Pasta with prawns and chorizo in an easy tomato sauce, this is one flavoursome meal the whole family will love. This tasty dinner is quick, easy and packed with flavour.
Try this spicy chicken pasta too or this comforting creamy pumpkin pasta.
Table of contents
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Why you’ll love it
When I set about creating this prawn and chorizo pasta, I wanted something with rich flavours making it perfect for a comforting weekend dinner but also easy enough to make during the week. Mission accomplished!
- Packed with flavour: It’s filled with tasty prawns and smoky chorizo.
- One pan: Literally everything is cooked in one pan on the stovetop.
- Easy: It’s simple to make and you don’t even need to be there for most of it.
- Light but bold: With a tomato and broth base, this prawn pasta is light enough for summer but the chorizo and pasta make it cosy enough for winter too.
If you’re a lover of that earthy and smoky chorizo flavour, which pairs so well with prawns, you’ll definitely love this easy pasta dinner.
Ingredients you’ll need
Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.
- Chorizo: For this recipe, you’re looking for fresh chorizo sausage, not the dried and ready to eat type.
- Tomatoes: I like using cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes here for their sweeter flavour but you can use larger tomatoes too.
- Stock: I use a good quality chicken stock / chicken broth but you can also use vegetable broth here. If possible get a salt reduced version, so that you can adjust the saltiness to your taste.
- Red wine vinegar: This adds a little tang and helps to balance out the richness. Feel free to swap this for white wine vinegar, sherry vinegar or even balsamic.
- Tomato paste: This is the thick paste of heavily reduced tomatoes.
- Chilli flakes: The dried chilli flakes / red pepper flakes are completely optional and play well with the chorizo. You can leave them out and / or swap them for ground black pepper.
- Pasta: I use a short pasta most often for this recipe – fusilli pasta is my favourite. Penne, shells, sprirals will all work. I’ve also made this with linguine but I find the short pasta holds the sauce better.
- Prawns / shrimp: When it comes to prawns I have some opinions – actually just one – buy prawns with the shells on and shell them yourself. It takes a little extra time but the texture is so so much better. Prawns without shells that have been frozen often have a crunchy texture as opposed to a meaty texture.
- Spinach: I add spinach towards the end, you can absolutely increase the amount.
- Parmesan: There is just a little parmesan added to the recipe and stirred in.
How to make it
Easy, delicious and with just one pan to wash up, you’re going to love this recipe.
Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.
- Cook the chorizo and tomatoes in a large skillet or non-stick frying pan (make sure it has a lid that fits) until they start to caramelise and the juices are getting very thick. Move them around with a wooden spatula every so often so they don’t catch.
- Add the stock and flavourings: Now add the stock, water, tomato paste, vinegar, salt and chilli flakes. Bring that to a boil.
- Cook the pasta: Add your pasta and let it simmer until almost al dente (you want it to still have a little bite as it’ll cook a few more minutes yet).
- Add the prawns: Now add prawn meat and place a lid on top. Let it cook for 3-5 minutes or until the prawns are opaque and just cooked through.
- Add spinach and parmesan: Finally, add the spinach and parmesan and stir them in just until the spinach is at least 50% wilted. Serve immediately.
Substitutions
- Chorizo: It may be in the title, but you can certainly replace the chorizo with bacon.
- Prawns: Don’t feel like prawns? You could swap them for chopped rotisserie chicken and make a chicken and chorizo pasta. Crab works really well too. Add either option at the same time you’d add the prawns in the recipe.
- Pasta: I use fusilli pasta (a short spiral shaped pasta) but you can use most shapes, even linguine or spaghetti.
- Onions: If you want to add some onions, cook it along with the chorizo and tomatoes at the start.
Storage
While this is best served fresh, you can certainly store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. Reheat in the microwave or in a pan on the stove.
More recipes you’ll love
- Pasta napolitana
- One pot taco pasta
- Chicken and spinach pasta
- The best spaghetti bolognese
- Celery pesto rigatoni
- Chicken basil pesto pasta
- Creamy Prawn Pasta
If you try this chorizo and prawn pasta recipe, please take a moment to leave a rating and comment below. I love hearing from you, and it helps other readers too!
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This prawn and chorizo pasta is rich flavours in an incredibly easy to make dinner. All made in one pan with very little effort, this is a weeknight dinner winner!
Ingredients
- 1 uncooked chorizo sausage, finely chopped
- 250 g cherry or grape tomatoes, halved (8.8oz)
- 2 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock) (500ml)
- 2 ½ cups water (625ml)
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (notes 1)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste (notes 1)
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- ¼ teaspoon chilli flakes
- 300 g fusilli pasta (or similar) (10.5)
- 800 g large raw king prawns in shells, shelled and deveined (notes) (1.8lb) (notes 2)
- ¼ cup finely grated parmesan cheese, packed
- 2 big handfuls baby spinach (100g / 3.5oz)
- parsley / lemon wedges to serve, if desired
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
Instructions
- Over medium-high heat, in a large non-stick pan (or a skillet with a dash of olive oil), add chorizo and tomatoes and cook 6-7 minutes until the liquid has almost evaporated and you can see some bits caramelising. Stir it every so often so it doesn’t catch.
- Add stock, water, vinegar, tomato paste, half the salt and chilli flakes (if using). Mix well.
- Increase heat to high bring to a boil.
- Add the pasta and cook, stirring a couple of times throughout, until the pasta is just al dente (around 10-12 minutes). Make sure it still has some bite as it will still cook for another few minutes from here (notes 5).
- Turn the heat down to medium. Add all the prawns and cover. Cook 3-5 minutes or until the prawns are opaque and just cooked through.
- Add the parmesan and spinach. Mix well and let the spinach wilt for just a minute. Taste and add more salt If needed. Mix well then serve immediately.
- You can add a little chopped parsley or lemon juice when you serve to give it a fresh zing.
- Please take a moment to leave a rating and comment below. It's more helpful than you know.
Notes
- Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons).
- Which prawns? Prawns / shrimp are best purchased with the shell on and removed yourself – it affects the texture greatly.
- Prawns / shrimp weigh about twice as much with the head and shell on so, if buying peeled prawns, you’ll want about 400g.
- Consistency: Add a dash more water if the sauce is too thick.
- Timing: The timing is very important in this recipe so you don’t end up with stodgy pasta – you want it to be just al dente before adding the prawns. If the pasta is already soft it’ll be far too soft and mushy by the time you’ve added the rest. It should be just a little less cooked than you’d like to eat.
- Chicken stock / broth: If using low sodium chicken stock you may require a touch more salt at the end.
- Chorizo: It may be in the title, but you can certainly replace the chorizo with bacon.
- Don’t feel like prawns? You could swap them for chopped rotisserie chicken and make a chicken and chorizo pasta. Crab works really well too. Add either option at the same time you’d add the prawns in the recipe.
- Pasta: I use fusilli pasta (a short spiral shaped pasta) but you can use most shapes, even linguine or spaghetti.
Have you tried this recipe?Don’t forget to leave a rating and comment below and let me know how it was! I love hearing from you. Nutrition information is approximate and derived from an online calculator. The brands you use may cause variations.
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