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This was delicciouuusss!! I love pesto but never thought of eating it this way! It all worked so well together! Amazing!
Brie Baker
Happy Memorial Day!
And I guess 15 Minute Spicy Shrimp with Pesto Noodles Day, too!
Today I’m doing the unthinkable and cutting myself off from my usual habit of writing every word known to man in one single post. I KNOW. I literally woke up this morning and wrote, like, 8 paragraphs of my usual blabber, like I normally do. But then I read it, and to be honest, it just felt weird and not right to talk about regular life stuff in light of the seriousness of this holiday. So I deleted it. And we’re going short and sweet instead, hopefully to encourage us to spend some time today both honoring the people who have served our country, and making some Spicy Shrimp with Pesto Noodles for the ones we love.
Namely, ourselves.
Okay. So this meal comes together in a snap and the flavor is rockin. The shrimp cook so fast – something I always love about shrimp! – and those spicy little guys are piled high atop a bed of raw zucchini noodles that are coated with the BEST ever pesto that’s not actually pesto (it’s all plant-based and it’s SO addicting). I know it sounds weird with the raw zucchini thing, but please. You must try before judging the zoodles fad. I LOVE IT, other than the name zoodles. Bleh.
Plus this recipe will give you more of that healthy green pesto than what you need for the zucchini noodles, which you will thank me for later, because it goes with anything and everything much like our favorite Magic Green Sauce.
It’s light, flavorful, colorful, nutritious, and full of flavor.
IT WANTS YOU.
HOW TO MAKE OUR PESTO ZOODLES:
If you need a spiralizer, I highly recommend the Paderno! <– this is an affiliate link.
Hand slicing the noodles works just fine, too, but that Paderno makes it so easy. Wows!
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15 Minute Spicy Shrimp with Pesto Noodles
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
15 Minute Spicy Shrimp with Pesto Noodles – a light, healthy, quick and easy meal with zucchini noodles! Light, flavorful, nutritious, and full of flavor.
Ingredients
For the Pesto:
- 1 cup kale
- 1 cup spinach
- 1 cup mixed basil and/or parsley (more basil is better, but sub parsley if you don’t have enough)
- 3/4 cup almonds
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cloves garlic
- juice of one lemon (or 2 if your lemon isn’t very juicy)
For the Shrimp and Noodles
- 1 tablespoon butter or oil
- 1 lb. shrimp
- 1–2 teaspoons each chili powder and cumin, plus any other spices you like
- salt and pepper
- 4 medium zucchini
Instructions
- For the pesto, pulse all the ingredients in a food processor or blender until mostly smooth (or until you reach desired consistency). This will make about 2 cups of pesto. Set aside one cup for this recipe and save the other cup for something else later (you can freeze it, but we just keep it on hand in the fridge because it goes really well on just about anything).
- Heat the butter or oil over medium high heat. Add the shrimp and toss with the spices – I usually just do this right in the pan to save myself a dish, and I don’t really measure the spices – I just eyeball it until they get pretty well coated with spices. Sauté the shrimp until they evenly coated with spice and fully cooked (they will no longer be translucent).
- Cut the zucchini into long noodle-like shapes – the best way to do this is with a spiralizer but you can also use a peeler. Toss the zucchini noodles with the reserved pesto and top with the shrimp.
Notes
The zucchini noodles will seep out water as they sit coated in the pesto, so I recommend tossing the noodles right before serving. If you have leftovers, just store everything separately and assemble before serving.
I prefer to serve the noodles raw rather than sautéed – I like the soft-crunchy texture. But if you don’t like that idea, just toss them in a pan and saute them with some oil, garlic, salt, pepper, etc. for a few minutes.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: spicy shrimp, pesto noodles, pesto zoodles
Since it is Memorial Day, it’s the perfect time for me to say THANK YOU to those individuals and families who have given everything by serving our country. ♡
I used my spiralizer for super easy veggie shreds/noodles in this recipe! For more spiralizer ideas, check out this post:
8 Life-Changing Ways To Use a Spiralizer
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of easy zucchini recipes. Check it out!
