Pesto King Prawn Pasta

Try out this Pesto King Prawn Pasta for a quick and easy midweek meal.

This seafood pasta dish starts by cooking raw king prawns, with garlic, chilli and cherry tomatoes.

Fusilli Lunghi / spaghetti or linguine pasta is added with your choice of homemade pesto sauce or a shop brought basil pesto.

Finished off with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, for a delicious tasting prawn pasta recipe, ready in only 20 minutes.

Jump to:

• How to make pesto prawn pasta?
• Ingredients
• Using cooked prawns
• Pesto
• Prawn pasta serving suggestions
• 📖 Step by Step Recipe
• More Pasta Recipes
• More Prawn Recipes
• 💬 Reviews

How to make pesto prawn pasta?

Click the button below to make our pesto king prawn pasta recipe at home.

Ingredients

The full ingredients and instructions can be found on the recipe card below in UK grams and US ounces.

We will go into more details below and offer substitutes.

What pasta to use?

The first step is to boil your pasta in a large pan of salted water. 

This time we tried out a new pasta shape, Fusilli Lunghi, a long corkscrew spiral-shaped pasta. We think it made this dish look amazing! We usually cook this as a pesto prawn linguine pasta.

However you can use spaghetti, bucatini, fettuccine, tagliatelle or capellini pasta shapes.

Experiment with whatever shape you like; simply cook for the time stated on the packet's instruction over high heat and drain the pasta when cooked.

Raw Prawns

While the pasta is cooking, cook the raw king prawns in olive oil over medium heat using a large frying pan.

Garlic & Chilli

Add crushed garlic and minced chilli; you can use fresh or cheat like we did, using Gia Puree's to help make this dish even quicker.

We use one teaspoon of chilli puree, equivalent to 1 medium spiced chilli. 

Feel free to omit the chilli completely or add extra? Make your prawn pasta as spicy as you like.

Add the halved cherry tomatoes to the garlic and chilli prawns, season with salt & pepper.

Cook the king prawns and tomatoes for 5-8 minutes. Cooking time varies depending on the size of prawns used.

Using cooked prawns

If using pre-cooked king prawns, it is best to fry the tomatoes with garlic and chilli before adding them; the cooked prawns only need warming up, not cooking.

The pasta will be ready to drain and added straight to the pan.

Pesto

Finally, add the green basil pesto to the prawn linguine. Buy a jar in the supermarket or make homemade pesto.

We have a nut-free version, Parmesan & Basil Pesto, which we used in these photos.

Stir the basil pesto sauce into the prawn pasta over low heat until warmed through.

Prawn pasta serving suggestions

Serve with a sprinkling of Parmesan or Mozzarella cheese, salt and pepper and add some fresh basil leaves. 

Why not add a side salad or dough balls, or try our delicious Olive & Herb Focaccia Bread.

This prawn pesto pasta, also makes a great summer lunch served cold with a fresh caprese salad.

The Fusilli Lunghi pasta gives a great look to this dish. The kids loved slurping up the curly strands! 

Or serve as prawn linguine pasta which is easier to find.

📖 Step by Step Recipe

 This post was originally published on 12/02/2020 and has been modified on 27/01/2022, with an updated recipe card and a new video for how to make prawn pesto pasta.

More Pasta Recipes

If you liked this King Prawn Pasta with Pesto, you would also like our salmon pesto pasta bake.

Check out our Spicy Meatball Pasta or our family favourite Cheesy Bolognese Pasta Bake.

More Prawn Recipes

We have a few more prawn recipe ideas; try our king prawn masala, Prawn Cocktail, prawn poke bowl, prawn and pork jambalaya or add some spice with our pad thai noodles, king prawn salad or prawn tacos.

When you make this easy prawn pasta recipe, don’t forget to comment; let us know how you get on?