Creamy Cajun Shrimp Alfredo Spaghetti (High Protein and No Heavy Cream)
This quick and delicious pasta is ready in 30 minutes and packs over 60g of protein per serving. It's so rich and creamy you won't believe it's made without any heavy cream or butter!
Servings: 2 servings
Calories: 812kcal
Equipment
- 1 large sauté pan or skillet
Ingredients
- 1 cup cottage cheese (I use 2% but any percentage works)
- 2 tsp Cajun seasoning, divided, or more to taste
- ½ cup light cream (5%)
- 160 g protein pasta of choice, or regular pasta (see Note 1)
- ½ cup pasta water, or up to 1 cup as needed
- Cooking spray or 1 tbsp avocado or olive oil
- 200 g shrimp, tails removed and patted dry (see Note 2)
- ½ cup onion, diced
- 5-6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- ½ cup Parmigiano Reggiano grated and divided
- Salt, to taste (see Note 3)
- Fresh parsley, for serving
Instructions
- In a small blender, combine the cottage cheese, 1 tsp Cajun seasoning and the light cream and blend until smooth; set aside until ready to use
- Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and season generously with salt
- Cook the pasta according to package directions until al dente; reserve 1 cup of pasta water, then drain and set aside
- Season the shrimp on both sides with 1 tsp Cajun seasoning
- Heat a large sauté pan or skillet over medium high heat then spray with cooking spray (or add 1 ½ tsp of oil)
- Add the shrimp and cook for 2 minutes on each side or until cooked through then remove from the pan and set aside
- Reduce heat to medium low and spray with a little more cooking spray (or add the remaining oil)
- Add the onion, seasoning with a pinch of salt, and cook for 4-5 minutes until softened
- Add the garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds until fragrant
- Pour in the reserved sauce and stir, then scrape the bottom of the pan
- Add a ladle of pasta water and stir until combined, then add the dried parsley and more Cajun seasoning to taste
- Add most of the Parmesan cheese, reserving a little for topping, and stir until melted
- Add the cooked pasta and mix, then return the shrimp to the pan and toss to combine everything
- Add more pasta water, a little bit at a time, until the sauce is smooth, creamy and silky
- Season with salt to taste then serve with the reserved Parmesan and a little parsley (see Note 3)
Notes
Note 1: You can use any pasta shape of your choice for this recipe. I prefer longer noodles like spaghetti, linguine or fettuccine but shorter shapes like bowtie or penne would be great too. I use protein pasta to increase the protein content, but regular pasta works great here.
Note 2: Shrimp of any size work great here. Thaw your shrimp and remove the tails, then weigh them for a total of 200g with tails removed. For small or medium shrimp, 200g will be about 18-26 shrimp. For large or jumbo shrimp, 200g will be about 9-15 shrimp.
Note 3: Some Cajun seasoning blends contain salt, and the pasta water will be salty too, so don't add any extra salt to the pasta and sauce until the very end when you've had a chance to taste it, or it could be too salty. If you don't have Cajun seasoning on hand, you can make your own quick Cajun spice blend by mixing equal parts smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, freshly cracked black pepper, dried thyme, dried oregano and salt.
Nutrition Facts in the recipe card below are calculated automatically and may be inaccurate. Nutritional information for this recipe is based on regular pasta. For more accurate nutrition information, refer to the macros below. The macros below are based on Catelli Protein+ Spaghetti. Macros in the Recipe Notes section are calculated using a Macro Calculation App but will differ slightly based on ingredients used in individual variations. Nutritional information for this recipe is based on one serving.
Macros per serving: 670 calories/63g protein/74g carbs/18g fat
Nutrition
Serving: 1 serving | Calories: 812kcal | Carbohydrates: 74g | Protein: 55g | Fat: 33g | Saturated Fat: 19g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 268mg | Sodium: 926mg | Potassium: 783mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 2003IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 560mg | Iron: 3mg