This easy shrimp and scallop pasta is ready in under an hour- and perfect for a mid-week date night or family dinner with the kids!
I love this dish- its simple & quick with layers of flavor to coat your mouth. The best part is, it’s ready in under an hour. There’s nothing complicated about making this shrimp and scallop pasta. Don’t let the white wine sauce intimidate you. This sauce is the most basic white wine sauce you can make, and you’ll want to start putting it on everything. Which is fine. Grab some bread, dip it in. Drink it straight out of the pan, go for it.
If you have time, I recommend pairing this with some fresh homemade pasta. Check out my tutorial on this topic- it will surprise you with how simple it is.
What type of wine is needed for this dish?
A dry white wine. Think sauvignon blanc or an unoaked chardonnay. Nothing sweet, so no moscato or pinto griot. I always use sauvignon blanc, because that’s also my favorite wine for drinking. You only need 1 cup of wine for the recipe so keep that in mind.
What you need to make shrimp and scallop pasta:
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1-1/2 Tbsp butter, salted or unsalted is fine here. You’re going to add salt anyways.
- 1/2 small yellow onion, minced
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced– I used more than four in all honesty. If you love garlic you can’t add too much.
- 1/2 tsp salt, or less if you’re using salted butter.
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1/2 cup seafood stock, chicken stock is fine too if that’s all you have & don’t want to run to the store
- 1 Tbsp parsley
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- juice of half a lemon
- 1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined do your best to find non farm raised
- 1/2 lb bay scallops these are the smaller scallops
- 1/2 lb pasta, long pasta like linguine or paradelle
Remember- like I said in my spinach dip recipe– prep your ingredients to make life easier.
How to make this delicious seafood pasta
Over medium heat, sauté the onions in the olive oil and butter. Once the onions begin to soften, add the salt and garlic. You don’t want to burn the garlic, so keep an eye on it. When the onions are translucent and the garlic is beginning to brown, pour in the wine, stock, parsley, pepper flakes, and lemon juice. Bring a pot of water to almost boiling, so you can turn up the heat when you’re ready to cook the pasta.
After the liquid is cooked down to about half its original volume (second image above) do a taste test and add more salt if needed. The shrimp and scallops will be cooking in this. Don’t worry if it looks like a lot of liquid, the pasta will absorb most of it.
Next, add the shrimp and scallops to the liquid, and add the pasta to the boiling water. Cook the seafood until it is no longer translucent and turn the heat to medium low. Sometimes I throw in an additional pad of butter at this step, to make the dish a little more rich.
*When adding the seafood to the pan, make sure everything is in a single layer. This will help to cook it evenly. *
Boil the pasta al dente- about a minute undercooked. We want the pasta to finish cooking in the liquid in the pan. The pasta will absorb the flavor from the pan (you REALLY want this).
Finally- when the pasta is cooked to al dente, add it to the pan with the seafood. Toss it around and leave it over heat until the pasta is cooked completely- about two minutes or so.
I prefer to serve this with Pecorino Romano, it’s a sharp & salty Italian cheese made from sheep’s milk that melts evenly and coats the shrimp and scallops like a dream.
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Shrimp and Scallop Pasta with White Wine Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1-1/2 tbsp butter unsalted
- 1/2 yellow onion minced
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- 1 cup dry white wine sauvignon blanc or unoaked chardonnay
- 1/2 cup seafood stock low sodium
- 1 tbsp parsley
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2 lb shrimp peeled & deveined
- 1/2 lb bay scallops
- 1/2 lb pasta long pasta works best here
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 juice of lemon
Instructions
- To a pan over medium heat, add the olive oil and butter. Once they are heated, add the onions and salt and sauté until slightly translucent. Add the garlic and cook until it is fragrant and slightly browning. Do not burn the garlic.
- Once the onions are full translucent and the garlic is cooked- add the stock, wine, parsley, lemon juice, and red pepper flakes.
- Simmer over medium high heat until the liquid is cooked down by half. Taste test here, and add more salt if you'd like. The scallops and shrimp will be cooking in this so it is important to salt here.
- While the liquid is simmering, bring a pot of water almost to a boil to prepare for cooking your pasta. Add the pasta to this pot when you add the shrimp and scallops to the other pan.
- Once the liquid is cooked down, add the shrimp and scallops to the pan. Arrange them so that they are in a single layer. Cook until they are no longer translucent.
- Turn the heat in the pan to medium low and add the pasta straight from the boiling water. The pasta should be al dente- undercooked by about one minute. The pasta will absorb the liquid in the pan and take on all that delicious flavor.
- Once the pasta is completely cooked, remove the pan from heat & serve! I like to top this with some Pecorino Romano, it adds a nice sharp flavor & coats the seafood perfectly.
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