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How can such a simple dish like Prawn Linguine taste like something a bit special? Follow this easy recipe with step-by-step videos to see how a few easy tricks can make a truly decadent pasta dish in less than half an hour.
This Prawn Linguine recipe gives us a super simple dinner but is honestly good enough to serve up to guests as well as a quick midweek bite.
While it’s really easy to throw together in about 25 minutes, there are a few basic tricks to turn this into a rather special meal, with a winning combination of juicy prawns, long pasta, a hint of wine, a little heat and a divine garlicky, creamy sauce.
For the prawns (or shrimp if you’re in the USA or Canada), we’re using raw ones. See below as to why.
We’re also using both olive oil and butter, because it tastes sensational and it takes away the risk of the butter burning.
When it comes to the white wine addition, while I mostly try not to add extras such as alcohol to my recipes because I don’t think many of us realistically stretch to it for a quick family dinner, I do use it in this dish because it really does add something so I am willing to push the boat out a tad, just like with my Beef Bourguignon (also, if you’re hosting a nice dinner, it makes it a little fancier).
We deglaze the pan for extra flavour, and the alcohol burns off, so it’s fine to serve to children. Of course, you can leave it out though if you prefer (instead use 75ml vegetable stock or even water).
When it comes to spice, fresh chillies are great here. We use the fatter kind of red chilli as they’re not usually as hot as the thin ones, although chillies can vary hugely in their spiciness so if you’re a bit nervous, add a little and you could always stir in more in at the end, or pop some chilli flakes on the table for spice lovers to add.
Why you’ll love this Easy Prawn Linguine recipe
⭐️ Italian-style elegance – simple flavours that go together beautifully
⭐️ Quick and easy – less than 30 minutes to make
⭐️ Summery and light – but satisfying and hearty too
Raw vs Cooked Prawns
I urge you to buy raw prawns for this recipe (the ones that are grey rather than pink.)
This makes a big difference to the overall flavour of the dish as we cook them in the pan first, before adding the rest of the ingredients.
You could buy frozen raw prawns which are often more affordable, but make sure to defrost them before using. You can do this by running them under a cold tap for a few minutes, or check what your packet says and follow the manufacturers instructions.
If you want to use cooked prawns, you can. This will speed up the recipe even more, but please note the dish will lose a good amount of flavour.
If you’re nervous about using raw prawns, I understand, but if you follow the basic advice from the Food Standards Agency, you will be fine:
➡️ Defrost frozen prawns thoroughly to allow them to cook evenly.
➡️ Don’t wash prawns before cooking as this could spread bacteria.
➡️ Keep raw prawns away from other foods to avoid cross-contamination of bacteria, and wash hands and surfaces thoroughly.
➡️ How to know when raw prawns are cooked: They will turn pink (or pinky white), become firm and completely opaque. They should always be piping hot all the way through.
Prawn Linguine Ingredients
- Linguine – This is the long, narrow, flat shaped pasta.
- Olive oil and butter – To fry the prawns in.
- Raw king prawns – Also known as shrimps in the US and Canada. Make sure they are peeled (or peel them yourself).
- Garlic – We’re using 6 cloves for this recipe for bags of flavour.
- Chilli – One red fresh chilli. The fatter ones are not too spicy, but go with what you like.
- Dry white wine – You can buy small cans and bottles of wine in all supermarkets now and the alcohol cooks off so it’s perfectly fine to serve to children.
- Double cream – Also known as heavy cream outside the UK.
- Grated parmesan – To stir in near the end.
- Lemon – We’re using the zest and juice.
- Fresh parsley – For serving.
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper – Season generously.
How to make Prawn Linguine
1. Cook the linguine, then drain. Make sure you reserve some pasta water (as per the full recipe below).
2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil and butter and cook the prawns until just pink. Remove them from the pan and set to one side.
3. Add the garlic and chilli to the same pan and cook until fragrant. Pour in the white wine and bubble until reduced. Turn the heat down, add cream, parmesan and lemon zest.
4. Add the linguine and prawns, stir and gradually add reserved pasta water to make a silky sauce. Scatter over the parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice before serving.
Leftovers
This dish is best eaten as soon as it’s made.
