Irresistible Shrimp Bacon Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe

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Cooking With Anadi

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Bacon Shrimp Alfredo Recipe

Tender, juicy and spicy shrimp with crispy bacon all tossed in a scrumptious creamy Alfredo sauce is what you need to make for a delightful dinner tonight! Who can say not to that?

What do we have here? Heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, butter, and a touch of nutmeg for the most flavorful Alfredo sauce from scratch? Toss out your jar because this is the sauce you need to make!

I used to be slightly intimidated by making Alfredo sauce. In times past, I found that the sauce got too thick when adding in my pasta, and it wasn’t all nice and luscious. Instead, the pasta wasn’t cooked evenly and the sauce was gluey. Um, nobody wants that! We want a smooth luxurious sauce to perfectly coat our pasta!

I nailed my sauce recipe when making a variation of my classic Pizza Bagel. I was going to make my Pepperoni Pizza Bagel, but oh no, turns out I didn’t have any passata to make the no-cook sauce (I highly recommend you check out the pizza bagel recipe, it will really change your life whenever you have a pizza craving!). I still really wanted to make pizza bagel though for lunch… Hm…

On the fly, I made an Alfredo sauce. It was the best Alfredo sauce ever! I posted it on Instagram because it was just so awesome! If you want to be a part of my cooking journey and kitchen experiments, then definitely go follow me there!

Now that that sauce was perfect, it really inspired me to finally share a Fettuccine Alfredo recipe. But of course I wanted to add my own personal touch to a classic Fettuccine Alfredo.

I thought a spicy paprika-spiced shrimp would go amazingly well with the fettuccine, but it was still missing something. How does the saying go? Bacon makes everything better. Yes, it sure does!

The bacon in this recipe will add a really awesome crunch and amazing flavor. Bacon is an awesome ingredient in the sense that you literally don’t need to do anything to it, it’s always a shining star on its own!

These lovely proteins with our wonderful sauce and a star is born! You’re going to fall head over heels for this incredible Bacon and Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo! The components work so well together, and it shouldn’t take longer than a half hour to get this all together! Let’s do it!

Tips for Amazing Creamy Shrimp and Bacon Alfredo

• To prevent overcooking the shrimp, set it aside on a plate/wire rack. Then, right before serving, quickly toss with the warm marinade.
• Adding the shrimp to the same pan as bacon infuses the bacon with shrimp juices. If you prefer a pure bacon flavor, add the shrimp to the pan after the bacon is ready.
• If the Alfredo becomes too thick, or if the noodles feel too tight with the sauce, add some more cream to correct the consistency for the Alfredo.

Tools Needed

• Mixing bowl
• Nonstick pan
• Large pot
• Whisk
• Wooden spoon
• Spatula
• Colander
• Paring knife

Ingredients for Shrimp Bacon Fettuccine Alfredo

Let’s go over what we’ll need for this amazing Garlic Shrimp Bacon Alfredo!

For the Shrimp

• Jumbo shrimp
• Olive oil
• Paprika
• Lime juice
• Garlic
• Salt and pepper, to taste

For the Fettuccine Alfredo

• Fettuccine
• Bacon
• Heavy cream
• Parmesan
• Nutmeg
• Salt and pepper, to taste

How to Make Shrimp and Bacon Pasta

For the Shrimp

1. Peel and devein the shrimp, rinse well, pat dry and add to a bowl.
2. Add olive oil, paprika, salt, pepper, lime juice and garlic.
3. Mix well and marinate as you prepare the bacon.

For the Alfredo

1. Add bacon to a cold pan and turn the pan to medium heat.
2. Heat a large pot of water on high heat for the pasta
3. While the water comes up to a boil, turn the bacon every minute or so or until it is halfway cooked.
4. Once the water comes up to a boil, season with salt, add the fettuccine and cover to bring the water back up to a boil. Cook pasta until al dente
5. Add the shrimp to the same pan as the bacon, reserving the marinade and cook until the shrimp turns pink. By this time, the bacon should be crispy and infused with the shrimp flavors. Remove and set aside.
6. Pour the shrimp marinade to the pan and simmer for 1-2 minutes. Set the shrimp aside and leave the pan on low heat.
7. In another pan on medium heat, add butter and cream and whisk until the cream comes up to a simmer.
8. Once the cream thickens slightly, add the fettuccine, mix well and then season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
9. Mix well and then add in parmesan cheese. Mix until cheese has combined and take the pan off the heat.
10. Roughly chop the bacon, toss the shrimp with the warm marinade and serve right away over the fettuccine topped with bacon. Enjoy!

Getting a Rich Alfredo Sauce Without Splitting It

The whole sauce is butter, 1 cup of heavy cream, 1/2 cup of finely grated Parmesan and a pinch of nutmeg — well under a quarter teaspoon, and it should read as warmth rather than as nutmeg. Whisk the butter and cream together in a large skillet over medium heat until the cream just simmers and thickens slightly, then add the drained fettuccine and stir it through before the Parmesan goes anywhere near the pan. Cheese dropped into a sauce that is too hot is what turns a rich alfredo sauce grainy, so take the pan off the heat as soon as the Parmesan has melted in. If it tightens up on you, the recipe fix is a little more cream; a ladle of starchy pasta water saved before you drain does much the same job and keeps the sauce lighter. Either way, move quickly — alfredo waits for nobody.

Bacon, Shrimp and the Order They Go In

The bacon starts in a cold pan and comes up to medium heat with it, which renders the fat slowly instead of seizing it — resist the urge to jump to medium high heat to hurry it along. Turn the strips every minute or so until they are halfway cooked, then add the marinated shrimp to the same pan. That overlap is deliberate: the shrimp juices season the bacon while it finishes crisping. If you would rather your bacon tasted purely of bacon, cook it through first, lift it out with a slotted spoon and cook the shrimp afterwards in the rendered fat. Pour the reserved marinade — 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp paprika, 3 tbsp lime juice and a clove of garlic — into the pan and simmer it for a minute or two, then toss the cooked shrimp back through it right before serving so they do not overcook while everything else finishes. Swap in a smoky bacon for more depth, or pancetta if you want something saltier and less sweet.

Add-Ins, Garnishes and Leftovers

There are no vegetables in this at all, which the recipe is upfront about. Sliced mushrooms cooked in the bacon fat, a couple of handfuls of spinach wilted into the sauce at the end, or softened onions all sit happily here without fighting the alfredo. Chopped parsley over the top adds colour and cuts the richness slightly, and more grated Parmesan has never hurt anyone. On leftovers: this is at its best the minute it is made, and it will set firm in the fridge overnight because of the cheese and cream. Keep it in an airtight container for a couple of days and reheat it gently in a pan with a splash of cream or milk, stirring until it loosens — the microwave tends to split it. The shrimp suffers first, so if you know there will be leftovers, hold some back and cook them fresh.

Serving Suggestions for Shrimp Alfredo with Bacon

If you’d like some greens on your plate, since we quite honestly have none here, then I would recommend my Chicken Caesar Salad as a side dish! This recipe is already quite heavy, so this salad features my Homemade Greek Yogurt Caesar Dressing, or you can use a Caesar dressing of your choice.