This is creamy pesto shrimp, an unbelievably versatile meal you can serve with pasta, rice, vegetables, salads, and more. I love using homemade pesto, but your favorite store-bought version works too. It’s cheesy, flavorful, and satisfyingโand ready in less than 30 minutes!
I made this creamy pesto shrimp about 6 months ago. Made it again 3 more times that month and about 45 times since then. Exaggeration? Never. I don’t share too many dinner recipes on this site, but a repeat recipe like this CAN’T go unannounced. I used frozen shrimp in the winter, but when the weather began to warm up, fresh shrimp worked like a charm. We love it over orzo, but I’ve served it with white rice, zucchini noodles, mixed with tortellini pasta, and even on cold crunchy salads.
Easy, quick, tasty, and versatile.
One reader, Nichole, commented: “I made this tonight for the first time. It was incredibly easy and so very delicious! Rave reviews from the family, and I will definitely make this again! โ โ โ โ โ “
One reader, Allison, commented: “I made this for dinner last night and it came out great! Love that is seems fancy but is actually pretty simple and easy to make. Will definitely be making again! โ โ โ โ โ “
This Creamy Pesto Shrimp Is:
- Ready in less than 30 minutes
- Immensely flavorful
- Adaptable based on what you have/like
- Best with homemade pesto, but store-bought works too
- Cheesy, creamy, yet completely fresh-tasting
- Excellent on pasta, rice, veggies, salads, and more
Homemade Pesto
Let me use this opportunity to persuade you into making homemade pesto! Though store-bought is fine, homemade pesto makes this shrimp dinner infinitely better. (You need most of the pesto ingredients for the creamy sauce, anyway.) Quick and versatile, pesto can be used in a variety of recipes like my pesto pizza or pesto pull-apart bread, or mixed with cooked pasta, roasted vegetables, spread on sandwiches, artisan bread, and today’s shrimp recipe. From-scratch pesto is much easier than you think and tastes worlds better than store-bought. You need a food processor or blender and I have plenty of ingredient variations on my Homemade Pesto page, too.
TRY IT!
Overview: How to Make Creamy Pesto Shrimp
This dish is made on the stove-top. Add everything in stages:
- Melt a little butter, add garlic, and some half-and-half. You can use a mix of whole milk and heavy cream instead, but using all heavy cream will make a very heavy sauce and using milk will make a very thin sauce. Keep this in mind if making a substitution.
- Add the shrimp, then some cherry tomatoes. Cook until the shrimp is nearly cooked through, then add more half-and-half, lemon juice, and parmesan cheese. The cherry tomatoes make this sauce a little brown.
- Remove from heat and stir in the pesto. I like adding the pesto after removing the dish from heat so that it retains some of its fresh green color.
- Sprinkle with more parmesan cheese and/or fresh basil if desired.
Possible Substitutions
- Tomatoes: You can use diced tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes or leave the tomatoes out completely. Or try throwing in a big handful of spinach instead!
- Shrimp: I love quick & easy shrimp recipes like my honey garlic shrimp. But instead of shrimp, you can try 1 lb of diced uncooked chicken. Add chicken to the skillet when you melt the butter. Cook it until almost completely cooked through, then add the garlic and 1/3 cup half-and-half. Bring to a simmer. Simmer for 3 full minutes, then add the cherry tomatoes, remaining half-and-half, the lemon juice, and parmesan cheese. Cook for 1 minute or until sauce has thickened and chicken is cooked through.
- Parmesan Cheese: Parmesan adds an extra layer of flavor, so I don’t recommend substituting or skipping it! In a pinch, though, you can substitute another cheese or leave it out.
Let me know if you try this! I have more dinner inspiration, too:
More Favorite Dinner Recipes
- Black Bean Burgers
- Maryland Crab Cakes
- Sausage Stuffed Peppers
- Honey Garlic Shrimp
- Cilantro Lime Chicken
- Lemon Thyme Chicken
- Baked Chicken Meatballs
Creamy Pesto Shrimp
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: serves 4
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Bursting with flavor, this creamy and saucy shrimp dish is excellent on its own but tastes wonderful over your favorite pasta, rice, or even cooked zucchini noodles. Garlic, lemon, and tomatoes add bright flavor, while half-and-half keeps it extra creamy. I recommend using homemade pesto!
