Garlic Prawn Spaghetti is a quick and easy recipe perfect any night of the week! Succulent, juicy prawns, chunks of soft garlic and al-dente pasta is a dream combo. So delicious with an amazing aroma, you will wake in the mornings thinking it is a garlic prawn pasta kind of day 😉.
Recipes like my Garlic Spaghetti are delicious without a heavy after taste!
My Instant Pot Garlic Pasta, Garlic Bacon Pasta and Creamy Garlic Prawns honour garlic as the star of the show.
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🤍 Recipe Highlights
I have summarised everything that you will come to know and love (LOVE ❤) about the recipe in the points below:
- Budget friendly: there is nothing in this recipe that will blow the budget. We don't need tons of prawns and pasta is an economical ingredient any time of year 👍.
- If you loved the Garlic Spaghetti, then you will love this recipe too as it takes the same flavours and adds the prawns for protein.
- Simple ingredients: you will be able to grab everything you need for the recipe from your local supermarket. No need to go driving all over town to the speciality stores.
- Taste and texture: a spaghetti recipe with more than just the pasta. This combination adds tender prawns for flavour and texture to the dish. (Yes, they are the same as shrimp!)
- With basic steps we pull together an irresistibly easy prawn pasta that you will make time and time again!
- Short on cook time, maximising flavour and textures, this garlic prawn spaghetti will tick all of your boxes.
🥗 Ingredients
The ingredients needed for the recipe are shown in the photo below. It is a handy visual guide to refer to when shopping. For exact measurements and detailed instructions, please refer to the printable recipe card below.
As you can see, the recipe calls for:
- Dried pasta: my favorite for this recipe is spaghetti. I think it works best if you use a long pasta that you can get your fork stuck into and twirl away. Linguine and fettucine are also good options
- Prawns: I am using King Prawns for the pasta. They are a large meaty prawn. You can also use banana prawns. I am using thawed prawns. If you choose to use frozen prawns, they will take slightly longer to cook
- Garlic: in many ways this recipe is all about the garlic, not the prawns (shrimp!) I recommend using whole garlic cloves and thinly slicing as I have shown in the step by step photos below.
- Parmesan cheese: is it even really pasta if you don't sprinkle parmesan cheese all over the top! Haha nope. I recommend the shredded not flaked version as it has more bite to it and a stronger texture
- Chilli flakes: these add a little kick to our spaghetti! If you don't like too much heat, then reduce the quantity to ½ or 1 teaspoon
- Parsley: I recommend the curly parsley as it gives great texture to the dish also. Chop up plenty and sprinkle it all over!
- Cracked pepper: this is for us to sprinkle over when serving. Again, adding another texture to the recipe.
- Salt: I have added this here as when we cook the spaghetti, we do this in a pot of boiling, salted water.
🍳 Instructions
Here are the step by step instructions to make the recipe. We start by slicing the garlic and preparing the prawns. You will need a knife and chopping board.
- Slice the garlic (Photo 1)
- Prepare the prawns by removing the heads and peeling the body, also remove the back vein (Photo 2)
- Add olive oil to large fry pan (Photo 3)
- Add chilli flakes and garlic to oil (Photo 4)
The result of slicing the garlic like we do ensures we have small melt in your mouth soft garlic that adds taste and texture to the dish.
The hardest part of the recipe is prepping the prawns. Once you get into it, it doesn't take too long. It helps to have a bowl handy to clean your hands in between as it can get a little messy!
- Add prawns to the olive oil, garlic and chilli (Photo 5)
- Cook spaghetti according to packet instructions (Photo 6)
- Reserve 1 cup pasta water (for sauce) (Photo 7)
- Remove cooked prawns from garlic oil mix, set aside (Photo 8)
👩🍳 How to Make Garlic Prawn Spaghetti
To make the spaghetti, cook the prawns in the oil with the garlic and chilli flakes. Use this time to also cook the pasta on a separate element on the stove. The add the cooked pasta to the olive chilli oil and add the cooked prawns back to the pan.
We cook the prawns in the olive oil, garlic and chilli mix. You will find that the prawns cook very quickly and they take slightly less time to cook than the pieces of garlic.
So when they are cooked, I remove them, set aside, allow the garlic to finishing cooking, add the cooked pasta and water then add the prawns back in.
This technique also ensures the prawns stay robust and full and are not squashed into the pasta sitting at the bottom of the dish.
- Add cooked spaghetti to the oil and garlic mix (Photo 9)
- Pour in reserved pasta water (Photo 10)
- Stir to combine (Photo 11)
- Add prawns and allow to heat through (Photo 12)
When adding the cooked spaghetti to the oil and garlic mix, stir consistently so that the garlic and chilli immerse with the pasta.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
It is always a good idea to have some parmesan cheese, cracked black pepper and chopped parsley to garnish pasta with! Don't hold back and use as liberally as you like 😁😁!
