Cajun Shrimp Pasta Recipe
This cajun shrimp pasta recipe is easy to make, perfect for a quick and flavorful dinner, and it preps like a dream for meals throughout the week. Try this simple one pan meal tonight!
One pan skillet meals are excellent for meal prep because you don’t have much cleanup afterwards. Everyone gets to enjoy a tasty meal and no one gets stuck doing a bunch of work and then some more work with dishes and tidying up the kitchen.
If you need some new meal ideas that are unique, fun, and flavorful you should give this cajun shrimp skillet a try!
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Is this a spicy shrimp recipe?
It has a little bit of spice to it! Don’t worry though you can control the heat with the seasonings. If you are sensitive to the spices you can use regular regular roasted tomatoes and regular sausage!
If you like things more spicy you can add in some other cajun spices and seasonings for you tastes!
Can I use a different kind of pasta?
I use whole wheat penne when I’m making this cajun shrimp pasta skillet but you can use whatever kind of pasta you enjoy.
If you want to use elbows or bow tie pasta I think they’d work great too. Even spaghetti would probably work though it would be a little more tricky to eat.
Can I make this cajun shrimp pasta skillet in advance?
You can definitely make this one in advance to eat throughout the week. It will keep well in meal prep containers so you can easily reheat for lunches or a quick dinner when you are on the go.
There’s nothing weird in this recipe so you don’t have to worry about keeping strange ingredients fresh throughout the week.
Ingredients needed to make a cajun shrimp skillet dinner:
This recipe uses pretty simple ingredients. We will be using spicy sausage, shrimp, olive oil, penne pasta, butter, heavy cream, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, fresh parmesan, and cajun seasoning.
Like I mentioned above you can also use regular sausage to make this meal a little less spicy. Use what you like! Cajun shrimp pasta is pretty simple and very flexible so it should be easy enough to adjust to your tastes.
You can use some veggies in there too if you like. Add in some peppers, snap peas, or even broccoli to add some other textures and flavors.
Here are some kitchen essentials that I like to have on hand when making recipes like this for meal prep:
Making healthy meals is a breeze with these kitchen essentials. Keeping things like this on hand makes my life so much easier in the kitchen.
Some things that are great to have on hand when prepping meals like this is a cutting board, sharp knives, and storage containers.
You can also benefit from a good skillet, a kitchen scale, measuring cups, and this awesome strainer tool!
How to make one pot cajun shrimp and pasta:
Boil pasta, according to directions on the box.
Meanwhile, slice the sausage into ¼-½ inch slices.
Add the olive oil and sausage to a large skillet, and cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Flip sausages, and add shrimp to the pan. Continue cooking 3-4 minutes more, flipping the shrimp halfway through. Cook until shrimp are pink, but slightly opaque, and sausage are heated through. To simplify this step, you can purchase pre-cooked shrimp and sausage, and then they just need to be heated through, which only takes 2-3 minutes total.
Drain sausage and shrimp, set aside.
Once pasta is cooked, drain and set aside. To prevent sticking, drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil over and toss the pasta.
To make the sauce, begin by melting the butter in a large skillet.
Add the garlic, and cook 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.
Add heavy cream and cream cheese.
Stir over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until cream cheese has melted and mixture begins to simmer.
Whisk in italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and cajun seasoning.
Reduce heat to low, and whisk in freshly grated parmesan. Continue whisking until the cheese has melted.
Add pasta, shrimp, and sausage to the pan and stir to coat.
Serve immediately.
Looking for even more delicious and healthy recipes to try?
If you are looking for more delicious recipes to try check out some of other delicious meals. You’ll love how simple they are and on top of that they’re also family friendly while still being great for a variety of healthy eating plans.
Some of our family favorites are Weight Watchers Pepperoni Pizza Casserole Recipe, Weight Watchers Instant Pot Macaroni and Cheese Recipe, Weight Watchers Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet, Bacon Cheeseburger Flatbread Pizza, WW Pizza Recipe, Easy WW Banana Pancakes, Weight Watchers Chocolate Chip Cookies, The Easiest Healthy Banana Pudding, and Weight Watchers Chicken Salad.
Here are some of our newest additions that you won’t want to miss out on. Try out Weight Watchers Corn Soup, Weight Watchers Tuna Salad, Weight Watchers Tomato Salad, and Weight Watchers Ground Turkey Goulash!
For those of you looking to bulk up your meal plans or switch things up to get out of a boring rut with the same meals, you are in luck! There are so many tasty recipes to choose from here, just a few of the best are listed below. Find all the Weight Watchers recipes here.
Printable Cajun Shrimp Pasta Recipe:
Cajun Shrimp Pasta Recipe
Skillet meals are the best. Cajun Shrimp and Pasta will satisfy the whole family. Pasta, sausage, shrimp with a cajun twist.
Ingredients
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- ½ lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 6 oz. cajun style andouille smoked sausage
- 8 oz. penne pasta
- ½ cup butter
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 ½ cups freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
Instructions
- Boil pasta, according to directions on the box.
- Meanwhile, slice the sausage into ¼-½ inch slices.
- Add the olive oil and sausage to a large skillet, and cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Flip sausages, and add shrimp to the pan. Continue cooking 3-4 minutes more, flipping the shrimp halfway through. Cook until shrimp are pink, but slightly opaque, and sausage are heated through. To simplify this step, you can purchase pre-cooked shrimp and sausage, and then they just need to be heated through, which only takes 2-3 minutes total.
- Drain sausage and shrimp, set aside.
- Once pasta is cooked, drain and set aside. To prevent sticking, drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil over and toss the pasta.
- To make the sauce, begin by melting the butter in a large skillet.
- Add the garlic, and cook 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.
- Add heavy cream and cream cheese.
- Stir over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until cream cheese has melted and mixture begins to simmer.
- Whisk in italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and cajun seasoning.
- Reduce heat to low, and whisk in freshly grated parmesan. Continue whisking until the cheese has melted.
- Add pasta, shrimp, and sausage to the pan and stir to coat.
- Serve immediately.
Nutrition Information
Yield 6 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 686Total Fat 57gSaturated Fat 31gTrans Fat 2gUnsaturated Fat 20gCholesterol 233mgSodium 1920mgCarbohydrates 19gFiber 1gSugar 2gProtein 25g
As with any of our recipes, carb counts, calorie counts, WW points and nutritional information varies greatly. As a result, your nutritional content depends on which products you choose to use when cooking this dish. The auto-calculation is just an automated estimate and should NOT be used for specific dietary needs.
Instruction #8 same cream cheese but not in ingredients!!
Thanks for pointing that out. Adding it now. 4 oz cream cheese.
How much cream cheese? This item was omitted from the ingredients list. Thank you.
Thanks for pointing that out. Adding it now. 4 oz cream cheese.