This Shrimp Carbonara recipe is a perfect pasta dinner that only takes 25 minutes to make! Perfectly cooked pasta is coated in a creamy egg & butter sauce and tossed with tender shrimp and crispy bacon. It’s a great weeknight dinner.
Another quick weeknight shrimp pasta recipe is this Shrimp Scampi Linguine. You can’t go wrong with either one!
Ingredients
Here are the things that you need to make this Shrimp Carbonara Recipe and some tips on specific ingredients –
Room Temperature Egg – It is important that you use a room temperature egg so that it will break down properly in the food processor (or blender)
Pro Tip: To bring an egg to room temp quickly simply place it in a bowl of warm water for about 5 minutes.
Garlic- This recipe does call for quite a bit of garlic! The flavor is amazing mixed with the bacon, cheese and shrimp. However, if you are sensitive to garlic, then I recommend that you reduce the amount of garlic to 4 cloves.
Shrimp– When you buy it in the store it may be labeled as a number value. This means how many shrimp are in a pound.
For this Shrimp Carbonara you want to use a “large” shrimp, which will generally be around 31/35.
Step By Step Picture Instructions
This recipe comes together really quickly, so I HIGHLY RECCOMEND that you prep all the ingredients before getting started: put salted water on to boil, slice the bacon, place the egg in warm water to bring to room temp, mince the garlic, measure out the butter, pepper flakes, salt, and parm cheese, also chop the parsley.
Now that you are prepared (called mise en place in French. Fancy!) grab a food processor or blender and we will make the base of the sauce.
In the processor/blender add the egg, minced garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, softened butter, and parmesan cheese. Blend about 15 seconds until it is creamy. You may need to stop and scrape the sides down. Set the butter mixture aside for now.
Pop the pasta in the boiling water to cook per package instructions.
Pro Tip: Place a measuring cup in your colander and you won’t forget to reserve the starchy pasta water!!
In a large skillet sauté the bacon over medium heat until it is crisped and brown. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a paper towel lined plate.
Drain all but 2 tablespoon of bacon grease from the pan.
Add the shrimp to the bacon grease in the pan and cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes, just until the shrimp are a nice pink color.
Remove the shrimp from the pan and place on the plate with the bacon.
Place the now empty skillet over medium heat. Pour in ¼ cup reserved starchy pasta water and deglaze the bottom of the pan.
Deglazing – scraping up with browned bits from the bottom of the pan with hot liquid.
Stir in the pasta, butter/egg mixture, parsley, bacon, and shrimp. Give it a good toss to coat the pasta in the sauce.
Serve immediately topped with parmesan cheese and cracked black pepper.
Recipe Tips
- The recipe comes together really quickly, so prep all your ingredients before you start cooking!
- This is not a “make-ahead” recipe, it is best served immediately.
- Make sure you use a room temperature egg. They will process properly when at room temp.
- Don’t be shy with the cheese! If you like a creamier cheesier pasta, add another ¼ cup of cheese.
- Don’t forget to reserve the starchy pasta cooking water! Place a measuring cup in your colander to remind you.
- This recipe would also be delicious with fettuccine or bucatini pasta.
Audio Recipe
Listen to the full recipe, including tips and tricks, using the player below.
Recipe FAQ’s
Shrimp Carbonara is an Italian pasta dish made with shrimp and bacon tossed in a creamy sauce that is made with egg, butter and parmesan cheese.
Yes, Carbonara is traditionally made with a raw egg. It is part of the sauce that makes it completely creamy and decadent. You can rest assured that the hot pasta and hot pan cook the egg enough to be safe.
If you prefer to not use parmesan cheese in Carbonara that is totally fine, there are plenty of other options. Two great options are Gruyere or Grana Padano. You can use a Pecorino Romano, although it is a little saltier than parmesan.
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Shrimp Carbonara + Video
Ingredients
- 1 large egg - at room temp (bring to room temp in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes)
- 6 tablespoon butter - at room temp.
