Pasta with Shrimp and Feta Cheese Sauce
Try this easy recipe for pasta with shrimp and a feta cheese sauce that whirls up in your food processor! Bright cherry tomatoes and scallions round out this delicious supper.
Jump to:
- ❤️ Why we love this recipe
- 🤔 What is feta cheese?
- 🍅 Ingredients you need
- 📝 Ingredient notes and substitutions
- 👩🏻🍳 How to make this recipe
- 🤔 Recipe FAQs
- 🥣 Equipment we used for this recipe
- 🍽️ What to serve with this recipe
- 😍 Other shrimp and pasta recipes we love!
- ⭐️ We want to know what you think!
- Pasta with Shrimp and Feta Cheese Sauce
❤️ Why we love this recipe
This recipe is so quick and so easy and SO delicious, and it’s all about one of my favorite appliances. The food processor.
Yep, as long as you can boil water and push the on button on your processor you have what it takes to make this recipe, and that’s my kind of dinner on a weeknight. 😅
The sauce is a combo of feta cheese, cottage cheese and scallions that is whirled up into creamy deliciousness, tossed with pasta and cherry tomatoes, and dinner is served!
🤔 What is feta cheese?
Feta is a Greek white cheese that is made from sheep or goat’s milk (or a combination of both. It is known for its soft, crumbly texture and tangy, salty flavor.
While you can buy it pre-crumbled, we recommend buying it in blocks, ideally in brine, for the freshest flavor.
🍅 Ingredients you need
📝 Ingredient notes and substitutions
- Feta Cheese: This tangy Greek cheese is usually in the fancy cheese section of your supermarket. It comes in blocks and pre-crumbled versions…we highly recommend the block (packaged in brine if they have it) for the very best flavor.
- Scallions: You can swap out these green onions for a handful of chives if you like.
- Cottage Cheese: I know, a little weird, but I promise it is going to whirl up into that sauce and give it a creamy texture you are going to love.
- Shrimp: We like large shrimp for this recipe, but any size will do. If you go bigger or smaller, adjust the cooking time – a minute less for smaller, a minute more for bigger.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities and nutritional information.
👩🏻🍳 How to make this recipe
Step 1: Put on a large pot of salted water to boil.
STEP 2: While you are waiting for the water to boil, cut some cherry tomatoes in halves and toss them in a bowl.
STEP 3: Put the following into your trusty food processor: scallions, feta cheese and cottage cheese. Press the button and let it rip until everything is all nice and creamy, and then taste it to see if it needs any salt and pepper.
STEP 4: Scoop your lovely feta sauce into the bowl with the tomatoes.
STEP 5: Your water should be boiling by now. Drop some peeled shrimp in the water and cook them for about 2 minutes, just until they are nice and pink. Without turning the water off, scoop them out with a slotted spoon, drop them into the bowl with the sauce and give it all a stir.
STEP 6: Drop some pasta into the still boiling water, cook it according to the package directions and drain it.
STEP 7: Add the drained pasta to the bowl with the sauce and give it all a good through toss with your handy tongs.
STEP 8: Grind a little fresh pepper on top and toss on some scallions and nobody will ever know that this involved exactly one mixing bowl and a pot of boiling water. And that trusty food processor, of course!
🤔 Recipe FAQs
Now, you don’t HAVE to take the vein (that dark line up the back of the shrimp) out, but lots of folks prefer their shrimpies that way. Pull off the shell by wiggling it apart at the bottom of the shrimp. Once the shell is off, cut a shallow line along the top of the shrimp where the vein is, pull it out with the tip of the knife and…you’re done! Put the shrimp shells in a zippered plastic bag when you toss them out, because if they sit in your trash can for more than a few hours…well, I’ll let you use your imagination.
Scallions (also called green onions) are young baby onions. They have a long green hollow stalk and a small white bulb at the end, and are usually sold in bunches. You want to use the middle part of the stalk -the light green part up to the middle of the dark green part. Scallions have a mild onion flavor that makes them perfect as a garnish or when you want a milder onion flavor. Fun fact: if you take the ends with the bulb and pop them in some water, they will re-grow the green stalk. Free scallions!
Nope, but it is so speedy that it will be ready in no time. 😄
Pop your question in the Comments section under the recipe card and I will answer pronto!
🥣 Equipment we used for this recipe
These are some of my favorite kitchen tools! These are Amazon affiliate links, which means I get a little something if you buy through my links at no extra cost to you. (Which helps pay for all that bacon I keep buying! 😄) And I only share things I use and love. I’m so grateful for your support!
- Measuring Cup: We love these angled cups that show the measurements on both the inside and outside of the cup.
- Cutting Board: These sturdy, dishwasher-safe cutting boards come in all different sizes.
- Food Processor: This all-star kitchen appliance is one of the very few that gets to live on our countertop 24/7.
- Food Scale: We use this for measuring everything from pasta to meat to flour.
- Large Pot: We have a lot of these but this is our fave!
- Strainer: This classic version is just right for these potatoes and your favorite pasta recipe (one of ours is pasta with egg sauce!)
- Metal Bowls: We love these lightweight bowls for everything from mixing up dough for Snickerdoodle cookies to being casual serving dishes!
- Tongs: We have this essential kitchen tool in all sizes from short to extra long.
🍽️ What to serve with this recipe
This is what I like to call an “all in one” recipe because you have your veggies, your protein and your carbs all in one dish, but we do like adding an extra veggie on the side…carrots with thyme or some cheery asparagus.
We would always say yes to a sliced of fresh baked bread on the side, and for dessert? Let’s have some blueberry cheesecake squares!
😍 Other shrimp and pasta recipes we love!
⭐️ We want to know what you think!
If you try this recipe, we would love to hear how it came out for you! I’d be super grateful if you could leave a star rating (you pick how many stars! 🌟 ) and your thoughts in the Comments section below the recipe card.
Pasta with Shrimp and Feta Cheese Sauce
Give regular tomato sauce a rest and try this easy recipe for pasta with shrimp and a creamy feta cheese sauce that whirls up in your food processor. Bright cherry tomatoes and scallions round out this delicious supper.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Total Time: 24 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- 3 scallions, chopped
- 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- Milk as needed to thin the sauce
- 8 ounces shrimp, peeled and de-veined
- 8 ounces pasta (linguine or spaghetti)
- Freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Put the cherry tomatoes in a large bowl, and put a large pot of water on to boil.
- Put feta cheese, cottage cheese and all but 1/4 cup of the scallions into a food processor and process until smooth. Thin as needed with milk until it is still thick but sauce-like. Add to bowl with tomatoes.
- Add shrimp to boiling water and cook for 3 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and add to sauce, tossing gently to combine.
- Add pasta to the still-boiling water and cook according to package directions until done. Drain.
- Add pasta to sauce and toss. Divide among plates and grind a little pepper on top. Scatter remaining scallions on top and serve!
Notes
- Feta Cheese: This tangy Greek cheese is usually in the fancy cheese section of your supermarket. It comes in blocks and pre-crumbled versions…we highly recommend the block (packaged in brine if they have it) for the very best flavor.
- Scallions: You can swap out these green onions for a handful of chives if you like.
- Cottage Cheese: I know, a little weird, but I promise it is going to whirl up into that sauce and give it a creamy texture you are going to love.
- Shrimp: We like large shrimp for this recipe, but any size will do. If you go bigger or smaller, adjust the cooking time – a minute less for smaller, a minute more for bigger.