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon (14g) unsalted butter
- 2–3 cloves garlic, minced*
- 2/3 cup (160ml) half-and-half, divided*
- 1 lb medium or large uncooked shrimp, peeled & deveined*
- 1 cup (about 150g) halved cherry tomatoes*
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 cup (about 40g) parmesan cheese, freshly shredded*
- 1 cup (240ml) store-bought or homemade pesto
- optional: fresh basil and extra parmesan cheese
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the minced garlic and 1/3 cup (80ml) half-and-half. Stir to combine, then bring the half-and-half to a simmer. Once simmering, add the shrimp. Cook for 1 minute, then add the halved cherry tomatoes. Stir and cook until shrimp is nearly cooked through, just about pink on both sides. Stir in the remaining half-and-half, the lemon juice, and parmesan cheese. Cook for 1 minute. (Shrimp should be fully cooked by this point. If not, keep cooking until it’s pink.)
- Remove from heat, then immediately stir in the pesto while everything is still hot. Serve plain, over cooked pasta, rice, or even zucchini noodles. Sprinkle with fresh basil and extra parmesan cheese, if desired.
- Cover and store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Large Skillet
- Garlic: If you don’t have fresh garlic cloves, use 3 teaspoons minced garlic from the jar or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder. (If desired, add more garlic powder for a stronger flavor.)
- Half-and-half: Half-and-half is strongly recommended for best texture. If you don’t have half-and-half but you have heavy cream and whole milk, whisk 1/3 cup (80ml) of each together to use in this recipe instead. Using all heavy cream or even canned coconut milk will make a very heavy and rich sauce, while whole milk, lower fat milks, and nondairy milks will create a much thinner sauce. Keep this in mind when making substitutions.
- Shrimp: You can use frozen and thawed uncooked shrimp if needed. If using pre-cooked shrimp, make sure it’s thawed first. Stir it in with the lemon juice and parmesan cheese towards the end of step 2 and cook in the sauce until heated through. See post above if you’d like to substitute chicken.
- Tomatoes: If needed, you can use 1 cup diced tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes.
- Parmesan Cheese: Parmesan adds an extra layer of flavor, so I don’t recommend substituting or skipping it! In a pinch, though, you can substitute another cheese or leave it out.
Reader Comments and Reviews
It was a huge hit. Served it over linguine. Only complaint is lack of nutritional info. My daughter-in-law has type 1 diabetes & that info is critical for her. My husband rated the meal as restaurant quality.
Hi Rosarie, we’re so glad it was a hit! We donโt usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Hi, I’m from Australia. I’d like to know what half and half is please. I want to make your Creamy Shrimp Pesto.
Thank you
Hi Diane, half & half is a blend of whole milk and light cream, usually in a 50/50 ratio. It’s about 11-18% milkfat.
Half and half might be called single cream there as it is in England.
I liked this and it wasn’t hard. I ended up adding red pepper flakes. I love your site.
I like this but even with lemon it seemed a little bland. I added a little Old Bay Seasoning and it was delicious
This recipe is one I will make over and over. So delicious and quick. I did substitute the half and half for almond milk and oil. Had a little more juice than what it looks like from the recipe but still amazing. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
The creamy pesto was easy and delicious with the homemade pesto. My family loved! Thanks
I’m going to try sun dried tomatoes instead of raw tomatoes. I think it could enhance the flavor.
So easy and so delicious! I used your pesto recipe, which differs slightly from my momโs recipe that I have been using for years, and I was pleased with the rich flavor and smooth texture of your version. Will definitely make this again.
Made this tonight for dinner. Served it with spaghetti squash for a lower carb option. It was fantastic! Loved it!
I really liked this recipe. I used 1/2 the amount of pesto and felt it was plenty. I added red pepper flakes to the recipe for a slight kick. I served this over white rice but will try pasta next time to compare. Nice flavors for sure!!
This was delicious! I used homemade pesto and roasted grape tomatoes as I had some left from a recent batch. My husband and I both enjoyed it. Will definitely make this again!
So good and so easy!
I made this (and the homemade base recipe) after receiving the website recipe email today. SUPER easy, super fast, super tasty. We had it over whole wheat pasta and used the leftover lemon juice to make lemon-mint water. It made for a lovely last-minute dinner.
