pan, simmer a couple minutes.
- Once simmering, add Parmesan and stir into sauce. When Parmesan is blended in, add cooked pasta and sausage and stir to combine and heat through, 2 - 3 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste and then lastly, add shrimp.
- Serve with chopped parsley.
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only. This information comes from online calculators. Although whatsinthepan.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
Can I make it without the Parmesan?
Yes! Are you thinking no cheese at all? Or would you substitute with a bit of goat cheese or Mozzarella?
Delicious! This is a great recipe. Only alterations I made are I added Emeril’s “Bam” Cajun Spice instead of cajun spice (we live in NC). I substituted Guinness for the chicken stock and reduced it a bit to remove the alcohol, then added the heavy cream. I also added a teaspoon of cayenne to spice it up. We like things spicy!
Amazing substitutions and I love the idea of Guinness for the chicken stock!
This was awesome. I had recently tried a similar dish at Ruby Tuesday and searched for a recipe and came upon this one. Glad that I did! Truly restaurant quality (better than Ruby made). Only change I made was used rotini instead of fettuccine. This will be a keeper in my recipe file and in my rotation!
So glad you found it and I did not know about the similarity to Ruby Tuesday dish. And thank you for your 5-star rating!
Great dish I made for dinner this evening and the family loved it thanks
I made this for the first time and it is really good. My wife gave it the thumbs up and she hates my cooking
That’s the compliment of the month! Thank you
How do I stop the parm cheese from clumping?
I add it gradually (I sprinkle it slowly with one hand) and stir continuously for several minutes. I have a good amount of bubbling liquid in the pan tool
Today I made this recipe. Simply amazing!! I followed the recipe with no changes. I can’t thank you enough.
Thank you Anthony. I am so happy you didn’t require any changes and enjoyed it as is!
big hit in our famiy make it at least 3 times a monmth
Thank you Diana for making this 3 times a month!
Thank you so much! This has become a favorite in our house. My daughter even requested it for her birthday dinner! The only thing i did different was to double everything to make sure there are leftovers. So delicious.
Thank you Sandra for your 5-star review! Please thank your daughter for requesting this for her birthday dinner as well:)
I’ve made this before and it’s one of our favorites (literally saved in browser). We are making it again tonight for the game and I’m very excited.
Loved that you made it again for the game! Thank you!
Could I make this without the heavy whipping cream? Would it change the taste that much ?
You can make it without heavy cream, it will be more runny and not as rich.