Creamy Seafood Pasta Recipe

A bowl of creamy pasta is the ultimate cure for any broken heart, says food blogger and photographer Ksenia Prints of At the Immigrant's Table. And if that's not a doctor-recognized remedy, then it really should be. But what if that bowl is also topped with fresh mussels, plump scallops, and juicy shrimp? Well, then that's the ultimate in comfort food right there.

It's hard to imagine a more heart-warming bowl of food than creamy seafood pasta spiked with chili flakes, fresh parsley, and a generous helping of grated parmesan cheese. As you swirl those noodles around your fork, doing your best to lap up the thick, rich sauce, and spear a few choice bites of seafood, you can literally feel your troubles and worries melting away.

Make yourself a big batch of this creamy seafood pasta with shrimp, mussels, and scallops in alfredo sauce, and fall in love with just how good Italian food can be.

To gather all the ingredients for creamy seafood pasta, we'll have to stop in a few aisles of the grocery store, and maybe at the fishmonger's, too. But what's a few stops on our shopping trip when compared to the perfect bowl of pasta?

The pasta of choice for creamy alfredo is linguine and you'll need half of a 16-ounce package, though you can also use spaghetti or fettuccine noodles.

Our seafood selection includes shrimp, scallops, and mussels in equal quantities. If your supermarket is well-stocked, you should be able to find these spread between the freezer aisle (frozen shrimp and scallops are perfectly fine here as long as you thaw them first) and the fresh seafood and fish section.

From the vegetable section, you'll need to grab an onion, garlic, and fresh parsley. And butter, olive oil, heavy cream, and chicken broth (or dry white wine) are the liquids for our sauce. Finally, you'll need some parmesan cheese and chili flakes to round out and add some spikes of flavor to the rich alfredo sauce. 

In most cases, cooking pasta entails bringing a large pot of water to a boil. The water should be generously salted; good pasta water should taste as salty as the sea.

When the water is boiling, add the pasta to it. Continue cooking the pasta for 8 to 10 minutes, depending on the package instructions (different pasta makers require different cooking times, and while dry pasta takes longer, fresh pasta is ready within 2 to 3 minutes).

Drain the cooked pasta and set it aside in a large bowl, stirring through just a touch of olive oil to help prevent it from sticking together.

While the pasta is cooking, use this opportunity to measure out and prep all of our ingredients. Rinse the mussels and remove their beards if necessary, discarding any that remain open even after tapping on them. Clean the shrimp, including deveining and peeling as-needed, and pat the scallops dry.

For the vegetables, dice the onion, mince the garlic, and finely dice the parsley.

Set everything you need for making your creamy pasta beside your cooking station, as the rest of the recipe should go fairly quickly.

Bring a large pan that's big enough to hold the entirety of your pasta to medium heat. You can also use a Dutch oven for this. Add 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan. The butter helps make the sauce more luxurious, while the oil prevents the butter from burning. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for 3 minutes, until the onion turns translucent.

Add the shrimp and scallops to the pan, and sauté for 4 minutes, turning the shrimp and scallops over once, until the shrimp have turned pink.

Add ½ cup of chicken broth and 1 cup of heavy cream to the pan. Bring the alfredo sauce to a light boil and lower the heat to a simmer. Let the sauce cook until the cream reduces slightly, about 2 minutes — it should thicken as it cooks.

Add the cleaned mussels to the pot, cover with a lid, and let them cook in the sauce for 5 minutes. Stir all the ingredients to coat them in the sauce.

Discard any mussels that haven't fully opened by the end of the cooking period.

Add 1 cup of parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoon chili flakes, ¼ cup minced fresh parsley, and salt and pepper to the sauce. Taste and correct the seasonings as needed, adding more chili or salt to taste. The sauce should feel rich, creamy, and luscious as it coats the tongue, with a flavor that's balanced between savory and slightly spicy.

Add the drained pasta to the sauce pot. Stir gently to mix everything together. All the pasta should be coated in sauce, with bites of seafood interspersed throughout.

Like most pasta, creamy seafood pasta is best when served immediately after preparing. So bring that pan to the table, rest it on a cutting board or a trivet, and go to town!

Serve this pasta in large pasta bowls, topped with more grated parmesan, diced fresh parsley, and a pinch of chili flakes.

The pasta will keep in an air-tight container in the fridge for three days and can be reheated in the microwave — though it will never taste as good as when it was freshly made.