If you want a side dish the Garlic Pizza Bread works well or the Cherry Tomato Caprese Salad for a lighter Italian style side pairing.
The pasta water allows for lovely slippery spaghetti. Combined with the olive oil and chilli flakes it is positively twirl and slurp worthy!
💡 Tasty Tips
- Ensure you reserve the pasta water for 'sauce'. This helps the olive oil, garlic and chilli bind to the pasta.
- Don't over cook the prawns as they will be too rubbery. (They should not be curled too tightly).
- Do delight in the parmesan cheese, parsley and cracked pepper. They bring such great additional flavour and texture to the dish 😉👍.
- If you are not a chilli fan, you can reduce the indicated amount.
🤓 Frequently Asked Questions
What type of pasta is best to use for the recipe?
I recommend a long pasta for the recipe.
You can choose from spaghetti, fettucine or linguine for variety.
Can I freeze this prawn pasta?
Yes! You can freeze the recipe.
One thing to keep in mind is that many prawns sold in supermarkets will be thawed as they have been frozen already.
If using these it is best to cook them from thawed and not refreeze them.
If, however you are using fresh never frozen prawns, it would be fine to portion and freeze individual servings of the dish, perfect for nights you don't want to cook!
How do I reheat this prawn spaghetti?
For best results, I recommend reheating the spaghetti on the stove.
To reheat the dish, simply add it to a fry pan, turn to a medium heat and stir every now and then.
You can also use the microwave for a quick option!
😍 More Easy Spaghetti Recipes
How good is spaghetti! If only we could eat it every night of the week! Here are some more ideas and flavour combinations that you might like to try or check out all of my spaghetti recipes:
- White Wine Pasta Sauce
- Instant Pot Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
- Instant Pot Spaghetti with Jar Sauce
- Salmon Noodle Stir Fry (can use spaghetti for the noodles)
- Instant Pot Chicken Spaghetti
- Carbonara Macaroni (can use spaghetti in place of the macaroni).
Its time to get our prawns on the spaghetti not the barbie my friend 😉👍.
Adrianne x.
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📖 Recipe
Garlic Prawn Spaghetti
Equipment
- 1 Fry pan to cook the prawns
- 1 Colander to drain the spaghetti
- 1 Tongs to help cook and transfer the prawns
- 1 Saucepan to cook the pasta
- 1 Heatproof jug to collect the pasta water
- 1 Wooden spoon to stir and combine
Ingredients
- 500 grams/16 oz dried spaghetti Note 1
- 10 cloves garlic skin peeled, end cut off
- ½ cup olive oil
- 8-16 prawns (or shrimp) peeled, head removed, tail intact Note 2
- 1 tablespoon chilli flakes reduce this amount to ½ teaspoon or 1 teaspoon if not a chilli fan
- parsley
- parmesan cheese
- salt Note 3
- cracked pepper to season
Instructions
- Use a knife and chopping board to thinly slice the garlic into pieces
- Cook the spaghetti in a large pot of boiling, salted water according to packet instructions
- Use a knife and chopping board to prepare the prawns. Start by twisting to remove the heads, peeling the shell from the body and slice down the back to remove devein the prawns
- Add olive oil, sliced garlic, red chilli flakes and raw prawns to the saucepan. Cook for 3- 4 minutes at a medium heat. Note 4
- Drain spaghetti, reserving ½ cup of pasta water
- Remove cooked prawns and garlic from saucepan, pour in pasta water and add prawn garlic mix back in. Stir till heated through
- Plate and garnish with parmesan cheese, cracked pepper and parsely
Notes
- Note 1 I find this recipe works best with a long pasta that you can twirl. So I recommend spaghetti, fettucine or linguine.
- Note 2 I like to aim for around 3-4 prawns per person. This way combined with the pasta it is a hearty meal with protein and carbs, but it is not overdoing it too much. You can obviously use less ie 2-3 per person.
- Note 3 The salt is added to the water when we cook the pasta.
- Note 4 The prawns will be cooked when they turn a light pink/orange colour. Try not to over cook them as they will be rubbery if overcooked.
Nutrition
Recipe published October 2021, updated November 2022, with more tasty tips for you 😍🥰😉!
Caitlyn Erhardt says
My family loved this for dinner and it was easy to make. The flavor was wonderful and this is going to be a regular in our dinner rotation.
Claudia Lamascolo says
I love creative and new food ideas this is perfect!
Cathleen says
Prawns and pasta are a match made in heaven!! I am definitely giving this a go, thank you so much for the recipe 🙂