This Creamy Cajun Chicken and Shrimp Pasta is an easy yet delicious dish made of chicken, juicy shrimps (prawns), loads of garlic, cheese, and tomatoes. It is the perfect dish when you want a scrumptious dinner quickly put together. Ready in 25 minutes, this pasta with chicken and prawns is perfect for a weekday meal or a lazy Sunday lunch!
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Same as Creamy Prawn Pasta, I make this quick and easy dish with tiger prawns for extra juiciness. Shrimp is one of my favorite seafood to mix with pasta, and this Cajun Shrimp Chicken Pasta is a great way to eat them.
Why This Recipe Works?
- This delicious Shrimp and Chicken Cajun Pasta are ready in just 25 minutes, a perfect weekday meal for busy nights.
- It is versatile, you can use any type of pasta to combine with your favorite shrimp to make this creamy pasta dish.
- The leftovers would keep for up to three days when refrigerated.
- This pasta is also freezer friendly. Make sure you use fresh prawns and chicken meat if you want to freeze the leftovers.
Ingredients and Substitutes
- Prawns - Fresh raw tiger prawns are the best option, they're big and juicy and they taste amazing. Buy fresh prawns with shells and heads, if you can. However, peeled and deveined prawns make life easier. For a convenient alternative, use regular raw prawns, they're smaller but cheaper, and they still taste great.
- Chicken - You can use breast or thighs for this pasta recipe
- Peppers - I prefer using green Turkish peppers but Spanish Padron peppers or bell peppers would also do the job.
- Cajun Spices - It is a great seasoning for fish, chicken, and meat and is made of salt, garlic powder, paprika, black pepper, onion powder, cayenne pepper, and oregano, thyme, and red pepper flakes. Make your own or buy ready-made from supermarkets.
- Garlic - Fresh garlic is a great flavoring that adds sweetness and nuttiness to dishes. Turn it into a paste with a Mortar and Pestle or grate it using a Microplane Zester Grater. I use two large or three small fresh garlic cloves for this recipe.
- Double cream - It is very similar to heavy cream. You can substitute it with whipping cream or milk and butter.
- Lemon juice - It adds some freshness to the sauce as well as enhances the flavor! Use freshly squeezed lemon juice, not bottled ones.
- Cheese - No pasta is complete without cheese. Use stilton, gorgonzola, or Roquefort along with parmesan and cheddar, to enrich the sauce and give a sharp umami flavor. Adjust the amount of cheese to your taste.
- Fresh herbs - The best herbs to pair with seafood are dill, parsley, tarragon, chervil, and chives. Use a mixture of a few or just one of them to add a delicate, sharp punch to your pasta.
- Pasta - Dried or fresh, any pasta type works great with this garlicky sauce.
Please see the recipe card below for exact quantities.
Step by Step Instructions
It is very easy to make this spicy Chicken and Shrimp Cajun Pasta. However, to achieve the best results, you need to follow a few simple steps:
Marinate the Prawns
Mix olive oil and cajun spices in a bowl and then add the prawns, mix until prawns are nicely covered with spiced olive oil. Set them aside and then let them marinate while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Marinate the Chicken
Same as the prawns, mix the chicken pieces with olive oil and cajun spices and set them aside.
Put some water to boil for pasta before starting the sauce.
Make the Sauce
To make the sauce, place a large pan or wok on medium heat and then melt the butter. When the butter starts sizzling, add the shrimp and then cook for a minute, until they turn pink and start to curl.
Don't be tempted to cook the shrimp any longer as they will cook more later with the sauce. Remove them to a plate and then set them aside.
Sauté the chicken pieces for five minutes or until they are thoroughly cooked, and place them on the same plate with prawns. The cooking time varies depending on the size of the chicken pieces.
Add the garlic to the same pan and then quickly sauté for 30 seconds with the remaining butter and then add the peppers.
Sauté peppers for another minute and then add the tomatoes (and chilies if using). Cook the tomatoes until soft, for about a couple of minutes.
The water for the pasta should be boiling at this point. Add plenty of salt to boiling water and then add your pasta. Assuming that you are using dried pasta which usually takes 10 to 12 minutes. If you are using fresh pasta, start cooking it later.
When the tomatoes are softened, add the double cream, salt, and pepper. Reduce the cream down for a few minutes and then add the blue cheese (optional) along with the lemon juice.
Cook for a few more minutes, stirring until the blue cheese (if using) melts into the creamy sauce. Add the rest of the cheese, chopped herbs, shrimp, and chicken last minute, just before adding the cooked pasta into the sauce.
Stir well until nicely combined and then remove it from the heat.
Serve this deliciously creamy shrimp cajun pasta with some more grated cheese and chopped herbs along with a bowl of leaf salad or Rocket Salad with Parmesan.
Top Tip from The Chef
Always keep some of the pasta cooking water while making the sauce. If the sauce gets too thick while you cook it, add some pasta water to make it creamy again.
