Seafood pasta with shrimp and scallops and lots of garlic is seriously one of the fastest and most delicious meals you can make with pasta!
If you love shrimp, scallops, butter and garlic, this seafood pasta is for you!
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It’s a beautiful weeknight meal that can be made in under half an hour, but the cooking time is half that!
One of my most popular recipes is my simple garlic and butter shrimp with spaghetti. so I thought you would also enjoy this seafood pasta recipe which includes scallops. Seafood should not be overcooked, so I include step by step instructions on timing so that your dish will turn out perfectly!
The busiati pasta is not a very popular shape here in the US, but it is traditionally served with seafood in Italy. If you can’t find this shape of pasta, no problem, just use another, like linguine, spaghetti or a shorter pasta.
How Important is the Quality of the Ingredients?
In order to make sure this dish is as flavorful as possible, be sure to use really good quality seafood and pasta. Yes, all the ingredients are important all the time, but don’t even mess around with poor quality seafood; that’s the worst.
If you love seafood, you’re going to love my cioppino recipe!
And if you’re looking for a proper Italian spaghetti sauce, I can steer you in the right direction!
How do you Cook Frozen Seafood?
It’s easy, just thaw and cook as you would if it was fresh. I like to defrost mine in a colander. Seafood thaws quite quickly.
Don’t be scared to cook seafood, it’s really not difficult. I think the hardest thing is not overcooking it.
Can I Serve this without Pasta?
Yes, make some rice, quinoa, or zucchini noodles or even gluten free pasta for those who want to avoid gluten.
Fresh seafood is absolutely necessary.
Seafood Pasta with Shrimp and Scallops (and Garlic!)
Recipe by Christina Conte serves 4
FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW
Prepare the Scallops
Soak the scallops for 10 minutes in a brine solution (3 Tbsp Kosher salt in 16 oz water.)
Remove after 10 minutes and place on a rack to dry.
Cook the Pasta
Next, put a large pot of well salted water on to boil for the pasta. Once the pasta goes in, set a timer for 7 minutes before the pasta will be ready (according to package instructions.)
Make the Seafood Sauce
Make sure the scallops are dry. If they are not, pat them dry with a paper towel. When the timer goes off, put a large cast iron pan on high heat and add the extra virgin olive oil.
When the pan and oil are very hot, add the scallops and sear them for about 1 1/2 minutes before adding the shrimp, garlic, and parsley.
Cook for another 2 minutes before turning the scallops and shrimp, and lowering the heat a little. Next add the butter.
This seafood pasta sauce is probably the quickest sauce you can make!
Add the wine and then turn the heat down just to keep the pan warm.
You can also add some freshly ground black pepper, if desired.
Add the Pasta to the Seafood Sauce
Drain the pasta, which should be ready, but reserve a cup or so of pasta water. You will only need this pasta water if you want to add some after mixing everything together. Add the pasta directly to the seafood sauce in the pan.
Stir gently to incorporate all the ingredients together. Add some of the reserved pasta water, if desired, then top with a twist of lemon in the pan.
Serve the Seafood Pasta!
Serve immediately as this seafood pasta dish is best piping hot.
This is not a fancy dish, so bring the pan to the table and serve it from there. Don’t forget some crusty bread to mop up the buttery garlic and wine sauce at the end!
I was shooting in a hurry as I had a hungry crew behind me waiting to eat this! Haha!
And one last seafood pasta recipe for you: mussel pasta (Italian style with tomatoes and olives)!
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Seafood Pasta with Shrimp and Scallops (and Garlic!)
A buttery garlic wine sauce pairs with shrimp and scallops in this easy dish. Add some pasta and dinner is served!
Ingredients
- 1 lb (454 g) scallops, fresh or thawed
- Kosher salt
- 12 oz (340 g) good quality pasta
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 8 large or 12 medium shrimp, fresh or thawed
- 3 or 4 cloves minced garlic
- chopped Italian, flat leaf parsley
- freshly ground black pepper
- 3 to 4 oz (85 to 100 g) good quality butter
- 1/3 cup (80 ml) dry white wine (you can substitute seafood stock or broth if you'd like)
- (lemon slices/wedges to serve)
Instructions
Prepare the Scallops
- Soak the scallops for 10 minutes in a brine solution (3 Tbsp Kosher salt in 16 oz water.)