If you do have leftovers, make sure you follow the guidance for cooking with prawns, which is that you can reheat them as long as they’re piping hot, have been stored correctly in the fridge for no longer than 3 days and if they haven’t previously been heated up (apart from the initial cook).
You can also eat them cold as long as they’ve been refrigerated properly.
Recipe Tips
Type of prawns
I urge you to buy raw prawns for this recipe (the ones that are grey rather than pink.) This makes a big difference to the overall flavour of the dish as we cook them in the pan first, before adding the rest of the ingredients.
You could buy frozen raw prawns which are often more affordable, but make sure to defrost them before using. You can do this by running them under a cold tap for a few minutes, or check what your packet says and follow the manufacturers instructions.
If you want to use cooked prawns, you can. This will speed up the recipe even more, but please note the dish will lose a good amount of flavour.
Cooking with wine
We use white wine in our recipe to deglaze the pan (this gets all the delicious flavour off the bottom of the pan), and while we don’t often use wine in our recipes, here it adds a lovely flavour and acidity to the dish that we think it’s worth it.
You can buy small cans and bottles of wine in all supermarkets now and all the alcohol cooks off, so it’s perfectly fine to serve to children.
If you’d rather avoid using wine however, you can just add 75ml vegetable stock or even water (the dish will still be delicious).
Spice
We’ve used a fatter kind of red chilli here as the thin ones can be very hot! Chillies can vary massively in their spiciness, so if you’re a bit nervous of the heat, you could start by adding a little, then adding a little more in at the end.
For spice lovers around the table, you could pop some chilli flakes on the table for the option of extra heat too!
Oil and butter
We use BOTH for this recipe because when you use them together, it’s very hard to burn the butter in the pan. It also adds the most delicious flavour.
Reserve pasta water
Make sure you keep some back when you’ve drained it after cooking. A little stirred back into the finished dish helps to loosen everything up and give us a nice, silky sauce.
More tasty recipes with prawns…
Under 15 minutes
Prawn Tacos {with Zesty Lime Dressing}
Light Bites
Prawn Cocktail
Under 15 minutes
Prawn Pasta {10 Minute Meal}
FAQs
You could use another kind of long pasta like spaghetti or fettuccine if you like. Another pasta will work but perhaps not quite have the same satisfaction of swirling it around your fork!
This dish is great on its own or with a side salad, or how about a garlic flatbread too?
Let me know how you got on and what you thought of these recipes. Please rate the recipe using the ⭐️ below.
Also I’d LOVE to see your cooking creations. If you’d like to share yours with me, you can tag me on Instagram (@tamingtwins).
Prawn Linguine
Ingredients
- 350 g (12 oz) Linguine
- 2 tbsp Olive oil
- 30 g (1 oz) Butter
- 300 g (10 oz) Raw king prawns (shrimps), Peeled
- 6 Garlic cloves, Finely sliced
- 1 Red chilli, Finely chopped
- 75 ml (1/3 cup) Dry white wine
- 150 ml (2/3 cup) Double cream (heavy cream)
- 50 g (1/2 cup) Grated parmesan
- 1 Lemon, Zest and juice
- 15 g (1/4 cup) Fresh parsley, Finely chopped
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Cook the pasta: Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the linguine according to the pack instructions, then drain. (Make sure you reserve 250ml of the pasta water for later.)
- Cook the prawns: Meanwhile, heat the olive oil and butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat and cook the prawns for a minute or so on each side until just pink. Remove them from the pan and set to one side.
- Add garlic and chilli: Add the garlic and chilli to the same pan and cook for 2-3 minutes until fragrant.
- Wine in to deglaze: Pour in the white wine and let it bubble for 2–3 minutes until it has reduced by about half.
- Heat down, cream, parmesan and lemon in: Turn the heat down a little and stir in the cream, grated parmesan and lemon zest.
- Pasta and prawns into the sauce: Add the linguine and cooked prawns to the sauce and stir everything together. Add enough reserved pasta water to make a silky sauce that clings to the pasta. (Do this gradually so you don’t add too much at once.)
- To serve: Scatter over the parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice before serving.
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Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation. Nutritional values are per portion unless otherwise stated.
