Looking for a quick and easy pasta dish full of flavor? Look no further than this Cilantro Lime Shrimp Pasta that comes together in just 20 minutes.
Quick dinners are the name of the game when you’ve got a busy schedule and want to eat good home cooked meals. It’s really the only way when you think about it, unless you can afford to hire a cook.
Mr. Collins, we are perfectly able to hire a cook.
But, we aren’t all Mrs. Bennet, now, are we? Thank the merciful heavens.
And thankfully, a great meal can come together in just minutes for you, whether you just got my Jane Austen reference or not. No need to stand on ceremony, this dish will have you snapping up marriage proposals, with or without the required 10,000 pound per year.
This cilantro lime shrimp pasta dish gets great flavor from the cilantro and the cumin and a little bit of a kick from the crushed red pepper, however its spice isn’t over the top. It comes together very quickly and easily, particularly when you buy the shrimp already peeled and deveined.
I love the colors in this dish, the vibrant red and green from the tomatoes and cilantro. It’s almost like a salsa. But with shrimp. On pasta.
How to make this cilantro lime shrimp pasta
- In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the shrimp and cook almost until pink. Add the crushed red pepper, ground cumin, and black pepper to the pan. Stir to combine.
- Squeeze the lime juice all over the shrimp and stir. Add the cilantro and tomato as well as the hot cooked pasta. Stir the pasta into the sauce until well combined.
- Serve immediately with Parmesan on the side.
How to make this good and cheap:
Here are some of the strategies you can use to make this cilantro pasta recipe more economical:
- Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. For instance, when I see a great price on shrimp, I snatch them up and plan my meals around them. Or fill the freezer so that I have it when I want it.
- Compare prices. This year I’m trying my hand at keeping a price book so that I can know a good deal (for sure) when I see it.
How I make this recipe easy:
Having the right kitchen tools can really make your time in the kitchen more enjoyable. Over time, I’ve honed my collection so that they are perfect for my needs. Here are the tools that I use for this recipe:
This post contains affiliate links which provide a means for me to earn fees linking to Amazon and other affiliate sites.
- my favorite skillet ever
- Ergo chef cooking tongs
- mesh strainer for rinsing the shrimp
- my IKEA utility knife
- plastic cutting boards
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
- 1 pound medium shrimp peeled and deveined
- 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- juice of 1 lime
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 chopped tomato
- 12 ounces spaghetti cooked and drained
- shredded Parmesan cheese for serving
- In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the shrimp and cook almost until pink. Add the crushed red pepper, ground cumin, and black pepper to the pan. Stir to combine.
- Squeeze the lime juice all over the shrimp and stir. Add the cilantro and tomato as well as the hot cooked pasta. Stir the pasta into the sauce until well combined.
- Serve immediately with Parmesan on the side.
Store leftovers in a container in the fridge up to 4 days.
Are you looking for more good cheap eats?
- grab one of my deluxe meal plans
- read through the recipe archives
- check out my cookbooks
- subscribe to my weekly newsletter
- check out my recipes on Life as Mom
- follow my Good Cheap Eats pinboard on Pinterest
- subscribe to the Good Cheap Eats YouTube channel
Originally posted August 26, 2011.
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That looks really good. I’m the only one in my family who would eat but I share things like that with my mother in law. My father in law is super picky and eats the same things all the time so she likes to try new things when I cook them.
Looks and sounds amazing! I have a bag of shrimp in the freezer just for this.
that looks delicious! thanks for sharing the recipe. hope it helps increase your vitamin D!
This looks great! We don’t eat shrimp so I will sub diced raw diced chicken breast
Wow, this sounds like this will fit the bill! I’ve been thinking about making something with shrimp, but wanted something light, unlike shrimp scampi… Thanks for sharing!!
Sounds delicious! I was looking for a shrimp and cilantro dish and this sounds pretty easy and looks tasty. Thanks!
I have a box of frozen lemon-pepper shrimp in my freezer, do you think this would taste good in this dish? I was thinking I would definitely leave out the cayenne pepper (for my kids sake), but would you leave out the cumin and extra pepper also?
I usually buy straight shrimp, so I am not sure.
This was great!! I’m not a big shrimp eater, but I loved this. Used canned stewed tomatoes with celery and onions and pureed them before pouring in the pan.
Thank you for posting this recipe! It was healthy, easy, filling and tasted great! My husband just kept telling me “thank you for making this” and “this is a ‘do again’ (which in our family means add it to the regular menu rotation) through the whole meal. My kids ate it based on the fact that it had shrimp alone and didn’ t even realize until the end that it had tomatoes. 🙂
I love success stories like that!
I would love this, but DH doesn’t eat cilantro. Would it work to sub in basil or is there something else you can suggest?
I think basil would be fine. Trade the lime for a lemon and go light on pepper flakes. Sounds yummy!
Sounds fabulous! Thanks for the recipe.
I found this dish last Week, and let me tell,you, it’s love!
I also love how versatile it is. Have leftover corn? Toss it in. Left over broccoli, toss it in. Mounds of zucchini in your garden? Toss it in!
My toddlers (2yr & 1yr) love this too.
I love that it’s litterally, always things I seem to have in my pantry. And it’s less than 15 minutes from start to eat. LOVE!
Glad you liked it!
I love the Pride and Prejudice quote!!! The recipe looks like something that’s right up my alley!