Don’t let the name intimidate you; this Italian restaurant staple is so easy to make at home. With a couple of pantry staples in addition to some fresh ingredients, you’ve got yourself a restaurant-quality meal for fractions of the cost and in 20 minutes of your time. Shrimp Fra Diavolo with spaghetti is a delicious dish with a little kick and lots of flavor.
What you’ll need to make this recipe:
- spaghetti, or any other thin pasta
- shrimp
- onion
- garlic
- canned, diced tomatoes
- white wine
- fresh basil
- fresh parsley
- salt
- red pepper flakes
A lot of these ingredients are pantry staples; I can almost always make this dish with what I have on hand, and I just need to run out to get shrimp. You can also use frozen shrimp if you happen to keep that on hand. 
Cooking with shrimp
Don’t be intimidated by cooking with shrimp if you’ve never done it before. It’s so easy, I promise. The hardest part is cleaning and prepping it, so I’ll explain that below. You can buy either fresh shrimp or frozen. If I can get to the fish counter at the store, I prefer to do that, but I always have a bag of frozen shrimp in the freezer for when I am in a pinch. For this recipe, I like to use jumbo shrimp; you’ll see them sold as 16/20, which means that you’ll get anywhere from 16-20 shrimp per pound. This is how the shrimp size is measured. Regardless of whether you buy fresh or frozen shrimp, they will need to be prepared before cooking. Even if shrimp is sold as “cleaned and deveined,” typically one of the two veins in the shrimp will be left in-tact. It is personal preference whether you want to remove this second vein or not; for me, I prefer to remove it. When I get the shrimp home from the store, I remove the vein by running my paring knife down the center and pulling it out. It is also personal preference whether or not to leave the tails on shrimp when you cook them. I like leaving them on just for presentation, I find them to be prettier this way! But of course, feel free to remove them. If you are using frozen shrimp, you can quickly defrost them by submerging them in a bowl of cold water. Once they are defrosted, you can clean and devein them.
How to make Shrimp Fra Diavolo with Spaghetti
First, get your pot ready to cook the pasta. Just fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil. While you wait for that to happen, you can prep the other ingredients. Toss the shrimp with the red pepper flakes and kosher salt. Chop your onion, mince your garlic, and chop the fresh herbs. Set them all aside in the meantime. When the water is boiling, add your pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes, or until done to your liking; but don’t drain it! Next, get a frying pan and place it over medium high heat. Spray it with olive oil spray, and then add the shrimp. Cook the shrimp for about five minutes total, or until they become pink and firm.
When the shrimp are cooked, remove them from the pan and set them aside in a bowl.In the same frying pan, spray more olive oil spray and add the onions. Saute the onions for five minutes, or until they become soft, translucent and begin to caramelize. After five minutes, add the garlic and cook for one minute or until just fragrant. Then, add the wine and diced tomatoes. Season with kosher salt. Cook this mixture for another five minutes.
Once the liquid is reduced some, add the shrimp back in along with the fresh herbs.
Using tongs, add the cooked spaghetti to the pan and toss everything to coat.
Shrimp Fra Diavolo with Spaghetti
Equipment
- frying pan
- large pot
Ingredients
- 4 oz spaghetti, weighed dry
- 1 lb shrimp, jumbo, raw, peeled and deveined
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 3/4 tsp salt, divided
- 1 onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- ½ cup white wine, dry
- 14 oz diced tomatoes, canned
- ¼ cup basil, fresh
- ¼ cup parsley, fresh
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil. Salt the water.
- Add the pasta and cook according to package directions, approximately 8 minutes.
- Add the peeled, cleaned, deveined shrimp to a bowl, and add 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes and 1/2 tsp kosher salt. Toss to coat.
- Place the frying pan over medium high heat and spray with olive oil. Add the shrimp.
- Cook for a few minutes per side (approximately 5 minutes total) until the shrimp are pink and firm.
- Remove the shrimp from the pan, and set aside in a bowl.
- Chop the onion and mince the garlic.
- Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes or until the onions become translucent, soft, and they start to caramelize.
- Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute or until fragrant.
- Add the diced tomatoes and wine. Add the remaining 1/4 tsp kosher salt.
- Simmer the sauce for five minutes, then return the shrimp to the pan.
- Chop the fresh herbs and stir them in.
- Remove the cooked pasta from the boiling water with tongs, and add it right into the frying pan. Toss to combine.
- Cook the shrimp and pasta together over the low flame for another two minutes.
- Taste for seasoning.
- You can also add a little bit of the reserved pasta water if your sauce is too stiff.
- Garnish with more fresh herbs.
Weight Watchers
Notes
- 8 WW points (blue and purple plans)
- 10 WW points (green plan)
Nutrition
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This is the first recipe I made from this site. If the rest are as good as this was, I’ll be getting all of my meal ideas from here!!! This was fantastic.
I tried this recipe 4 weeks ago and have made it 3 times! My husband and I love it!!! 11/10 recommend. The first time I made it I had the spice level a little higher than I prefer. The second time… way too spicy haha. This last time needed a little more. What’s that mean? I guess I’ll have to make it again, shucks.
Thank you!!! This is my husband’s fav dish and will make this on our anniversary next month (22 years 😱). Any recommendations to make spicier? He loves it super spicy but adding more red pepper flakes doesn’t seem to do the trick for him.
I know its been awhile since you asked this question but for in the future to add more heat you can use cayenne pepper. I would probably use slap ya mama cajun seasoning because a little bit is spicy and adds another hint of flavor and the more you add the spicier/hotter it will get but would also change the flavor more and more
Absolutely amazing! It was a cost efficient meal, tons of flavor, and super simple! Definitely will have again.
So good! The ingredient amounts are just perfect. The dish is just the right amount of spice. Love the chunks of tomato and onion. Will be making this a regular rotation.
So delicious So easy!! Thank you!!!
This was absolutely delicious and so simple. I didn’t have fresh herbs so I used dried. I love things spicy so I added about a tsp and a half of pepper flakes to the dried herbs and added them along the diced tomatoes and white wine step. Incredible. Amazing! Restaurant could not beat this one.
Great dish! Easy & great flavor. The white wine takes it to the next level! Serious bang for your calorie/WW buck. Make it. 😀
So easy and delicious!
My husband and I really enjoy this recipe, so easy, light and delicious. This last time I made it with fire roasted tomatoes to give it even more of a kick. Thanks Steph!
Hi, I’m always confused on how to measure shrimp, do I weigh out 1 pound with the shells on then clean it? Or do I clean them first then weigh out a lb.
This is so easy and so good!
Tried this recipe and stopped buying jarred sauce. I’ve made it a ton and just use whatever protein I have on hand.
I make it with chickpea pasta (which may offend the author), but I swear it is good and slightly lighter.
Love this recipe!
Made this for the first time and it was husband approved- and that means a lot! Will definitely be making again. Mine had a lot of liquid. Was I suppose to drain the canned tomatoes before adding them?
This was delicious!! I had never had this before, even in a restaurant. My husband and I both loved it!
This recipe was a winner for my husband and I! It was so flavorful and delicious. I will definitely be making this again!
This is one of our favorites of Stephanie’s recipes! So easy and so delicious!
Another winner! Absolutely delicious and the portions are huge. And this one was pretty easy and quick to make too.
This is ridiculously good. I haven’t even finished my meal yet but I had to come and comment and how AMAZING and SIMPLE this is. I can’t wait to make this again.
Fantastic!
What can I substitute for the wine?