I don’t care for seafood so this is the 1st seafood dish I’ve ever made. My husband and best friend gave it a 5*. Their comments were, “it’s rich, creamy and cheesey” ! I follow the recipe as directed, using fresh shrimp and store bought pesto.
Incredible!
Made this for the first time last night. Talked with my daughter about possible tweaks (less garlic, add other veggies), but we really enjoyed it.
We love Jasmine rice in our house, so we used that with the dish. Cannot wait to try again!
This is an easy, relatively sophisticated recipe. And I agree that the tomato (alongside the lemon juice) is a great addition, as it lends a bright note and contrast. I will say that despite the delicious ingredients, the dish seemed somewhat bland, so I added salt (check for saltiness after adding pesto), a few pinches of ground black pepper and red pepper flakes, and a little freshly ground nutmeg. I also feel thereโs no need for an entire cup of pesto. Since I was out of my own homemade pesto, I used some from a jar, and it was fine. It is nice, however, to tear a few fresh leaves for topping at the end. Sliced green onion as garnish would be another option. Last but not least, I sliced a tomato instead of using cherry tomatoes. The latter would be a bit sweeter, but the one I had on hand was still a plus.
I eat this sort of dish without pasta or grains โalmost like soup. Better if youโre keto or otherwise watching calories. Thanks!
I have loved all recipes that I have tried from Sally’s. Looking forward to trying this one!
Appreciate the recipe!! Maybe next time I’ll try and made the Pesto! ๐
My daughter made it for Christmas Eve . . . used Classico brand Pesto 8.1 oz jar (I thought it tasted good, my son thought it was too oily, which was the oil in the Pesto.) To me, the dish was very tasty! I’d give it 2 thumbs up!!
Great and easy recipe. I prepped the tomatoes in advance and also added diced carrots, used less than 6 oz of jarred pesto because I went heavy on the diced jarred garlic, used 2 kinds of cheese, parmesan and shredded parm/asiago. At first I thought the sauce would be too thin, however just a few minutes after removing from the heat, it all thickened up. Really loved the tomatoes in the dish. Will make again and also considering using chicken for the protein. Thanks so much, I really really believe in your recipes and the testing you put them through so that i have confidence in great results.
I made this and it was so delicious! Thank you! I definitely will make it again. I didnโt have as much cheese as the recipe called for, so I added a few pinches of salt to the sauce, a little at a time.
I also have a question about the โnotesโ section. In note 3 it says โYou can use frozen and thawed uncooked shrimp if needed.โ – should that read โcookedโ instead of โuncookedโ?
Hi Michelle, We’re so glad you tried and loved this! This recipe calls for uncooked shrimp, but you will cook it!
Made recipe today as I had just gotten fresh shrimp on trip to the beach. We liked the recipe very much, creamy and tasty, but did think it was a bit heavy on the garlic as the pesto sauce also has garlic. Next time I will cut the garlic and use 1 1/2 teaspoon instead of 3, and add 1 teaspoon of salt as tomatoes need a little boost. But overall we liked the recipe, had the creamy shrimp with pasta, and it will go in our index card box!
Thinking of trying it out with chicken instead of shrimp to suit other tastes as my son does not eat any type of seafood but does like pesto sauce…we’ll see how it turns out
I found a bag of peeled and deveined shrimp in my freezer that must be emptied before the holidays, so I used it to make this recipe tonight. The recipe was also a great excuse to pull out one of my containers of pesto made this past summer. I cooked up one cup of dry pearled couscous to serve with it. However, I cook very lean for my husband who has a heart stent. For this reason, instead of butter I used plant-based margarine, instead of half and half I used 2% milk, and I used grated parmesan instead of shredded parmesan. The grated parmesan helped to thicken the sauce. In addition, when I dumped the cooked couscous into the recipe I included the starch water with it, thickening it further. It came out so good that I texted my husband and asked him to stop for a baguette on the way home. This rich, tasty, thick and creamy meal is a keeper. Thank you!
I had all the ingredients in my cupboard and fridge – made my own half and half and scaled the recipe down to half- it was perfect, you were right , itโs flavourful and satisfying and quick and easy! I served it quickly with a supermarket veggies โriceโ medley and ate the leftover sauce like a soup with a little bread on the side. Look forward to trying it over rice or pasta next time. Thanks Sally!