Creamy Cajun Shrimp Pasta with Sausage
A spicy and creamy Cajun pasta dish with blackened shrimp and andouille sausage.
Do you have a dish that you always order at a favorite restaurant? I do, and it's Creole Pasta at this lovely little bistro in our new neighborhood. I crave it and I wish I could try something else from the menu, but I just can't. Obsessed and inspired, I set out to make something like it at home. It took a few tries, but I came up with a creamy cajun shrimp and sausage pasta dish that can compete ~ alleluia.
I love cajun spices or creole seasonings, both terms seem to be used interchangeably, but they are actually a little different. I'm no expert but, simply put, some label Creole food as "city food" and Cajun as "country food". I'm just gonna go with cajun here, and leave the nuanced differences to others.
I'm not from St. Louis ~ I'm a Chicago girl, through and through ~ but after living here for almost 14 years, I would definitely say St. Louis is more southern than midwestern.
There's a huge French influence here and St. Louis is home to the largest Mardi Gras celebration outside of New Orleans. Just a little observation I thought I'd share. ?
This dish has such great flavor and heat, neither of which overwhelms the other. The sauce is creamy and decadent and tossed with fettuccine, blackened shrimp and andouille sausage. Cajun spices are great on shrimp, seared or "blackened" for a few minutes so they're not overcooked and rubbery.
Andouille is a smoked sausage full of wonderful Louisiana cajun spices. The combination of shrimp and andouille ~ a perfect match. And lately, I've been making this with bowtie pasta, I like the leftovers with bowties, a little easier to reheat.
This pasta dish comes together easily if you have all your ingredients prepped and ready to go, mise en place. It's perfect for a weeknight dinner or entertaining. Creamy cajun pasta with blackened shrimp and andouille sausage ~ not gonna lie, I licked my plate and then the pan, before Meathead could beat me to it! ~ Kelly
If you have a love of Cajun spiced southern dishes, then try these recipes, too:
- Creamy Cajun Pork Chops
- Cajun Brown Sugar Salmon
- Skillet Cajun Chicken Thighs
- Cajun Southern Fried Corn
- Cajun Macaroni Salad
- Southern Fried Okra with Rémoulade Sauce
HUNGRY FOR MORE? Subscribe to my Newsletter and come hang out with me on INSTAGRAM, or give me a follow on FACEBOOK or see what I’m pinning on PINTEREST.
Creamy Cajun Shrimp Pasta with Sausage
Ingredients
- ½ pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails removed
- 1 andouille sausage, about ½ pound, sliced into rounds
- 1 - 2 tablespoons cajun/creole spice mix, adjust to your spice/heat level
- Olive oil
- ½ medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
- ½ red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon cajun/creole spice mix
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 - 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (1 large or 2 small)
- ½ cup crushed tomatoes
- ¾ cup chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ¾ cup heavy cream, or ½ & ½ (I prefer heavy cream!!)
- 12 ounces fettuccine or farfalle (bowties)
- Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper
- Grated Parmesan and chopped parsley, for serving
Instructions
- Bring large pot of water to boil for pasta. Toss shrimp with 1 - 2 tablespoons of cajun seasoning and coat well. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and drizzle bottom of pan with olive oil. Add shrimp and cook for 2 minutes or so until starting to curl. Flip shrimp over and cook another minute or two and then remove to a plate and set aside. Drizzle pan with a little more olive oil, add sausage and brown until nicely caramelized, about 4 - 5 minutes. Remove to plate, set aside.
- Add pasta to salted boiling water and cook until al dente, a minute less than package instructions.
- Lower heat to medium and add another good drizzle of olive oil to the pan, add the onion, red bell pepper, thyme, smoked paprika, 1 tablespoon cajun seasoning, brown sugar and a generous pinch of salt. Sauté until onion and pepper have softened a bit, scraping up any browned bits that you can. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add crushed tomatoes, chicken broth and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a simmer, stirring and scraping up any brown bits from bottom of pan, simmer a couple minutes. Add cream and stir to combine, bring to a simmer. Once simmering, add cooked pasta and andouille sausage and stir to combine and heat through, 2 - 3 minutes. Add more chicken broth or cream if it seems dry or you'd like more sauce (I added ¼ cup of each). Salt and pepper to taste and then lastly, add blackened shrimp and combine, or place shrimp on top of pasta. Sprinkle with some more freshly cracked black pepper, grated Parmesan and chopped parsley. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
*Inspired by Immaculate Bites and The Flavor Bender and, of course, Roux Royale ~ St. Charles, Missouri
I have made this recipe several times and it’s always a hit! I took your advice and added more liquid so leftover have more sauce!
I found this recipe years ago and it's been a hit ever since! This is hands down the best cajun pasta. Some of my favorite comments I've gotten after making this for people are "I'd willingly pay $40 for this at a restaurant" and "this pasta is badass". One guy asked me to be his girlfriend after making this for him (I said no LOL)
Anyways this dish has never failed. I've shared this recipe with soooo many friends. Everybody loves it. Thank you for this!!
I had this at a favorite restaurant. I had to find a good recipe. I made this and it was so good. I made a couple of other recipes but they were lacking the depth of flavors this recipe contains.
I just looked through 20+ recipes, determined to find this recipe again. I knew it had worcestershire sauce.
I won't lose this recipe again!
So glad you liked the recipe, it is one of my favorites!
Delicious! I followed the recipe verbatim. I used K Paul’s seafood seasoning and it was perfect! Huge fan of Cajun/creole cooking and this is on par with some of Paul Prudhomme’s recipes, yet much simpler. Thanks for sharing!
Maybe I messed something up, but ours was too salty. Otherwise good 🙂
I'm sorry this turned out too salty for you. I always use unsalted Cajun seasoning for this reason.
@Kelly Wildenhaus, you should've put that in the ingredients list
Made this for my daughter and son in law and they loved it!! I did substitute ground Jimmy Dean pork sausage as my son in law does not care for Andouille sausage. Worked out really well!!
That sounds like a great substitution, and good to hear they loved it!
Stuff! I used a 12 oz package of beef Little Smokies instead of andouille and a tablespoon of tomato paste instead of crushed tomatoes, since that's what I had on hand. Otherwise I followed the recipe, and it was delicious.
This was so easy and so good. The brown sugar just made it. How surprising!
OMG!! I found this recipe yesterday and made it today! It will now be in rotation here at my house and for events. This deserves a 10-Star rating. Thank you for this masterpiece!!
I veganized this recipe and it was still delicious. Thank you for publishing this recipe!
Great start to my fave pasta. I of course made a few adjustments being a natural creole. But loved it!! Also creole and Cajun have nothing to do with city or country it is French and Spanish backgrounds. Creole have the French background and Cajun has the more Spanish background . Can’t wait to try more of her recipes
@Marquitta, Cajuns are descendants from Acadia,now Nova Scotia in Canada. They are Acadian French. Some are mixed with European, African and Indigenous. Creoles are a mixture of African,European and Indigenous. I am a at least 4th generation of 6 in New Orleans, LA.
What other type of pasta goes well with this dish?
When your husband asks if you saved that recipe weeks later you know it's good. Only change I made was using Cajun venison sausage which we have instead of andouille.
Great recipe! Delicious just as written. I tend to "amp" it up a bit, for myself, but it's great just as presented here.
Good recipe. I used heavy whipping cream but I think that made my sauce thin so I thinkened it using store bought sauce, only about two tablespoons...my SO loved it!
@Teylo, Hi. The thing with a cream sauce is, you have to let it reduce to thicken. Try slightly UNDERcooking your pasta, and it will finish perfectly while the sauce reduces.