Shrimp and scallop pasta in Cajun cream sauce is a house favorite! Giant shrimp or king prawns, scallops and Andouille sausage (or use chicken or turkey Andouille sausage) sautéed with peppers and onions in a lighter spicy Cajun cream sauce tossed with gluten-free fusilli pasta noodles.
This is a sponsored post from Tresomega Nutrition written on behalf of me. All opinions are mine and I only support products I love and use myself.
I will stop you in your tracks now before you start thinking “cream and healthy” really do not mix well.
You are right. They don’t.
So I have turned a traditional Cajun cream sauce seafood pasta recipe into lighter version using a slight amount of half and half combined with Greek cream cheese which is light in fat!
Credit for this recipe goes to my husband because it all started from his vacation creamy seafood pasta cravings! Here’s the details of our end of the summer family vacation and how this recipe all started. If you want to skip our vacation details, just scroll down to the recipe:-) I am by no means offended:-)
About a month ago the family and I took a trip across the country to Virginia (where I am from) for our family vacation. We try to do this every August unless otherwise I am having a baby! Boys both had due dates the end of August so we skipped a couple of years. No mom, do not get any ideas when I start talking about babies, we are not looking to get pregnant any time soon:-)
The trip was fabulous and our Virginia Beach vacation started out with lots of cousin beach and pool time, stand up paddle boarding with the kids, family birthday celebrations and eating a whole LOTTA delicious seafood! Big C kept asking for “cold” shrimp or popcorn shrimp the whole trip and little c is not a seafood lover and requests plain old pasta noodles for his meals. Everyone had something different on their mind but I’ll admit we probably gorged ourselves in a bit too many fish tacos, shrimp and scallop pasta, crab cakes, grilled salmon and fish sticks (to name a few tantalizing meals) over the course of 4 days. No one complained:-)
Aside from all the eating we did, one of our favorite moments was our family stand-up paddle boarding day. We put the kids on the front of our boards and took off in the marina for a couple of hours. This was the first time Big C has been old enough to do a grown up event with his cousins and us! Thank God for grandmom’s because little c had the best time with her in the hotel while we were gone. We floated through the most beautiful water, lined with fishermen boats and witnessed Marine boats taking off in the water with about 20 jets flying overhead at the same time. Those Marine boats are the quietest boats I have ever seen! The smiles on the kids faces seeing that are priceless.
One evening, instead of tracking four families and five kids out to dinner we ordered food in and my husband got the most delicious spicy shrimp and scallop pasta in a cajun cream sauce and I opted for a lighter option of healthy grilled fish with fresh roasted vegetables. When we returned home from vacation he asked me to implement that same shrimp and scallop pasta because he just could not get his mind off how delicious it was!
All this creamy Cajun talk reminds me of my Louisiana friend, Laurie (hey, girl!). She is always making amazing Jambalaya (Spanish and French influenced) cuisines and creamy meals that I told her I am gonna one day try to create a “healthy southern food” version!
Here we go- lets make a healthier creamy carbohydrate pasta by using light Greek cream cheese, quinoa fusilli pasta noodles and chicken sausage instead of beef or pork. Hubby didn’t mind because he could not stop raving how delicious my version is!
We have really been enjoying Tresomega’s gluten-free quinoa pasta. It cooks perfect and is packed with nutritional protein and iron. You can purchase Tresomega Nutrition’s products online at: Tresomega, Sam’s Club, Amazon and Walmart.
Let me warn you this shrimp and scallop pasta recipe is very spicy so the kiddos might not like it too much, but go ahead and see if they do! Worth a try, right? I suggest starting with 1 Tablespoon of Cajun spice and see if you want it spicier adding up to 2 Tablespoons. My husband and I like it very spicy (we were kinda sweating eating it!) so I used 2 Tablespoons of Cajun spice in ours. You can vary your shellfish too by adding lobster in this recipe too! I also prefer to use chicken sausage instead of beef or pork Andouille sausage since that is also lighter in saturated fats and I do not eat red meat.
