This creamy Salmon Prawn Pasta is packed with flavours and made with pantry-friendly ingredients. Perfectly cooked pasta and seafood smothered in an indulgent creamy sauce. You can create this delicious pasta at home in under 20 minutes with minimum effort.
Creamy seafood pasta is one of my favourite pasta that I love to order at the restaurant and I never get bored of it. I also love to cook this pasta dish at home and my whole family enjoyed it.
If you have read my previous blog posts you will definitely know how much I love pasta and noodles. Mushroom Pasta and Spicy Garlic Prawn Pasta are also my go-to favorite pasta recipes you might also love to try out.
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Why you would like this recipe
- What I love about this dish is it's kid-friendly, time-saving, low-effort, and also money-saving when you cook at home.
- If you have all the basic ingredients and pantry staples, you can cook this delicious pasta dinner in no time.
- You can simply recreate the restaurant-quality creamy pasta under 20 minutes without hassle. Impress your dinner guests with your homemade creamy seafood pasta!
- You can prepare a big batch or just a simple date night dinner for two.
- All you need is to pair it with a bottle of wine or your favourite drink.
What do we need
This recipe calls 5 main ingredients - seafood, pasta, cream, garlic, and olive oil. The rest of the ingredients can be customized to your preference.
- Salmon - You will need two salmon fillets skin-off and cut into small cubes. Or you can also saute the skin-on salmon fillets and then shred it into small pieces.
- Pasta - We usually use linguine, tagliatelle, or spaghetti for this recipe. Short pasta like penne, fusilli, rigatoni, or even whole wheat pasta goes well too.
- Prawns - Add your choice of jumbo prawns, king prawns, tiger prawns, or, shrimp.
- Other seafood and protein options - Scallops, squid, mussels, bacon, sausage, tinned salmon, or tuna, are also great protein options that you can also add.
- Cream - We usually add fresh double cream. ( It is called heavy cream in the US. ) You can use your choice of thick cream or thickened regular milk or evaporated milk.
- Why do you add cream to pasta sauce? Cream helps to bind the pasta with all the flavors and brings the rich, creamy, buttery, flavour. Do not need to use a lot, adding a splash of cream will do the work.
- Cheese - Parmesan is the popular Italian cheese that is usually used in creamy pasta sauces. Instead of parmesan, you can also use pecorino, piave, English cheddar, or your choice of grated hard cheese.
- Cream & Cheese substitute - If you have mascarpone, cream cheese, or Philadelphia cheese at home you can use it up. Simply substitute double cream and parmesan with cream cheese.
How to make salmon and prawn pasta
- First, bring the water to boil and season with a good amount of salt. Add pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes or according to the packet instructions. Reserve one cup of pasta water for later use.
- Prepare the cream sauce meanwhile the pasta is cooking. Season the salmon and prawns with salt and black pepper to taste.
- In a large pan, saute the salmon and prawns with a drizzle of olive oil until cooked through. Then remove it from the pan and set it aside.
- In the remaining pan, saute the onions until soft and follow with the garlic and chilli flakes.
- Add pasta water, double cream, and grated cheese. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.
- Once the sauce starts to get thick and creamy, add the boiled pasta and place the cooked prawns, and salmon. Combine everything evenly.
- Finish with lemon zest and chopped parsley.
- Toss well and transfer to a serving plate, garnish with parsley and grated parmesan and serve immediately.
Pro Tips
- Always cook the pasta with salty water. Don't forget to add salt to the boiling water. That's one of the secrets of making good pasta. Salty water helps the noodle taste delicious on it's own.
- Make sure not to overcook the pasta as you are going to cook it again in the cream sauce. Always check the packet instructions because cooking time can be varied according to the thickness of the pasta.
- This recipe is for 2-3 servings and you can adjust the portion size on the recipe card. You can double or triple the ingredients if you are cooking for a crowd.
Frequently asked questions
To complete the dinner, you can serve this pasta with your choice of drink and pair it with steamed vegetables or a side of salad.
The creamy sauce can split when you freeze and reheat it. Do not recommend freezing this creamy pasta. You can keep it in the fridge for a couple of days. Simply reheat it over the stovetop or in the microwave. You might need to add a bit of water if the sauce is too thick.
