This delicious and light shrimp and basil pesto recipe has cherry tomatoes, pine nuts, and Parmesan cheese. Serve shrimp with basil pesto over pasta or rice.

Cooked shrimp in a deep plate with halved cherry tomatoes and basil pesto. Pine nuts and Parmesan cheese in a bowl on the side.

How To Make Simpler Shrimp With Basil Pesto

Buy fresh already peeled and deveined shrimp from the grocery store OR
Buy frozen peeled and deveined shrimp and defrost before using.
Buy pre-made basil pesto instead of making basil pesto from scratch like the recipe instructs.

Top down view of a wood cutting board with a bowl of poached shrimp, a plate of halved cherry tomatoes, basil pesto, pine nuts, and grated Parmesan cheese.

Basil Pesto Tips For Shrimp

I like to lightly pulse (instead of full on blend) the basil pesto ingredients in the food processor so it creates a chunkier pesto. But, by all means, make smooth basil pesto if that's what you like!

Toss the poached shrimp with the chunky basil pesto and top it off with extra pine nuts and fresh Parmesan cheese.

Wanna go an extra step for the basil pesto? Bring a small pan to medium high heat and toast the pine nuts but watch carefully - they are quick to burn.

Don’t have pine nuts for the pesto? No problem – use pistachios, walnuts, brazil nuts, almonds, whatever! I love basil pesto with pistachios instead of pine nuts too.

Basil pesto in 4 snack bags with two of them sealed and 2 of them open. One has a label with the date. — *Freeze leftover portions flat in snack bags and label and date. You can easily break off a piece and refreeze the rest if it's too much if it's frozen flat.*

Shrimp with Basil Pesto TIPS

Freeze any leftover basil pesto flat in a ziploc bag and break off and thaw desired amount as needed for future recipes.

Boiling the shrimp instead of pan frying them makes for a clean fresh look and taste for the basil pesto pasta.

TIP: Keep the shrimp shells and combine with water, salt, and your favorite herb or spices to make a killer homemade seafood stock / broth.

Things In My Kitchen:

Zester / Grater - This is for gettin' that Parmesan cheese grated real fine.
Shrimp peeler & deveiner - There's a lot of fancy & expensive shrimp peelers out there. This inexpensive, plastic one works the best for me. I am lost without it.

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Two white plates filled with poached shrimp, basil pesto, and halved cherry tomatoes.

Serve shrimp and basil pesto with cherry tomatoes over pasta or rice. Orzo is my favorite pasta to serve this with.

Shrimp with Basil Pesto and Cherry Tomatoes

Cooked shrimp in a deep plate with halved cherry tomatoes and basil pesto. Garnished with Pine nuts.

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EatSimpleFood.com

This delicious and light shrimp and basil pesto recipe has cherry tomatoes, pine nuts, and Parmesan cheese. Serve shrimp with basil pesto over pasta or rice.

Author: beckie
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 4
Category: Dinner / Main Dish
Method: Stovetop
Cuisine: Italian
Diet: Gluten Free

Ingredients

Ingredient List Shrimp:

1 ½ lb shrimp, peeled & deveined
1 ½ cup cherry tomatoes, halved
½ cup grated Parmesan Cheese - as garnish
¼ cup pine nuts - as garnish
1 lemon zested - as garnish

Ingredient List Basil Pesto:

3 cups packed basil leaves (~ 1.5 oz)
2 small cloves garlic (~ 2 tsp)
⅓ cup pine nuts
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup e.v. olive oil
2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
~ ½ -¾ teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste

Instructions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add shrimp and cook ~3 minutes or until done.
Make pesto: Add all pesto ingredients to a food processor or blender. Lightly pulse until desired consistency. Add salt, lemon juice, or olive oil to taste.
Toss shrimp, basil pesto, and cherry tomatoes together and garnish with pine nuts, lemon zest, and Parmesan cheese.

Notes

Serve shrimp and basil pesto with cherry tomatoes over pasta or rice. Orzo is my favorite pasta to serve this with.
Don't like peeling and deveining shrimp? Buy them already done. Shrimp can also be peeled and deveined after boiling if you don't like to peel and devein raw.
Wanna go an extra step? Bring a small pan to medium high heat and toast the pine nuts but watch carefully - they are quick to burn.
Don’t have pine nuts for the pesto? No problem – use pistachios, walnuts, brazil nuts, almonds, whatever!
Freeze leftover pesto flat in a ziploc bag and break off and thaw what you need.

Serving Suggestion

This Shrimp with Basil Pesto pasta recipe can stand on its own - maybe with some Parmesan crisps? But it also goes really nicely with the cold cucumber soup, or with Gnocchi or a Farro salad.