Shrimp and Scallop Seafood Cooking Tips:
We want to keep the shrimp and scallops nice and tender. This pasta is served best using giant prawns of shrimp and large chunks of scallops. Start your cooking adventure using the freshest raw seafood and heating both shrimp and scallops in a large skillet with a dash of olive oil covered for about 5 minutes. Cook just until the shrimp starts to turn pink. It will keep cooking so remove it right away from the heat and transfer to a dish to prevent it from becoming tough and over cooked. Let it cool then remove the shrimp tails and shells and cut both the shrimp and scallops into large chunks for the best taste! Add it last with the Cajun garlic cream sauce and bell peppers and onions.
PIN This Shrimp and Scallop Pasta With Cajun Garlic Cream Sauce Recipe
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- ½ lb. jumbo shrimp
- ½ lb. scallops
- 2 Andouille sausage links (turkey or chicken Andouille sausage for a healthier version), cooked
- 12 oz. TresOmega gluten-free fusilli pasta noodles
- ½ red bell pepper, cut into slices
- ½ green bell pepper, cut into slices
- ½ cup white onion, diced
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 8 oz. whipped cream cheese
- ½ cup half and half
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup white wine
- 1 vegetable bouillon (no salt added)
- 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
- 1-2 Tablespoons Cajun seasoning
- 1 ½ teaspoons Himalayan salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Tablespoon parsley, chopped
- 1-2 Tablespoon olive oil
- Cook the vegetables: In a medium skillet heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and add the onions, red bell pepper slices and green bell pepper slices. Heat on medium-high until the onions become translucent about 10 minutes continuously mixing. Set aside until ready to use.
- Prepare the meat: In a skillet add olive oil then the shrimp and scallops. Cover and heat for 5 minutes on medium heat or until the shrimp starts to turn pink and the scallops are no longer translucent. Make sure not to over-cook them. Remove from the pan and set aside to cool. Meanwhile slice the sausage. When the shrimp and scallops are cool enough to handle remove the legs, shells and tails of the shrimp then cut each shrimp into thirds. Cut the scallops in half or thirds as well so you have the seafood in large chunks. Set the meat aside until ready to use.
- Make the Cajun cream sauce: In a saucepan or skillet add the garlic and heat on low-medium about 1 minute then add the cream cheese, half and half, Parmesan cheese, white wine, vegetable bouillon, tomato paste, 1-2 Tablespoon Cajun seasoning (for a super spicy dish use up to 2 tablespoons and for a more mild dish use 1 tablespoon), salt and pepper. Mix it continuously to melt the cheeses and combine the flavors. Once the cream cheese is melted transfer the cream sauce to a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the cream sauce back in the saucepan, cover and heat on low for about 15-30 minutes while you make the pasta.
- Make the pasta according to the package directions. Reserve ¼ cup of the water then drain the noodles. In a large bowl mix together the noodles, sausage, shrimp, scallops, cooked onions and peppers and desired amount of the sauce. If the sauce is too thick add a little of the reserve water from the noodles. Toss to combine the ingredients well and garnish with freshly chopped parsley.
Cook the pasta while the sauce sets and is made for a 30 minute meal.
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings 6.0 | |
| Amount Per Serving | |
| calories 515 | |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Total Fat 16 g | 25 % |
| Saturated Fat 8 g | 38 % |
| Monounsaturated Fat 3 g | |
| Polyunsaturated Fat 1 g | |
| Trans Fat 0 g | |
| Cholesterol 138 mg | 46 % |
| Sodium 1305 mg | 54 % |
| Potassium 244 mg | 7 % |
| Total Carbohydrate 10 g | 3 % |
| Dietary Fiber 1 g | 4 % |
| Sugars 7 g | |
| Protein 32 g | 64 % |
| Vitamin A | 22 % |
| Vitamin C | 29 % |
| Calcium | 24 % |
| Iron | 11 % |
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