If you do not like creamy sauce, you can simply omit double cream or swap it with chicken stock or vegetable stock/broth for extra rich umami flavour.
Highly recommend adding raw prawns as the sweetness of prawns infused in the sauce and tastier than cooked prawns. If you don't have raw prawns you can add cooked prawns straight to the cream sauce. Do not need to saute them.
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Salmon and Prawn Pasta
Equipment
- Pasta boiling pot
- Large pan or skillet
Ingredients
- 240 gram Salmon fillet About 8.5oz, skin-off, cut into small cubes
- 200 gram Prawns About 7oz, peeled and deveined
- 150 gram Pasta Linguine/tagliatelle/spaghetti
- 2-3 cloves Garlic Finely chopped
- ½ Onion Finely chopped
- 200 ml Double cream Or heavy cream
- 6 tbsp Parmesan Freshly grated
- 2 tbsp Olive oil Extra virgin olive oil
- ½ tsp Salt or to your taste
- ½ tsp Black pepper or to your taste
- ½ tsp Chilli flakes Red pepper flakes/crushed chillies ( Optional )
- 1 tsp Lemon zest
- 1 cup Reserved pasta water see details in note
- Handful Parsley finely chopped
Instructions
- Cook the pasta in the boiling water for 8-10 minutes or according to the packet instructions. Season the water with a good amount of salt and reserve 1 cup of pasta water before draining the water out.
- Season the salmon and prawns with salt and black pepper to taste.
- Heat the large non-stick pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Drizzle 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, add salmon and prawns. Let it sear for 2-3 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Remove from pan and set them aside.
- In the remaining pan, add onion and saute until soft and translucent with low-medium heat. Next, add the chopped garlic and chilli flakes and stir it well for a few seconds until fragrant.
- Pour the reserved ½ cup pasta water, double cream, and grated parmesan in. Season with salt and pepper. Bring it to simmer and allow it to thicken, then place the cooked pasta, salmon, and prawns in. ( Add more pasta water if needed. )
- Finish with lemon zest and chopped parsley. Combine everything well and transfer to serving plate. Garnish with grated parmesan and finely chopped parsley.
Notes
- Salmon - We usually use skin-off salmon fillets cut into small cubes. You can also saute the skin-on salmon fillets on the pan then remove the skin when it is cooked then easily shred the meat with the fork.
- Pasta - Use your choice of long pasta, linguine, tagliatelle, spaghetti, etc. Short pasta like penne, fusilli, rigatoni, or even whole wheat pasta goes well with this recipe.
- Cream - Add double/heavy cream for the rich creamy sauce. Cream cheese and mascarpone are great substitutes for double cream. You can also try with reduced whole milk or evaporated milk.
- Parmesan - Freshly grated parmesan or add your favourite hard cheese.
- Pasta water - Reserve 1 cup of starchy cooked pasta water to add to the cream sauce. You don't need to add 1 cup. Add ½ cup of the cream sauce and add more if needed. If you forget to reserve the pasta water, just add warm water.
- How to store the leftovers? Do not recommend freezing this pasta but you can keep it in the fridge in an air-tight container. It usually lasts in the fridge for a couple of days.
- How to reheat? Add a splash of water and combine well with everything before reheating.
- Crushed chilli flake- It's optional. Adjust the red pepper flakes to your taste omit them if you prefer it mild.
Keith Nichols says
I jazzed around a little as I am mostly carnivore - so no pasta. The results were magnificent - many thanks.
Khin says
So glad that you enjoyed it, Keith! Thanks for sharing your feedback.
Ashe says
This recipe is so good. Thanks for the recipe.
Shane ebrill says
Love it
Khin says
Happy that you liked it, Shane. Thanks for trying out our recipe.
John says
One of my family favourite pasta. We normally get ready made salmon and prawn pasta from Aldi. This recites way more better than ready made version. Thank you so much for the recipe.
Khin says
You are very welcome. Happy that you enjoyed it, John. We also love it because it's super fast and simple to make.
Pam says
Got linguine, salmon all the ingredients that need, except prawns. I'm gonna cook for dinner today. Love all your recipes. Easy, simple and straightforward.
Khin says
Happy that you enjoy our recipes, Pam. It's absolutely fine to omit prawns. Hope you love this pasta recipe too.