Shrimp in Red Sauce Recipe

Shrimp in a homemade tomato sauce, in a blue ceramic skillet.

4.62 from 42 votes

Shrimp in Red Sauce Recipe

Easy 30-minute meal! This shrimp in red sauce is not only quick to make, but is infused with the flavors of a homemade tomato sauce and is fantastic served with pasta, rice or zucchini noodles.

Prep Time5

Cook Time23

Total Time28

Course: Entrees

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: 30-Minute Meal, Healthy Dinner Recipes

Servings: Servings

Calories: 232.5kcal

Author: Dara Michalski | Cookin' Canuck

Ingredients

1 pound peeled large shrimp deveined (see Note 1)
4 teaspoons olive oil divided
¾ teaspoon kosher salt divided
½ teaspoon ground pepper divided
½ small yellow onion finely diced (see Note 2)
4 garlic cloves minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
⅛ to ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (see Note 3)
1 (28 oz.) can good-quality crushed tomatoes (see Note 4)
2 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley

Instructions

Place the shrimp in a medium bowl. Toss with 2 teaspoon olive oil, ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper.
Heat a large nonstick or ceramic skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp in a single layer and about 1 minute per side, flipping over the shrimp with tongs. If the shrimp don’t fit into the skillet in a single layer, cook them into 2 batches. Transfer the shrimp to a plate or bowl.
If there are a lot of browned bits stuck to the bottom of the skillet, either carefully (pan is hot!) wipe them out with a damp paper towel or wash the skillet.
Reduce the heat to medium. Heat the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil in the skillet. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens and becomes translucent, 4 to 5 minutes.
Stir in the garlic, oregano, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper and crushed red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
Add the crushed tomatoes. Cook at a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.
Stir in the cooked shrimp and parsley. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Serve with pasta, rice, quinoa, cauliflower rice, spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles.

Video

Notes

Weight Watchers Points: 2 (Blue - Freestyle SP) / 3 (Green) / 2 (Purple)

Note 1: Large shrimp are usually labeled as 31-35 per pound. Medium shrimp would be fine, too.

Note 2: The pieces should be small so there aren't large chunks of onion in the sauce.

Note 3: If the bottom of the skillet is coated in browned bits, I recommend carefully wiping them off with a damp paper towel (remember, the pan is hot!) or washing the pan. While browned bits from cooking meat are usually great for adding flavor to sauces, like in a white wine sauce, the browned shrimp bits in this case will darken and lift off the pan while making the tomato sauce. Big chunks of blackened pieces isn’t that tempting. I learned that the hard way!

Note 4: Spending a couple of extra dollars will get you much better canned tomatoes. I use SMT San Marzano Style Tomatoes, which are available in many well-stocked grocery stores. NB: These are not actually San Marzano tomatoes, widely known as the cream of the crop. They’re grown in the USA, not in Italy, but are a very good substitution.

Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I provide nutritional information for my recipes as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using the Sparks nutrition calculator and Weight Watchers points are calculated using the Recipe Builder on their site. While I attempt to provide information that is as accurate as possible, you should calculate the nutritional information independently before relying on it.

Nutrition