- ⅓ cup parmesan cheese - grated
- 6 garlic cloves
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 slices bacon - diced
- ¾ lb large shrimp peeled and deveined - (about 31/35 count)
- 12 oz linguine
- ½ cup RESERVED starchy pasta cooking water
- ⅓ cup Italian parsley - finely chopped
Garnish
- additional parsley, parmesan cheese, and cracked black pepper
Instructions
Mise en Place (Get Prepped)
- This recipe comes together really quickly, so I HIGHLY RECCOMEND that you prep all the ingredients before getting started.Put salted water on to boil, slice the bacon, place the egg in warm water to bring to room temp, mince the garlic, measure out the butter, pepper flakes, salt, and parmesan cheese, also chop the parsley.
Shrimp Carbonara
- In a food processor or blender add the egg, minced garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, softened butter, and parmesan cheese. Blend for about 15 seconds until it is creamy. You may need to stop and scrape the sides down. Set the butter mixture aside for now.1 large egg, 6 tablespoon butter, ⅓ cup parmesan cheese, 6 garlic cloves, ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- Pop the pasta in the boiling water to cook per package instructions. DON'T FORGET TO RESERVE ½ CUP STARCHY PASTA WATER!!Pro Tip: Place a measuring cup in your colander and you won't forget to reserve the starchy pasta water!!12 oz linguine
- In a large skillet sauté the bacon over medium heat until it is crisped and brown. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a paper towel lined plate.6 slices bacon
- Drain all but 2 tablespoon of bacon grease from the pan.
- Add the shrimp to the bacon grease in the pan and cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes, just until the shrimp are a nice pink color.Remove the shrimp from the pan and place on the plate with the bacon.¾ lb large shrimp peeled and deveined
- Place the now empty skillet over medium heat. Pour in ¼ cup reserved starchy pasta water and deglaze the bottom of the pan.½ cup RESERVED starchy pasta cooking water
- Stir in the pasta, butter/egg mixture, parsley, bacon, and shrimp. Give it a good toss to coat the pasta in the sauce.Pro Tip: Add more pasta water and parmesan cheese if you like it creamier!⅓ cup Italian parsley
- Serve immediately topped with parmesan cheese and cracked black pepper.additional parsley, parmesan cheese, and cracked black pepper
Recipe Tips and Notes:
- The recipe comes together really quickly, so prep all your ingredients before you start cooking!
- This is not a “make-ahead” recipe, it is best served immediately.
- Make sure you use a room temperature egg. It will process properly when it is at room temp.
- Don’t be shy with the cheese! If you like a creamier cheesier pasta, add another ¼ cup of cheese.
- Could also use Grana Padano or Gruyere cheese in place of parmesan cheese.
- Don’t forget to reserve the starchy pasta cooking water! Place a measuring cup in your colander to remind you.
- This recipe would also be delicious with fettuccine or bucatini pasta.
Andrea says
Made this tonight for my husband and I and soooo good! I used a different pasta shape but still yummy! Thank you!
Alicia says
This was the bomb!!!! It brought me back to this pasta bar where I used to love their Carbonara. Unfortunately, the pasta place either changed ownership or cooks. Whatever the case was, their carbonara went way down hill.
My husband even loved it and said it was very creamy.
This recipe felt 5 stars to me…Thank you!!!! The only change that I made based on what I had in hand was that I used pancetta instead of bacon.
Again thank you so much for sharing!
Jonathan Kaufman says
Really wonderful and simple recipe! Red pepper flake adds just the right kick. I reduced the bacon by one slice because I don’t care for pasta dishes that are overwhelmed by bacon—it was a good move, just enough. Stepped it up a bit by adding 1/2 cup of frozen peas to the final mix, and then just before taking the pan off the fire added and mixed-in 3/4 cup of cold medium-sized chunks of vine-ripened tomato to freshen it up. Phenomenal!