Recipe FAQs
Prawns are great to mix with pasta, but there are many other ways to enjoy this popular seafood. You can make cheesy and spicy Baked Prawns (Karides Guvec) or you can add them to your Fish Pie mixture. You can make a prawn cocktail, pasta sauce, BBQ Garlic Butter Prawns, or just add them to salads.
I prefer using long-shaped pasta such as linguini, spaghetti, fettuccine, or tagliatelle but you can use what you have in your pantry.
Remove the prawn head by holding the prawn by the body with one hand and then firmly grasp the prawn's head with your other hand.
Peel off the shell and then peel off the remainder of the prawn's outer layer. Pull the legs off using your fingers, from its underside.
Then pull off the tail, firmly holding the body of the prawn with one hand and grabbing the prawn tail with your other hand. Devein the prawn with the help of a sharp small knife.
Cut a small line that runs down the length of the prawn's back and use the tip of the knife to pull out the vein. You can also watch the short video attached to the recipe card to show how to peel and devein raw prawns.
Once you have your prawns shelled and deveined, you can keep them in the freezer for up to three months to use later in delicious recipes such as Chorizo and Prawn Pasta.
Related Recipes
For more great seafood recipes why not try:
Did you make this recipe? Please let me know how it turned out! Leave a comment below and tag @cookingorgeous on Instagram and hashtag it #cookingorgeous.
I hope you enjoy the process of making this creamy Cajun Shrimp and Chicken Pasta recipe as much as you enjoy eating it! 🙂
Bon appétit! / Afiyet Olsun!
Cajun Chicken and Shrimp Pasta
Equipment
- 1 Saucepan
Ingredients
- 250 g tiger or king prawns (shelled and deveined)
- 200 g chicken thighs (small diced)
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon cajun spice
- 10 g butter
- 1 Turkish chilli (or ½ green bell pepper or few green Spanish padron peppers) (sliced)
- 2 medium tomatoes (small diced)
- 3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- 1 red chilli (finely chopped, optional)
- 200 ml double cream or heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 50 g blue cheese (optional)
- 100 g grated cheddar cheese
- 50 g grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoon chopped herbs such as parsley, dill, tarragon, chives or chervil
- 400 g pasta of your choice
Instructions
- Mix olive oil and cajun spices in a bowl and add the prawns, mix until prawns are nicely covered with spiced olive oil. Set them aside.
- Same as the prawns, mix the chicken pieces with olive oil and cajun spices and set them aside, and let them marinate while preparing the rest of the ingredients.
- Put some water to boil for pasta before starting the sauce.
- To make the sauce, place a large pan or wok on medium heat and melt the butter.
- When the butter starts sizzling, add the prawns and cook for a minute, until they turn pink and start to curl. Don't be tempted to cook any longer as they will cook more later with the sauce.
- Remove the prawns to a plate and set them aside to use later.
- Using the same pan, sauté the chicken pieces for five minutes or until they are thoroughly cooked, and place them on the same plate with prawns. The cooking time varies depending on the size of the chicken pieces.
- Add the garlic to the same pan and quickly sauté for 30 seconds with the remaining butter and then add the peppers.
- Sauté peppers for another minute and then add the tomatoes (and chilies if using).
- Cook the tomatoes until soft, for about a couple of minutes, and then add the double cream, salt, and pepper.
- The water for the pasta should be boiling at this point. Add plenty of salt to boiling water and add your pasta in. (Assuming that you are using dried pasta which usually takes 10 to 12 minutes. If you are using fresh pasta, start cooking it later).
- Reduce the cream down for a few minutes and then add the blue cheese (optional) along with the lemon juice.
- Cook for a few more minutes, stirring until the blue cheese(if using) melts into the creamy sauce before adding the cooked pasta.
- Add the rest of the cheese, chopped herbs, chicken, and shrimp last minute.
- Stir all well together until nicely combined and then remove the pan from the heat.
- Serve with some more grated cheese and chopped herbs.
Video
Notes
- This delicious shrimp pasta is ready in just 25 minutes, a perfect weekday meal for busy nights.
- Always keep some of the pasta cooking water while making the sauce. If the sauce gets too thick while you cook it, add some pasta water to make it creamy again.
- Don't be tempted to cook the prawns any longer than stated as they will cook more later with the sauce.
- The cooking time for the chicken pieces varies depending on their size.
- The leftovers would keep for up to three days when refrigerated.
- Make sure you use fresh prawns and chicken meat if you want to freeze the leftovers.
- You can watch the short video attached to the recipe card if you want to learn how to peel and devein raw prawns.
Nutrition
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Carole
Absolutely delicious! Smells as good as it tastes. Will be making again soon.
Faruq
This recipe is fantastic! I didn’t change a thing and they turned out great! Definitely a keeper.