This quick and easy Creamy Tomato Prawn pasta is ready in under 30 minutes and is the perfect date night dinner option as it takes inspiration from the viral Vodka Tomato Pasta. A decadent, rich sauce made with tomato paste, white wine and lashings of double cream - this isn't a recipe for the calorie conscious, but it's a treat worth having!

If you’re looking to impress someone with restaurant quality food - or you want a rich and indulgent prawn pasta - then this is the one!
Jump to:
- What To Serve With Prawn Pasta
- How To Make This Dish Family Friendly
- Ingredients for Creamy Tomato Prawn Pasta
- Prawn Pasta Variations
- How To Prepare Fresh Prawns (Shrimp)
- How To Make Creamy Tomato Prawn Pasta
- FAQs
- Preparation, Storage + Reheating
- If you love Prawn Pasta then you might like these
- Creamy Tomato Prawn Pasta
My husband is dieting at the moment; eating a restricted diet during weekdays and eating what he likes at the weekend. I wish that approach worked for me! We generally opt for takeaway one night and then I make a meal of his choice on the other. His choice this weekend was this super simple prawn pasta - he LOVES it!
What To Serve With Prawn Pasta
Side option include:
- Homemade Airfryer Garlic Bread - always a solid choice in my house with any pasta! Pictured below with Prawn Pasta (using penne instead)
- super simple rocket, red onion and tomato salad
- light and fresh capers salad - sliced tomatoes and mozzarella with basil
- crispy homemade deep dried chips (fries)
- beef dripping roast potatoes (add a little rosemary salt)


How To Make This Dish Family Friendly
Suitable from 6 months + (if you make the following alternations):
To remove the alcohol from the recipe, substitute 150ml white wine with 75ml boiling water (you could dissolve the stock in this before adding). The reason we reduce the volume is because alcohol volume is reduced during the cooking process.
Use no salt stock cubes and unsalted butter to lower the salt content and season with salt for adults (after removing children’s portion from the batch).
I would serve this (for Baby Led Weaning) with either large rigatoni or fusilli shaped pasta instead of noodles.
Ingredients for Creamy Tomato Prawn Pasta

- Olive Oil
- Butter: I use salted butter as I feel it adds to the flavour, but unsalted would work too.
- Prawns: I use raw prawns. Cooking the prawns at the beginning and adding to the sauce later on ensures you don't overcook them. If you've got cooked prawns, chop them up and add them in at the end and simply heat through. See ‘How To Prepare Prawns (Shrimp)’ section below.
- Chilli: you can use fresh chilli or dried chilli. If using fresh chilli, cut up with seeds if you like it hot orremove the seeds for a more subtle heat. If using dried chilli, start with a ½ teaspoon, and increase to 1 teaspoon if you prefer it hotter.
- Garlic: I always opt for the fresh aroma of fresh garlic, but you can substitute for 1 teaspoon of garlic paste or ½ teaspoon of garlic granules if preferred.
- Tomato Puree: this is what adds the deep rich, tomato flavour to the dish and can’t be substituted. My favourite brand to use is always Mutti.
- Chicken Stock: I know it’s being paired with prawns, but chicken stock works really well flavour-wise in this dish. Substitute with vegetable stock if preferred. You could also use a Chicken Stock Pot instead of a crumbled stock cube too.
- Cream: I use double cream (heavy cream) as it has a higher fat content which means it’s less likely to separate in dishes (as it can withstand a higher heat point). This is the equivalent (although it has approx 10% more fat) to heavy whipping cream in the US. You can opt for a lower fat cream if you want to reduce the calories. I would highly recommend Marks & Spencer Extra Thick Single Cream as it has the consistency of double cream, but half the calories – I love it!
- Parsley: optional extra ingredient added for some freshness and colour contrast, so if you don’t have any then it’s not an issue.
- Pasta: I love using Morrisons’s Manfredine but you can use any pasta you like (spaghetti and linguine work well).
- Salt
- Wine: any wine you like will do - you can also freeze any wine you're not using in icecube trays to reduce waste. It will keep your wine fresh until next time and use it at your own pace. Or you could opt for a white wine stock pot if you don't want to open a bottle.
Prawn Pasta Variations
Prawns (shrimp) are arguably my favourite protein source. But you could use:
- chicken instead - I’ve made it with chicken before and it simply means I can add parmesan too ('cause cheese and shellfish aren't a great combo but it pairs perfectly well with chicken)
- halloumi - to make the dish vegetarian
- leave out the prawns and serve alongside a Chicken Milanese.
How To Prepare Fresh Prawns (Shrimp)
I generally always buy large king prawns from either a local Glasgow fishmonger, or from a van that stops close-by my house every Friday afternoon. To prepare prawns properly, you must first de-vein them:



I then chop the prawns (you can leave them whole if you prefer) into 3 sections as I find it easier when eating the dish:

How To Make Creamy Tomato Prawn Pasta
Melt a knob of butter in a pan, with olive oil and chilli - cook to soften


Add garlic and chopped prawns - cook until prawns turn from translucent (slightly see-through) to opaque (pink).


