My easy Creamy Feta Pasta with Escarole & Shrimp is the perfect light summertime pasta recipe that anyone can make in under 30 minutes.
Growing up I hated cheese. Like despised all cheese except for melted mozzarella cheese on pizza. Other than that–I wanted nothing to do with cheese. Yes, that even included cheddar in macaroni & cheese. I seriously was the worlds pickiest yet healthiest kid eater known to man kind (as I’m told by my mother). It wasn’t until my early 20’s that I ate my first cheese burger and that was with the ever-so-mild provolone cheese.
In the past few years I have really been getting crazy with the cheese trying and most recently (as in this year) I’ve started eating feta cheese. I know… gasp. Most people are born out of the womb eating feta–not I. Since trying feta few times prior to this dish I enjoyed it. Not over the top I’m in love with it, but the taste was some what pleasant to my pallet. When I saw this recipe I wanted to give it a try. A creamy feta sauce? What could go wrong with this dish? I’m so happy I jumped out of my bubble and tried a warm feta cheese sauce for this pasta dish. I’ve made this Creamy Feta Pasta with Escarole & Shrimp 3 times since originally taking the photo’s for this post. This simple pasta dish is elegant, fresh, and full of flavor.
Since learning to love feta I love to make my rock shrimp and feta grits and my baked feta pasta recipe.
Table of contents
Ingredients
- Cavatappi Pasta
- Escarole
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Garlic
- Large shrimp
- Nonfat plain Greek yogurt
- Feta
- Fresh dill
- Salt & Pepper
Directions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt liberally (about 1 tablespoon), and cook pasta 1 minute less than the package instructions. Add escarole to the boiling pot of pasta water and cook for 1 minute. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water and then drain into a colander.
- While the pasta is almost done cooking heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds then add the shrimp and season with salt and pepper. Cook until opaque throughout, about 5minutes.
- Add pasta mixture and ¼ cup of pasta water to the skillet. Cook for 1 minute and then stir in the Greek yogurt, feta, and dill. Mix well and if needed add more pasta water to the skillet until you are happy with the light sauce consistency throughout the pasta. Season with additional salt and ground pepper if needed, and serve.
FAQs
This recipe makes enough for four adult servings.
Yes and no… I never like to reheat shrimp, but will if I have leftovers. I would remove the shrimp out of the dish and reheat the pasta until warm then add in the shrimp for 20-30 seconds in the microwave or until warm but not so hot it’s dried out the shrimp.
Escarole can be hard to find at times in the grocery store. Escarole is also known as broad-leaved endive, Bavarian endive, Batavian endive, and scarole. You will notice that escarole has broad, curly green leaves, and a slightly bitter flavor.
How to weight food with a kitchen scale
This recipe, like most recipe calls for ounces and pounds of various ingredients. Until recently, I always did the math and converted those ounces and pounds into cups and tablespoons, until receiving an OXO 5 Pound Food Scale with Pull-Out Display to review and giveaway to one of my lucky readers. I didn’t realize how important and needed it is to have a food scale in the kitchen. It’s kind of changed my life, guys!
After reading a little more about the scale I began using it for this recipe. You can weight food directly on the scale or use a bowl to weight. When using a bowl you need to clear the weight of the bowl. As pictured above, my glass bowl weighs 1lb 8oz. The zero function allows for zeroing the scale before adding additional ingredients to be weighed.
Press the zero button to offset the weight of a container or to set the weight back to zero so you can add additional ingredients. You will also notice that the display pulls away from base to prevent shadowing from large plates or bowls.
I began by weighting the shrimp. I couldn’t get the shrimp exactly at 12oz (which is the equivalent to ¾ pounds), but I got it pretty darn close.
Next up, it was time to weigh the pasta. This is something I was so incredibly excited to finally get to weight my pasta and get an accurate read! The easy-to-read, large display screen and numbers is wonderful! As you may be able to tell this is a super tiny little scale. The thin profile allows for easy storage in my overly stuffed kitchen!
Tips & Tricks
Here are a few of my tips and trick’s I’ve found helpful when I make this feta shrimp pasta recipe.
- Substitutes- Here are a few different substitutes you can make if you don’t have the ingredients required for this recipe.
- Pasta – If you don’t have cavatappi pasta you can use bow tie pasta, rotini, or even penne.
- Escarole – If you can’t find escarole, substitute curly endive or kale.
- Yogurt – If you don’t have Greek yogurt you can use sour cream.
Shrimp Recipes
Still craving shrimp? Here are a few more of my favorite shrimp recipes.
- Sheet Pan Shrimp Stir-Fry
- Lemon Garlic Shrimp Pasta
- Sauteed Buffalo Shrimp with Bleu Cheese
- Baked Shrimp Parmesan with Pasta
- Shrimp Scampi Pasta
Adapted from: Everyday Food, May 2012
If you make this Shrimp Feta Pasta recipe, I would be honored and love for you to take the time to leave a star rating and comment! I spend hours developing and testing these recipes, and always love to hear feedback and user experience!
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Creamy Feta Pasta with Escarole and Shrimp
Equipment
- Stove Top
Ingredients
- ¾ lbs. Cavatappi
- 1 Large head escarole trimmed and cut crosswise into 1-inch strips
- 2 tablespoon Extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 Garlic cloves sliced
- ¾ lbs. Large shrimp peeled, deveined
- ⅓ cup Nonfat plain Greek yogurt
- 7 oz. Feta crumbled
- 2 tablespoon Coarsely chopped fresh dill
- Salt & ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt liberarlly (about 1 tablespoon), and cook pasta 1 minute less than the package instructions. Add escarole to the boiling pot of pasta water and cook for 1 minute. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water and then drain into a colander.
- While the pasta is almost done cooking heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds then add the shrimp and season with salt and pepper. Cook until opaque throughout, about 5minutes.
- Add pasta mixture and ¼ cup of pasta water to the skillet. Cook for 1 minute and then stir in the Greek yogurt, feta, and dill. Mix well and if needed add more pasta water to the skillet until you are happy with the light sauce consistency throughout the pasta. Season with additional salt and ground pepper if needed, and serve.
Notes
- Substitutes- Here are a few different substitutes you can make if you don’t have the ingredients required for this recipe.
- Pasta – If you don’t have cavatappi pasta you can use bow tie pasta, rotini, or even penne.
- Escarole – If you can’t find escarole, substitute curly endive or kale.
- Yogurt – If you don’t have Greek yogurt you can use sour cream.
Nutrition
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AJ Calabrese
Oh we are definitely making this on the weekend!