- Remove after 10 minutes and place on a rack to dry.
Cook the Pasta
- Next, put a large pot of well salted water on to boil for the pasta. Once the pasta goes in, set a timer for 7 minutes before the pasta will be ready (according to package instructions.)
Make the Sauce
- Make sure the scallops are dry. If they are not, pat them dry with a paper towel. When the timer goes off, put a large cast iron pan on high heat and add the extra virgin olive oil.
- When the pan and oil are very hot, add the scallops and sear them for about 1 1/2 minutes before adding the shrimp, garlic, and parsley.
- Cook for another 2 minutes before turning the scallops and shrimp, and lowering the heat a little. Next add the butter.
- This seafood pasta sauce is probably the quickest sauce you can make!
- Add the wine and then turn the heat down just to keep the pan warm, and add some freshly ground black pepper, if desired.
Add the Pasta to the Seafood Sauce
- Drain the pasta, which should be ready, but reserve a cup or so of pasta water. You will only need this pasta water if you want to add some after mixing everything together. Add the pasta directly to the seafood sauce in the pan.
- Stir gently to incorporate all the ingredients together. Add some of the reserved pasta water, if desired, then top with a twist of lemon in the pan.
Serve.
- Serve immediately as this seafood pasta dish is best piping hot. Don't forget some crusty bread to mop up the buttery garlic and wine sauce at the end!
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving:Calories: 813Total Fat: 25gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 62mgSodium: 384mgCarbohydrates: 117gFiber: 7gSugar: 2gProtein: 25g
Nutrition information is only estimated.
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Usually don’t people cook out the wine? I’m worried if I make this it’ll come out with a harsh wine taste? Please elaborate on how heavy the wine taste turns out, cooking seafood pasta for a date night, and don’t want to do have it turn out with a heavy alcohol taste. I love the recipe, just concerned about flavor 😅😅 looks beautiful!!
Hi Martina, no harsh wine flavor at all, however, if you just don’t like wine, you can omit it. There’s no alcohol flavor, either. Just imagine if you were served this dish at a restaurant, you wouldn’t question the chef, you’d just say it’s wonderful, and so will your date! :) Enjoy!
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First time on your site and I was looking for a scallop and shrimp recipe. I read through it and made it, while my husband was doing wine tasting in zoom with his office. I switched veg broth for wine and red pepper flakes for parsley. IT WAS WONDERFUL! Simple and Delicious. I’ll be back for more recipes THANK YOU!
Oh you are so sweet to come let me know right away, Debbie! Thank you so much, I’m so happy you liked it. I just made it the other day, too! I do hope you’ll enjoy more of my recipes (they are all foolproof as I only share the ones I love)! If you have a second to click the 5 stars above the PRINT button, I’d really appreciate it (helps with google) :) Thanks again! CC
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Now doesn’t this look divine! Reminds me that I haven’t had scallops in a good long while. And yet I love them. I think you’ve inspired me …
Lovely!
Love the busiati shape! I have never seen it before. This sounds delicious – but you know, for me, it will be shrimp and scallops and NO garlic! :) I am sure shallots will do just fine. :)
Absolutely, David! On both counts! :)
i love seafood but hubby won’t eat it so we never have it at home:( I can only have it at restaurants. well he keeps saying make it for yourself but where’s the fun in that?:)
I totally understand! :)
Why brine the scallops?
Hi Susan, I actually added a link that explains why the scallops benefit from brining. Just click on the purple “brine solution” text in the directions. I think it’s worth the extra time, but you can skip it.
I could eat this shrimp all day! It really doesn’t get any better than garlic and shrimp. And with that delectable Busiati pasta – oh my! I love it! :-) ~Valentina
Thanks, Valentina!
Hi. Could you please advise what you do with the reserved cup of pasta water?
Sorry! Just fixed it. I forgot to mention that it’s only if you want to add some more liquid to the sauce after mixing everything together. This should actually be done every single time pasta is cooked; when the pasta is drained completely and any sauce added, the pasta continues to cook and dry up the sauce. Adding some pasta water makes it less dry and gives it better flavor, having the sauce incorporated with the pasta. Thanks for catching that, Pauline. :)