I LOVE a good white wine sauce for pasta! This sauce is everything you want in a pasta dish- garlicky, buttery, and still very light compared to others!
I made this and posted it to my Instagram story a couple weeks ago and I was surprised to get SO many requests for the recipe. Pasta is not my strength in cooking by any means, but I can say that this is a solid recipe.
This recipe is adapted from my best friend Donna– she has a culinary background and lived in Italy for a few years. We had a girl’s night a while back and she made this for dinner. I watched everything she did because I know nothing about pasta, and I was surprised at how easy it was!
She made this garlic butter white wine sauce and served it with angel hair pasta, shrimp, mussels, and clams. My god it was amazing! I had never been much of a fan of pasta before but now I crave this all the time. I cannot say it is authentic, but it is DELICIOUS!
Ingredients
I’m using ingredients that I ALWAYS have in my kitchen.
Base– The two main bases for the sauce are olive oil and white wine. Use Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, or Sauvignon Blanc. It does not have to be good wine, I actually use very cheap wine for cooking. If you can’t consume alcohol, you can substitute white wine vinegar, chicken broth, or a mixture of the two.
Aromatics– I like to use shallots, onions, & garlic
Seasonings– Old bay, black pepper, garlic powder, crushed red pepper, parsley & salt to taste.
Proteins– Shrimp & mussels. I buy both frozen so I always have them on hand, but use fresh if you can! Alternatively, you can use chicken or any other proteins you like.
Other- Butter, cherry tomatoes, pasta noodles of your choice, parmesan cheese, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
I don’t specify an exact amount of salt because you should be seasoning every time you add something new to the pan. Get in the habit of doing that and tasting as you go. This way the flavors can develop in layers and you are in full control of how it is seasoned.
Other ways to prepare & enjoy
This is a very basic version of a white wine sauce pasta. Sometimes I add fresh greens at the end like arugula and basil. I like to make a quick garlic bread with parmesan cheese as well. You can add anything you want! Sometimes I even make this with chicken and andouille sausage, and add a bit of Slap Ya Mama or Tony’s creole seasoning.
If you’re going to make it with chicken, I recommend cooking the chicken first. Get a nice sear on it in the pan, set it aside and then continue with this recipe in that same pan scraping all the brown bits and juices from the chicken.
You can also skip the pasta and make this as a saucy seafood plate to dip some bread into. I make it this way sometimes as a side to a steak dinner.
More pasta recipes
If you like this recipe, try some of my other pasta recipes on the blog!
Garlic Butter & White Wine Seafood Pasta
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp shallot minced
- 2 tbsp onion minced
- 2 tbsp garlic minced (use less if you don't like garlic)
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- salt to taste about 1 tsp total for me
- 3/4 cup white wine chardonnay, pinot grigio, or sauvignon blanc
- 10 cherry tomatoes halved
- 10 mussels
- 7 oz tiger shrimp peeled, deveined, tails on
- 1/4 cup butter
- 3 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
- 4-5 oz angel hair pasta or thin spaghetti
- 1/2 cup pasta water
- 1/4 cup parmesan
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Heat 3 tbsp olive oil on low and sauté the shallots & onions until fragrant. Season with a sprinkle of salt.
- Add the garlic and sauté another 1-2 minutes. Add more oil if needed.
- Add the Old Bay, garlic powder, & black pepper.
- Add the tomatoes, season with salt to taste and sauté for 1 minute
- Turn the heat up just a bit and add the white wine. Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes. Taste the sauce and add salt if needed.
- Lightly season the shrimp with a bit of Old Bay, garlic powder, and black pepper. Add the shrimp, mussels, parsley, and dollops of butter. Cover for 3-4 minutes or until the shells open.
- Remove the shrimp & mussels when they are done and set them aside. Turn heat back down to a low simmer.
- Add your al dente pasta to the pan with 1/2 cup of reserved pasta water (make sure you salt your water when boiling the pasta). Mix until coated evenly
- Add the parmesan and mix well. Turn off the heat once most of the sauce has been absorbed.
- Squeeze fresh lemon juice and give it one more toss
- Plate with seafood and top with parsley, parmesan, and crushed red pepper.
This Post Has 23 Comments
Salted or unsalted butter?
Regular or extra virgin olive oil?
Simply delicious and easy to follow recipe! This is becoming a family favorite among many other of your recipes!
simply amazing 👏
I made this tonight with shrimp and snapper cut into cubes. it was delicious. I’m going to adding more wine and pasta sauce to make it soupier next time. I also added mushrooms.
Made this for vday with my son and my wife loved this!
I’ve made this dish 3 times already (last time on v-day) and it’s always a hit. I really think all of the flavors from the old bay, white wine and butter bring it all together. I used scallops instead and it was chef’s kiss. Thanks for your flavorful and easy to follow recipes.
We made this for v day this year and it was so good! So simple and easy with most of the ingredients you already have at home
Thanks for sharing this recipe. It looks so easy and delicious, I can’t wait to try making it for my family )(minus white wine for kiddos). Thanks!
Made for valentines! And she loved it! Tasted so good.
This was such a hit with our friends! Sooo flavorful yet balanced and not too salty. Best of all it was easy to make. Pretty much followed the recipe except used more aromatics and switched up the seafood. It was our first time making seafood pasta and we won’t need to look any further for another recipe. Can’t wait to make this again!!
I made this recipe with grilled chicken instead of shrimp. It turned out so delicious. I used her grilled chicken recipe as well and it was the best chicken and pasta dish I’ve ever made! Making it again tonight!
Amazing & VERY flavorful dish!! I made it for my granddaughter with heart-shaped pasta! She was in heaven, she loved it🥰❤️🤗😋
Excellent recipe. I added sea scallops in stead of mussels, and I doubled the Old Bay and parsley. I will be making this again. Greetings from the South Side of Chicago
Loved this recipe! Was a little on the spicy side for my family so plan to cut down on the red pepper next time.
Amazingly flavorful!
yum
good stuff
easy
This recipe is so good! Not too saucy which was perfect for me. I only had red wine but I just used it as substitute for white wine and theres not a problem. I think it made the flavor even more stronger for the better? Anyways love this recipe. Came back to give 5 stars as I follow this recipe for the second time after a week!!
Outstanding recipe! Took only minutes, but was flavorful and super fresh. Used frozen seafood. Added scallops. Where recipe called for seasoning the shrimp, o was generous with seasonings, added them to a ziploc bag and flavored my frozen scallops, mussels, and shrimp. Also substituted canned diced Italian flavored organic tomatoes and used a relatively inexpensive pinot grigio. Guests absolutely loved it!!!! Bursting with flavor, great textures, visually impressive, and highly aromatic!!!!
I think you saved my marriage with this recipe. Awesome. Don’t skimp on frozen seafood melody bags. Use fresh, if posible.
Thank you for this delicious recipe! Please update your list of ingredients, it’s missing tomatoes. Soooo easy and full of flavors!!! Thank you again!
Thank you for letting me know! It has been updated. I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe, thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment Brandy 🙂
I make a very similar pasta dish, I love this dish and also learned it from someone else (who worked at an Italian restaurant in Philadelphia). In my friend’s version, instead of adding the shrimp to boil in sauce. I cook it like you explained for the chicken. I heat up pan with olive oil and pan-fry to half cooked the seasoned shrimp, then flambé it with a splash of brandy/cognac. (Be careful not to burn anything nearby). Remove shrimp from heat then start from your step 1. At the end, add the shrimp back after step 8/before step 9. ???
That sounds so delicious! I might try it that way next time. I love the flavor that cognac adds to seafood especially when flambeed. Thank you for sharing!