Susie Weinrich says
Delish! Great substitutions.
Taylor Reed says
Very good added a few extras.. prawns v shrimp. 1/3 cup heavy cream at the end, w a toasted sour dough w garlic spread. Very good .
Debra Lemke says
This was delicious! It was not that difficult and didn’t take that long. I didn’t have any parmesan so I used gouda. I cut the garlic in half and totally forgot the parsley. I will definitely put this into the rotation. I have left over noodles (we ate all of the shrimp). I will see how it works for leftovers tomorrow.
Peter says
Delicious (and rich!) Th recipe is right – it doesn’t make good leftovers. WHat about the prep time though? You’d have to be a TV chef to start off with minced garlic, peeled shrimp, chopped parsley, diced bacon and grated parmesan! I estimate I took over HALF AN HOUR on prep!
Connie says
Very good and was easy to make just follow directions. Only change I will make in future meals is cut the garlic down to four cloves instead of six recommended on recipe. I like garlic but that was very overwhelming and distracted from the bacon flavor.
Faith says
We’re snowed in and grocery-limited, so I improvised with ingredients and used cellantini noodles, ham instead of bacon and shrimp, and the grated Parmasean that comes in the green topped shaker (so essentially I made the broke version of this 😂) and it was still SO. GOOD!!! I can’t wait to make it as written sometime soon! Also, I feel like the garlic butter Parmasean sauce would be delicious as a wing sauce 👏🏻👏🏻 Thank you for satisfying my carb cravings!!
Susie Weinrich says
Oh, I love this!!! You said the broke version of this recipe, LOL! I hope you thaw out soon.
Linda says
Made this tonight, exactly as written and it was fantastic! My husband and I both loved it! Definitely a keeper recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Roy Karl Werner says
I thought this amount of garlic would kill me, instead it made my awesome list! I am going to retry this with chicken next. Definitely prepare or it goes sideways fast. This was awesome reheated the next day too!
Shanae says
Wow!! SO GOOD! This will become a regular 🙂
Clarissa says
Yum!
Wendy todys says
I doubled the recipe and added sliced red bell pepper to the shrimp while cooking. Absolutely delicious !
Kim Dezelan says
I love this recipe. Always a hit when I make it. Comes together so nicely with your great instructions. Thanks!
RUDY E KILGORE says
I loved the flavors in this but for some reason my egg did not blend well into a creamy sauce. (everything was room temperature as directed and blended as per the suggested time.) There were little bits of egg that did into the mixture and thus the final dish had visible egg particles in it. Please respond I want to make it again.
Susie Weinrich says
I’m so sorry this happened. I am stumped on this one! The eggs definitely should have blended all the way down, especially if it was room temp and mixed in a blender or food processor. You could try to temper the sauce with just a splash of the hot pasta cooking water before adding it to the hot pasta. Other than that I don’t have any suggestions if you followed everything to a T, including ingredients and temps. I would give it another try for sure! I think your results were maybe just a fluke.
kurt gandenberger says
i have been making carbonara recipes for many years. do not get upset with little bits of egg that do not incorporate. it does not affect the flavor and is certainly a matter of technique. the longer you make it the more perfect it will be. but watch portion size because this stuff is high calorie and so delicious you will want to eat too much.
Amanda says
Egg whites cook faster than egg yokes. So it would help to use 2-3 egg yokes (separate egg whites to use for breakfast, etc.) I always use a higher ratio of egg yokes to egg whites when making carbonara.
Beth Ann says
I’ve done this. It’s because the pan is too hot and is cooking the eggs like scrambled eggs. Let the pan cool a little so it’s very warm, but not too hot and it’ll be a creamy sauce.
Kimiko says
The only thing I would have done differently is use fresh parsley. Had none on hand so used dried and wish I hadn’t. I can taste how it would have been 10x better with fresh parsley. Will do this again and do it right next time. Thanks so much for this insanely quick and easy recipe. I’m definitely adding it to my rotation