Creamy Cajun Shrimp Pasta with Sausage is easy to make comforting pasta dish! With only 40 minutes of total work, this shrimp pasta recipe is simple, fast and delicious! This family friendly southern dish is ideal for special occasion dinners or for hectic weeknights.
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 shrimp pasta ALWAYS disappears quickly from our dinner table!
Cajun Shrimp and Sausage Pasta
LARGE SHRIMP and SMOKED SAUSAGE. 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.
ANDOUILLE SAUSAGE. By the way, I like to use Andouille sausage. Is it andouille’s french origin that gives it such a sharp and distinct flavor and odor? All I know is that we recently had some company over for dinner and this creamy sausage pasta became a huge hit!
CAJUN SAUCE. 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
I like to use this Sodium Free Cajun seasoning just because it gives me control over the amount of salt I am consuming. It’s important to 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!
Cajun seasoning substitute?
I would definitely use 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.
For example, I like to use this Creole Seasoning: Tony Chachere’s Original Creole seasoning
HOW TO MAKE CAJUN SHRIMP SAUSAGE PASTA:
- OLIVE OIL. You will start by adding olive oil in a large skillet.
- SHRIMP. Then you will cook your seasoned shrimp until browned. I cooked shrimp just pink enough. This is what my shrimp looked like. Perfect for creamy shrimp pasta! Remove it from the pan.
- SAUSAGE. Next you will add sliced sausage to the same pan and brown it. And just like the shrimp I cooked the sausage just till brown enough. It will be delicious in shrimp sausage pasta! Remove it from the pan as well.
- VEGGIES. Then, you will cook your diced onions, bell peppers, and garlic until softened. You will only need about 5 minutes.
- PASTA. While they are cooking, you will start preparing your pasta by boiling some water.
How to make creamy Cajun sauce
SAUCE. Finally, it’s time to make creamy Cajun sauce. First, pour in crushed tomatoes, chicken stock and heavy cream into the pan. Now, bring to a simmering point. As I already mentioned, you can use either Cajun or Creole seasonings here. Besides the low sodium seasoning I also use Louisiana Cajun Seasoning or Original Creole Seasoning. This sauce is delicious!!
PARMESAN. While the sauce is simmering, add your Parmesan cheese. You finished the sauce work!
ASSEMBLY. While I was making the sauce, I already knew that the final product was going to be a hit. All you need to do now is combine all the elements.
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.
And just like that you made sausage and shrimp pasta with 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.
Hungry for more Cajun recipes?
Cajun Instant Pot Chicken and Rice
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.
I made the cajun chicken pasta yesterday, my son and my husband enjoyed it. I loved it too. Will make it again with shrimps
Awesome!!! My husband loved it.. used kolbasa sausage instead of the other.. great dish
Yes! Kolbasa sausage sounds amazing!
Definitely making this AGAIN but would love to make it for family that dislikes (mild description 😛) shrimp. Do you think fresh salmon would work and can you suggest how I’d go id bout it it?
Thank you
Salmon is an interesting idea. I am slightly against it:) just because it’s very flaky when cooked TOGETHER with all the other ingredients – it will fall apart. If you bake it first (or sear it) and THEN add it to the sauce to allow the juices to penetrate – it might work then!
I made this 4 times and tonight I did it for an Catering order.. it’s always an hit. I added chicken with mine💙💙
Latrice, you are the champion of Creamy Cajun Shrimp Pasta with Sausage and Chicken recipe!
I made this last night for the third time. It’s always a hit. I use chicken andouille sausage. Yummy!
Sounds like you nailed the recipe with that andouille sausage!!!
One of my best recipes that I’ve tried so far. My wife loved it, asked if there was enough for seconds before she started eating lol. Thank you for this!
Thank you so much for making it and the comment about “seconds”- I love it!!
Tasted amazing and I made it twice
Thank you, Malayah!
Made this exactly as the recipe directed. It was fabulous, my family loved it, dinner was over 3 hours ago, and my son just came down to raid the frig for the leftovers…he never does that. I didn’t have the soupy issues some had, maybe because I simmered it longer while the pasta was cooking. Only thing I would do differently is slice the sausage a little thicker as it tended to come apart while sautéing it. Definitely a keeper!
So glad you aced it! Bonus points to the fridge raider!
I made this dish yesterday, and it was delicious. Normally when I make recipes that I find online, I would have to doctor them. I did not have to do this with this recipe. I didn’t have andouille sausage on hand, but I did have turkey Italian sausage and it still tasted really good. Two Thumbs up. This dish will be made over and over again.
Thank you, Kathy! I think your sausage choice was perfect!
I made this tonight. I pretty much eyeballed everything but the liquids but man did this come out amazing, thanks.