Italian Style Shrimp and Sweet Peppers is an amazingly delicious dish you will make again and again. Fresh tasting and flavorful, this sweet and savory recipe is sure to become your next family favorite. I love it with Angel hair pasta but it goes great with a side of garlic bread on top of your favorite salad or even as an appetizer.
Sautéed Jumbo Shrimp with Sweet Peppers
The combination of wildflower honey and sherry vinegar gives sautéed seafood and vegetables a little sweet and sour kick.
Recipe Summary
Yield:
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients
Ingredient Checklist
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 pound peeled and deveined jumbo shrimp
- 6 red, yellow, or orange baby sweet peppers, quartered, or 2 bell peppers, cut into pieces
- 1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 1 garlic clove, sliced
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon wildflower honey
- 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
Directions
Instructions Checklist
- Step 1 Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add shrimp; cook 1 minute on each side or until almost fully cooked. Transfer shrimp to a plate.
- Step 2 Return skillet to stovetop over medium heat, and add remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Add sweet peppers and next 4 ingredients. Cook, stirring occasionally, 6 to 8 minutes or until onion is translucent and peppers are tender. Stir in paprika, honey, vinegar, and 1 tablespoon water. Return shrimp to pan; cook 1 minute or until heated through.
Pasta with Shrimp and Bell Peppers
An easy yet elegant recipe for pasta with shrimp and bell peppers, in a fresh tomato and white wine sauce.
It is chockfull of sliced sweet bell peppers, red onion and jumbo black tiger shrimp. You’ll find it fancy enough for those special occasions but simply perfect for any day of the week.
What pasta goes with shrimp?
Although I used spaghettoni for this Italian style pasta and shrimp recipe, you can use its less chunkier version, the classic spaghetti. But any long style pasta such as bucatini, fettuccine or linguine would also be a lovely alternative.
Spaghettoni are wider and thicker in diameter than spaghetti. They hold up wonderfully and are perfect for this more robust, shrimp and pepper sauce. However any pasta shape is just fine as well.
This shrimp and pasta recipe features white wine, but, you needn’t worry as the alcohol evaporates while cooking. What remains is a wonderful concentration of flavors as the sauce simmers while keeping the shrimp moist and succulent.
Main ingredients for an Italian style shrimp and sweet peppers recipe
- Jumbo shrimp: I used the 16-20 count per pound, quick peel frozen shrimp which I defrosted before continuing with the recipe.
- Pasta: I used spaghettoni but you can use any long style pasta of your choice.
- Sweet peppers: For contrast in colour I opted for 1 green and 1 red sweet bell pepper.
- Red onion: I love its deep red, purplish hue but you can substitute with a yellow onion if you prefer.
So let’s get started shall we!
How to make an easy pasta sauce with shrimp
- Start by prepping all the ingredients. Slicing the veggies and peeling the shrimp.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet.
- Sprinkle a dash of salt and pepper over the shrimp and sear in the hot skillet for 1 minute while turning once.
- Transfer the shrimp onto a plate and set aside.
- Add the remaining oil to the skillet and sauté the sweet peppers, onions and minced garlic for 5 minutes, while stirring occasionally.
- Toss in the sliced cherry tomatoes, basil, chilli flakes, salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes.
- Add in the white wine and allow to reduce for a couple of minutes.
- Stir in the seared shrimp and butter.
- Allow the shrimp and pepper sauce to simmer for 8 minutes while occasionally stirring.
- Drain the cooked pasta and toss the noodles directly in the pan with the shrimp sauce, if your pan is large enough.
- Or, you can transfer the cooked pasta onto a serving platter and pour the sauce with the shrimp and peppers directly over the pasta.
- Then plate and serve topped with a sprinkle of grated cheese, chopped parsley and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
How to twirl spaghetti
To make the pretty spaghetti twirls you’ll need a soup ladle and a large two pronged fork.
Scoop up a large forkful of spaghetti and twirl it directly into the soup ladle while twirling it over and over until all the noodles are neatly shaped into a nest.
One heaping forkful will yield 6 servings. This is just the right amount if you are serving a multiple course meal.
If you’re serving this shrimp and pasta dish as a main course, you can make three, slightly smaller twirls of pasta for each plate serving. In which case the recipe will yield 4 to 5 servings. But this will depend on how large you make your pasta nests.
Italian-Style Shrimp & Sweet Peppers
over Fregola Sarda Pasta
25 MIN
2 Servings
From the Test Kitchen
In this quick-cooking recipe, you’ll sauté plump shrimp with tender sweet peppers—livened up with verjus and briny capers. Served over fregola sarda, a toasty, pearl-shaped pasta, it makes for a dish as vibrant as it is delicious
- Nutrition PER SERVING
- Calories450 Cals
INGREDIENTS
- 10 oz Shrimp
- ⅔ cup Fregola Sarda Pasta
- 2 Scallions
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 4 oz Sweet Peppers
- 2 Tbsps Verjus Blanc
- 1 Tbsp Capers
- 1 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
- ¼ tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
time-saving
TIPS & TECHNIQUES
How To: Chop Scallions
Scallions, or green onions, are one of our favorite aromatic vegetables. There are two parts of the vegetable: the white bottom and the green top. They’re used a little differently in cooking—the white bottoms are similar in use to regular onions and are usually cooked; the green tops are often used raw as a garnish. In our recipes, we specify to separate them. Check out this video to see how we do it.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Cook the pasta:
Heat a small pot of salted water to boiling on high. Once boiling, add the pasta and cook 14 to 16 minutes, or until tender. Turn off the heat. Drain thoroughly and return to the pot. Stir in half the vinegar and a drizzle of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Prepare the ingredients:
While the pasta cooks, wash and dry the fresh produce. Peel and roughly chop the garlic. Cut off and discard the stems of the peppers; remove and discard the cores. Halve the peppers lengthwise, then thinly slice crosswise. Cut off and discard the root ends of the scallions; thinly slice, separating the white bottoms and green tops.