This was so simple to make and looks like a lot of effort went into it! It was simply wonderful and felt like a healthy weeknight dinner!
What else do you serve with this?
Wow superr!! thanks for sharing.. 😊
what is the white stuff you put on top of this recipe at the end?
It’s just like a runny sour cream or a Mexican crema. 🙂
I love spicy shrimp with pesto noodles, they are great. The ingredients are simple and easy to process, just follow your instructions and everything is easy. Thanks for your sharing
I was a little skeptical at first making the pesto, but no it is amazing! The shrimp were easy and delicious. Thank you for sharing your amazing recipes.
The pesto noodles sound amazing. I am not however a fan of kale. I use spinach in my pesto sauce to sneak it in to my hubby’s meals and to stretch the pesto. My big problem is my granddaughter is allergic to tree nuts. Do you have suggestions for a pesto without nuts?
You could just omit the nuts (it will be a different texture) or sub in some seeds like pepitas!
This may be naive, but how do you measure a cup of raw spinach? I can toss the leaves lightly in a cup or pack them in a bit and have 4x more?
What was the white sauce you glazed the shrimp with?
Just some thinned-out sour cream! 🙂
Hi Lindsay! Is there something I can swap for the almonds in the pesto? An equal amount of pine nuts? Thanks!!
Yes pine nuts would be great!
I’m curious that your recipe seems to mention everything that goes into the final dish except for the white sauce drizzled across the top for serving. Can you share what it is and what it’s ingredients are?
Just some thinned-out sour cream!
Sorry, I didn’t scroll down the page of comments far enough. My bad!
Hi Lindsay!
where do I find the music you use in your videos?
Hi Sara! Here’s where we get our music: https://www.premiumbeat.com/
What did you drizzle on the top?
Just some sour cream. 🙂
Looks delish! What white drizzle did you top the dish with?
Just some thinned-out sour cream! 🙂
Is your nutrition chart for each individual serving or the meal for 4?
Each individual serving! 🙂
I made this dish earlier this week. I was a little worried that my husband wouldn’t like it, but he cleaned his plate & said he’d eat it again.
The best part of all is that he came home tonight & told me that he couldn’t believe how much better he felt the next day. Said he had more energy & felt great!
I’m so glad the pesto recipe made extra. It’ll be super quick for dinner tonight!
Hi! I just discovered your blog and I love it. You have amazing enthuasim and the lentil soup was delicious! I was looking for a recipe for next week. What would you think about adding the pesto here to the creamy cauliflower sauce? Have you tried it? Thanks again and I can’t wait to make more recipes 🙂
I’ve actually tried that and it is delicious! Would definitely recommend!
What did you drizzle on top? Some sort of white sauce? Trying this out. Thanks!
Hi Jessica! It’s Mexican crema. 🙂
Thank you for the review of the spiralizers. I bought a Paterno for my daughter and myself. She loves it. I had to give mine away! Why? I am left handed! I all but stood on my head and had to have assistance. I simply ran out of hands, lol. So for me the Mueller was the ticket. I thought your readers might want to have that information.
I literally can’t enough of your food and website. Im obsessed LOL I bought a spiralizer and a food processor and my life has changed forever. Thank you!! My friends licked their plates with this one 🙂
Love hearing that, Brandy! 🙂
In the photos there’s a white drizzle on the shrimp but I don’t see that mentioned in the recipe. Please advise!
Oops, never mind. I didn’t read all the comments. Crema. Sounds great!
Hi! I would love to make this tonight. What is the white sauce on top that you have drizzled as a final touch?
Lindsay drizzled crema (mexican sour cream) over the top of the shrimp for serving!
Yaaaas! A pesto without pricey pine nuts! Thank you!
This looks yummy and healthy. Thanks for sharing!
its looks very very good and i feel like eating it now… lol… nice shrimps