Remove prawns from pan (ensure you leave as much of the butter/oil as possible), then fry off tomato purée for a few minutes before pouring in white wine (or using white wine stock pot).



Allow white wine volume to reduce by half before crumbling in vegetable stock cube.



Then pour in double (hecream, simmer on medium heat for 5-10 minutes and then add cooked prawns back into the sauce.


Stir in freshly chopped parsley before tossing through cooked al dente pasta



Season to taste, serve up & enjoy!
FAQs
This is simply for flavour. Use one or the other if you prefer or only have one available.
This dish would be great with chicken too. Cook it using the same method as the prawns - you will just need to cook for longer.
See Ingredients section above where I offer a substitution, or simply use Single Cream instead.
It depends on your tolerance for heat. See Chilli notes above within Ingredients section for more information.
I personally don't feel like dried parsley has the same effect. So I would just omit it from the recipe.
Yes you can - just remove it from the recipe. Substitute 150ml white wine with 75ml boiling water (you could dissolve the stock in this before adding).
Preparation, Storage + Reheating
If cooking in advance, I would suggest that you could make the sauce in advance. But cook the pasta and add to the sauce just before serving for optimum results.
Storage: Once cooked, the pasta can be stored:
- in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- the sauce can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Reheating: Due to the high dairy (cream) content, I would add the sauce to the hob and reheat slowly, until piping hot throughout, for optimum results.

If you love Prawn Pasta then you might like these
I have a range of seafood recipes to choose from, but if prawns are your fav:



If you have any questions please leave a comment and I'll get back to you. Or I would really appreciate it if you left me a review below.
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Creamy Tomato Prawn Pasta
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 30 g salted butter
- 1 red chilli finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 14 large prawns raw
- 130 g tomato purée
- 150 ml white wine
- 1 chicken stock cube or 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon
- 250 ml double cream
- 5 g parsley finely chopped
- 280 g pasta raw weight
Instructions
- Melt 30 g salted butter in pan with 2 tablespoon olive oil and soften 1 red chilli (finely chopped)
- Then 14 large prawns (chopped into sections) and 3 garlic cloves (finely chopped) and cook until the prawns are pink
- Remove prawns from pan, then fry off 130 g tomato purée for a few minutes before pouring in 150 ml white wine and reducing to cook alcohol off
- Cook 280 g pasta in salted water until al dente
- Crumble 1 chicken stock cube (or chicken bouillon) into the sauce, stir through, then add 250 ml double cream - simmer on medium heat for 5/10mins
- Stir in freshly chopped 5 g parsley before tossing through cooked prawns and al dente cooked pasta
- Season to taste with salt and pepper if needed, serve up & enjoy!





Sarah Philp says
Quick And easy and delicious, has became a weekly meal in our household!
Laura says
My children LOVE this dish! Simple yet effective.
Lauren says
like all great recipes should be, thank you.
Anne Mulhern says
I made this last night. It was delicious. Thank you
Lauren says
so glad you loved it - thanks for your comment.
Rebecca says
Oh my goodness this is a hit in our house! Easy to make but soooo tasty! Thank you
Kylie Cassidy says
Wow - this was restaurant quality! It was also super quick and easy. Will definitely make again.
Bernadette says
Really enjoy making this one. Really tasty!
Ali Miller says
One of my favourite recipes from Lauren. So delicious any time of the year. The detail and tips she adds to each recipe on her website is much appreciated.
Paula says
Hey! What type of pasta is this? 🙂
Lauren says
it's fusilli 🙂
Paula says
This was insane. So delicious! Best pasta dish ever!
Shannon Maclean says
I was on holiday in uist staying in a self-catering and we got some fresh prawns to make this pasta. I was incredible!! Will be making it again.
Catriona Manchip says
Absolutely delicious, easy recipe. Better than I’ve had in a restaurant. A family favourite.
Angela S says
I made this last night and it was delish! My other half said it was restaurant quality! I made it with chicken and prawns, I also added some chopped peppers and red onion and added a little Parmesan at the end. I just used some crushed chilli flakes and omitted the parsley (didn’t have fresh) Will definitely make this again.
Bek says
Delicious, I loved it.