3. Start the shrimp:
While the pasta continues to cook, pat the shrimp dry with paper towels; season with salt and pepper. (If you received tail-on shrimp, remove and discard the tails before cooking if desired.) In a medium pan (nonstick, if you have one), heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil on medium-high until hot. Add the seasoned shrimp in an even layer and cook, without stirring, 1 to 2 minutes, or until slightly opaque.
4. Finish the shrimp:
To the pan, add the chopped garlic, sliced peppers, sliced white bottoms of the scallions, capers, and as much of the red pepper flakes as you’d like, depending on how spicy you’d like the dish to be; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, 2 to 3 minutes, or until the peppers are slightly softened and the shrimp are opaque and cooked through. Add the verjus and remaining vinegar (carefully, as the liquid may splatter); season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until combined. Turn off the heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Serve your dish:
Serve the finished shrimp over the cooked pasta. Garnish with the sliced green tops of the scallions and a drizzle of olive oil. Enjoy!
Mediterranean-Style Garlic Shrimp Recipe With Bell Peppers
You’ll love this quick & easy shrimp recipe, prepared Mediterranean-style! Garlic shrimp cooked in a light white wine and olive oil sauce with shallots, bell peppers, and tomatoes. So much flavor! Serve over rice, pasta or your favorite grain!
So much to do with a bag of frozen shrimp!
Lately, I’ve taken to buying bags of already peeled and deveined wild-caught shrimp from the freezer section. There is so much you can do with frozen shrimp and there is no shortage of shrimp dinner ideas over here including my earlier grilled shrimp with garlic cilantro sauce; shrimp kabobs ; lemon garlic shrimp with artichoke hearts, or an herby shrimp orzo soup.
In a pinch, I know I can reach for my skillet to make one of many simple shrimp recipes like today’s garlic shrimp, cooked in a quick and tasty sauce with red onions and colorful bell peppers! Add some couscous, rice, or plain orzo and a big salad and that’s dinner!
Why this shrimp recipe works?
In this easy shrimp recipe, shrimp derive flavor from a quick coating of smoked Spanish paprika, coriander, and a pinch of cayenne. I add a little flour to help thicken the sauce later (you can totally omit the flour for the gluten free version.) Then, the shrimp are tossed in the skillet with red onions, fresh garlic (a good bit of it), bell peppers. Pulling everything together is a tasty, light sauce with a simple combination of extra virgin olive oil, white wine, and citrus. That’s it!
This is super easy to make, the only thing to make sure of is that you don’t overcook the shrimp. I have a couple tips on that for you…
How to cook shrimp? Important tips:
It’s really hard to mess up this shrimp recipe. But the biggest thing here is to avoid over-cooking the shrimp. No one likes chewy, rubbery shrimp, right? A few important things to help you cook your garlic shrimp perfectly:
- Once the shrimp are in your skillet, they will cook in a matter of 3 to 5 minutes. Watch closely.
- When you see that one side is starting to turn pink, you are so close. Use a pair of tongs or your wooden spoon to toss the shrimp quick so that it turns color on the other side.
- Take the shrimp off the heat as soon as it turns orange and the tails are bright red. the thickest part of the shrimp (this would be the opposite end to the tail), when the flesh at the base of the crevice where the vein was turns from translucent to opaque, the shrimp is done.
- Remember, even if you take it off the heat a little bit earlier, it will still be cooking in the hot skillet.
- In terms of texture, perfectly cooked shrimp should be juicy but firm with a good crisp when you bite on it.
How to make garlic shrimp
For my friends who are extra visual, here is how this Mediterranean style shrimp dinner goes (print-friendly version just below):
- Season the shrimp
Put the peeled shrimp (thawed, if previously frozen) in a bowl. Add a sprinkle of flour and the spices (1 to 2 tsp smoked Spanish paprika, ½ teaspoon ground coriander, pinch of cayenne for a little heat and pinch of sugar, which is totally optional but does balance the flavors). Toss to coat and then set it aside for a little bit.
- Sautee red onions, garlic, and bell peppers
Garb a large skillet (I like to use cast iron), melt ghee and olive oil over medium heat. Add the red onions and garlic and cook for a little bit, 2 to 3 minutes or so until fragrant (be sure not to burn the garlic.) Add sliced bell peppers (I like to use a couple different colors) and cook, tossing occasionally, for 4 minutes or so. - Add the shrimp
Now add the shrimp. Cook for 1 minute. - Add the tomatoes and liquid & Finish
Now we add the liquid, diced tomatoes, broth, white wine and lemon juice. Submerge the shrimp in with your wooden spoon.
Watch for shrimp to turn bright orange in color (remember, watch the thickets part of the shrimp, when that turns color, shrimp is ready.) Turn heat off and add a sprinkle of fresh parsley.
What goes well with shrimp?
This garlic shrimp with bell peppers is a quick weeknight dish that you don’t need to add much to. I typically add a side of plain orzo, rice (or grain of choice) and a quick salad to start things off.
Salad options are endless. If you want to start with hearty salad, try Balela or this Mediterranean Chickpea Salad with Eggplant. Otherwise, this quick 3-ingredient Mediterranean salad always does the trick for me.
If you have the time and want to add another something to start, this easy baba ganoush or this smoky loaded baba ganoush have been my go-tos lately!