This creamy jerk shrimp pasta is an incredibly flavorful dish that's surprisingly easy to make. A homemade Jamaican jerk seasoning spice blend gives the pasta sauce a delicious and complex, spicy flavor. A little bit of brown sugar adds a hint of sweetness that's balanced by fresh and fragrant lime juice and zest.

Unlike its close relative rasta pasta, this jerk shrimp pasta dish doesn't have bell peppers. Instead, I focused it purely on the incredible flavors of the jerk seasoning spice blend.

Jerk shrimp pasta on a plate with a spoon.

Jerk seasoning spice blend ingredients and notes:

Traditionally, the ingredient responsible for the heat in jerk seasoning is scotch bonnet, a pepper more than 10 times hotter than jalapeno. Since scotch bonnets aren't easy to find, I used crushed red pepper flakes in my seasoning blend. Red pepper flakes are readily available and are just as capable of adding a hefty amount of heat.

Garlic powder, red pepper flakes, allspice, salt, thyme, cinnamon, onion powder, dark brown sugar, black pepper and nutmeg. — See amounts in the full recipe below.

Full Recipe

Jerk Shrimp Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

This creamy jerk shrimp pasta dish is made with a spicy and creamy tomato sauce and a homemade jerk seasoning blend.

5 from 1 vote

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Course: Main

Cuisine: American, Jamaican

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 40

Total Time: 45

Servings:

Calories: 885kcal

Author: Nicole B.

Equipment:

measuring spoons and cups
mixing bowl
knife and cutting board
rubber spatula
plastic wrap
large pot
colander
large non-stick pan
citrus zester
citrus juicer

Ingredients:

For the jerk seasoning:

1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon dark brown sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon table salt

For the shrimp pasta:

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon neutral oil (such as vegetable oil, canola oil or light olive oil) divided
¾ pound raw shrimp,* thawed, peeled, deveined and cut into bite-size chunks
3 cups uncooked medium pasta shells (8 ounces)
¼ cup finely diced yellow onion (you need about ⅓ of a small onion for that)
1 cup chicken broth
¼ cup tomato paste
1 cup heavy cream
½ teaspoon lime zest
½ teaspoon lime juice, more to taste
leaves from 4 small sprigs of fresh thyme, roughly chopped

Instructions:

For the jerk seasoning:

In a large bowl, stir together all jerk seasoning ingredients.

For the shrimp pasta:

Mix 1 tablespoon oil into the spice mix, then add the shrimp and stir around until well coated. Cover the bowl and marinate the shrimp in the fridge for 20 minutes.
While the shrimp are marinating, bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta.
Once the shrimp had 20 minutes in the marinade, make the sauce: Heat the remaining oil in a large non-stick pan, then add the diced onion and saute until translucent (about 2 minutes).
Stir in the shrimp along with any marinade that's still in the bowl. Cook until the shrimp are just starting to turn pink (3 to 4 minutes).
Stir in chicken broth, tomato paste and cream. Bring to a simmer and cook until the sauce has thickened a bit (about 5 minutes after it starts to simmer).
Stir in lime zest and juice and season to taste with more lime juice. Mix the sauce with the pasta, sprinkle with roughly chopped fresh thyme leaves and serve.

Notes:

*You can use any size shrimp you like because you will be cutting them into bite-size chunks.

Storage: Store the pasta and the sauce separately in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 2 days. Gently reheat the sauce on the stovetop and the pasta in the microwave.