Shrimp bake is made with layers of cooked pasta, juicy shrimp, three kinds of cheese, salsa, and savory herbs. This easy, creamy, and cheesy shrimp pasta casserole is the perfect Sunday dinner but quick enough to make on busy weeknights too!
This shrimp pasta bake is a family-style recipe that is exactly the kind of satisfying comfort food you want at the end of a long day! It’s wholesome, filling, and completely delicious! I mean, who doesn’t love baked cheesy pasta?
I first started making this recipe when my daughter was 4 and she used to love helping me make it. Fast forward 8 years and she still loves helping me with it and her younger sibling does too! It’s a simple recipe perfect for getting little ones to help out which always makes it easier to get them to try new things.
It’s got all the components of casserole with shrimp Alfredo vibes and the ingredients are flexible enough to make tweak it to suit your family’s tastes!
Ingredients Needed for Shrimp Bake
- Pasta – I use angel hair pasta because it’s light, it’s thin and not overpowering, and my kid just loves to slurp it up! Cook it according to package instructions.
- Shrimp – Medium-sized wild-caught shrimp is what I like to use because they’re big enough that they don’t get lost in there, but they’re also not overpowering anything. Make sure you don’t use cooked shrimp, raw only! Peeled and deveined.
- Cheese – Crumbled feta, shredded Monterrey Jack, and shredded Swiss cheese.
- Salsa – Homemade salsa or store-bought, whatever you have. Chunky has a lot of texture it lends to the dish.
- Greens and herbs – Use fresh kale (or parsley), dried basil, and oregano. What better way than to sneak in extra greens than to add kale!
- Cream sauce – Eggs, half & half, and Plain yogurt adds moisture and richness to the dish. The egg also helps to the ingredients into a baked casserole rather than saucy pasta. It helps to give it some structure for easy serving!
(While mama was preparing everything to make dinner, Ani takes over on feeding blueberry and banana smoothie to the youngest member of our family, love her!)
Pasta is cooked, baby is fed now we can continue on making Angel Hair Shrimp Bake….
How to Make Shrimp Pasta Recipe
Step 1: Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Step 2: Combine eggs, yogurt, and cream into a bowl and whisk together. Set this aside as well.
Step 3: Grab a baking dish and grease it with a bit of oil or cooking spray. This will keep everything from sticking!
Step 4: Place cooked pasta into the prepared baking dish, followed by the shrimp and feta.
Step 5: Then, pour over the salsa followed by the shredded cheeses.
Step 6: Season with basil and oregano and sprinkle the top with chopped kale.
Step 7: Finally, pour the sauce over the casserole. Transfer the dish to the oven and bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes until the cheese has melted, the shrimp is cooked and it’s bubbling!
Allow it to sit and cool slightly for 5 minutes before you dig in!
Variations & Substitutions
- You can really use whatever pasta you want, short, medium, or long, it doesn’t matter. Penne, fusilli, rotini, spaghetti, fettuccine, linguine, you name it.
- Don’t love shrimp? Swap it with crab, chicken, or turkey instead.
- Swap any of the cheese for your favorites. Goat cheese for feta, Gruyere for the Swiss or even white cheddar would be nice. Sprinkle on some Parmesan if you like!
- For even more convenience you can use a store-bought Alfredo sauce instead of the yogurt and half and half. I think it tastes better with yogurt and cream but you might feel differently.
- Throw in some red pepper flakes for heat.
What to Serve with Shrimp Bake
Since this is a complete meal all on its own, you really don’t need much to accompany it! A basket of fresh bread, some side veggies, or a salad might be nice. A glass of white wine to wash it down is also a welcome idea. Here are a few of my favorites:
Caesar salad with homemade dressing
Do I Need to Massage the Kale First?
Massaging kale is always a good idea, but it’s not a must when you’re chopping it into fine pieces. It’s a tough and fibrous leafy green, so massaging with a bit of oil and a bit of lemon juice helps to break down the fibers, tenderizes it so it is easier to chew and digest.
Again, because you’re chopping it finely and it’s going to be baked, it is up to you if you would like to or not.
Can I Make This gluten-free?
Absolutely! Just swap the pasta for your favorite gluten-free alternative and the entire dish will be gluten-free.
Can I Use Frozen Shrimp?
Technically yes, but I don’t recommend it. The bake cooks long enough so that the shrimp will cook through, but when you use frozen shrimp there is an excess of water that it contains which could make things a little runny.
For consistency and awesome texture, you should really start with fresh shrimp or thawed from frozen.
Super Easy Shrimp Pasta Bake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 oz pasta angel hair, cooked
- 1 lb shrimp medium, peeled and deveined
- 3/4 cups feta cheese crumbled
- 1/2 cup Swiss cheese shredded
- 16 oz salsa chunky
- 1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese shredded
- 3/4 cups kale minced
- 1 teaspoon basil dried
- 1 teaspoon oregano dried
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup half-and-half cream organic, or heavy whipping cream
- 8 oz plain yogurt
Instructions
- Cook pasta. In a medium bowl whisk eggs, yogurt, cream and set aside.
- Place cooked pasta into greased baking dish. Add shrimp.
- Add feta cheese.
- Add salsa, followed by Swiss and Monterey Jack cheese.
- Season with basil and oregano. Add kale.
- Pour the sauce over the top.
- Place in the oven at 350F and bake for 30-40 minutes. Wait 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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This post was updated May 12, 2022, the recipe is still the same.
Yum! This is really delicious, and I’ll make it again. A couple things. I substituted sour cream for yogurt, no biggie. The sauce broke while baking, and it came out somewhat watery. Next time, I’ll skip the eggs and melt the cheese into a white sauce of sorts. That will make the sauce bind correctly. The eggy, pudding-like base only came out on the edges because of the excess fluid. That said, the flavor is wonderful!!
Thank you Cathy, for sharing your recipe review!
i love shrimp and pasta. this is a match made in heaven.
Thank you!
This looks really good; I can’t wait to make it for my family. Is there anything that I could substitute for the salsa?
Thank you Nicholi! You can try using chopped tomatoes, or use pasta sauce. I haven’t tried it with other ingredients, I am sure the taste will be a little deferent.
love the recipe will have to put it on my to do list and your kids are cute teaching them to cook early is a good thing visiting from someday crafts hop have a great day.
Thank you Lorraine for stopping by! I think you are going to love this recipe.
Hi Love! Thank you so much for stopping by and linking up with Tasty Tuesday this week. I absolutely LOVE your recipe and the pictures of your little ones are super cute!
Can you please add a link back to the Tasty Tuesday Linkup Party on your blog or the linkup button (you can easily grab the code for it from my sidebar at leanlena.com). I would really appreciate that.
Thank you again and I look forward to seeing you at the link up next week!
Thank you Lena! I placed linkup button under Featured/party link list.