Make This Spicy Seafood Pasta for Date Night at Home
This seafood pasta recipe is a mix of shrimp, mussels and scallops, all tossed together with linguine and a quick tomato sauce. It’s perfect for date night or to serve at your next dinner party.
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Everything You Need to Make This Spicy Red Sauce Seafood Pasta
- mussels
- shrimp
- scallops
- tomato sauce
- linguine
- garlic
- olive oil
- fresh basil
- salt & pepper
How to Make This Shrimp, Mussels and Scallop Linguine
To make this seafood marinara pasta start by cooking the shrimp and scallops. Set seafood aside and use the pan to add garlic, salt and pepper and fresh basil to a store bought marinara sauce.
You can also make your own tomato sauce, and sometimes I do. But, for this quick date night pasta night a store bought jar makes for a delicious seafood dish.
Once your sauce is simmering, drop in your mussels. Once the mussels have opened, add the shrimp and scallops and toss in the linguine. Voila, your seafood pasta is ready to server and enjoy.
Shrimp, Scallops and Mussels Seafood Pasta in Red Sauce with Linguine
Easy seafood pasta in red sauce with shrimp scallops and mussels with linguine
Ingredients
- 1 lb mussels, scrubbed and de-bearded
- 1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 lb scallops
- 2 cups red tomato sauce / marina sauce
- 12 oz pasta ( linguine)
- 2 garlic clove, minced
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2-3 fresh basil leaves, chopped
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Season the scallops with salt and pepper, then add them to the pan. Cook scallops for 2 minutes per side or until browned. Remove the scallops from the pan.
- Season the shrimp with salt and pepper and add them to the pan. Cook for 3 minutes per side or until shrimp is opaque. Remove from heat.
- Meanwhile, cook the linguine in a large pot of salted water according to package directions. Drain the pasta and reserve 3/4 cup of cooking liquid.
- Back to the pan. Pour 2 remaining tablespoons of olive oil to the pan. Now, add garlic and cook for about a minute. Add two cups of your favorite marinara or red sauce and the reserved pasta water to the pan, add salt and pepper and red pepper flakes and heat thoroughly.
- Once the sauce is simmering, add mussels and cook for about 4-5 minutes or until the shellfish has opened. Close the pan with a lid to speed up the shellfish opening.
- Remove lid, discard any shells that did not open.
- Add shrimp and scallops back to the pan and cook for another 3 minutes or so. Add linguine and toss everything to coat with the sauce.
- Sprinkle with fresh basil and serve.
Additional Notes & Questions About This Dish
How Long to Cook the Seafood in this Recipe?
The seafood ingredients in this recipe cook at different rates, so you’ll want to cook the shrimp and scallops first.
Then remove them when you cook everything else and cook the mussels last.
- Shrimp 2-3 minutes (each side)
- Scallops 3 minutes (each side)
- Mussels 3-4 minutes ( done once the shells have opened)
How to Properly Clean Your Shellfish
- Mussels and clams, if you are also using clams require some special handling.
- You want to get live shellfish from the store. I don’t mind using previously frozen shrimp and scallops for this recipe, but mussels and clams taste much better fresh for this recipe.
- Once home, toss any mussels that have opened.
- They are no longer safe to eat. Store mussels or clams in the refrigerator before you are ready to cook with them.
- When you are ready to cook clams or mussels, place them in a bowl of ice water for about 20 minutes.
- This allows all the shellfish to expel any sand that may have accumulated.
- Remove the clams or mussels from the water and discard the sandy water.
- Next, remove the beard, those fuzzy seaweed shrubs that you may find on the side of the mussels.
- You can use kitchen scissors or simply pull on them by hand.
- Then scrub the mussels or clams with a brush under cold water to remove dirt.
- That’s it. This is the most difficult part of this seafood pasta recipe.
How to Properly Clean Shrimp
- The black “vein” below the flesh of the shrimp that runs along the spine is actually the shrimp’s digestive tract. While it’s not harmful to eat, if the tract is really pronounced it can be unsightly. In general, I like to remove it.
- To remove the black “vein” use a small sharp knife to make a tiny slit along the middle back of the shrimp.
- Insert your knife under the “vein” and use your fingers to carefully pull the vein out.
- Thoroughly rinse your shrimp in cold water and set aside to dry on a towel.
- Make sure the shrimp has expelled all of its water and pat the shrimp dry to cook.
- The black, slimy “vein” below the flesh of the shrimp is actually the shrimp’s digestive tract.
Cooking with frozen seafood? Check this post on how to properly defrost seafood.
How to Prepare Scallops for this Recipe
- To prepare scallops, simply rinse the scallops thoroughly in water and set aside to dry on a towel. Pat dry before cooking. To help scallops sweat out any extra water sprinkle them with salt, let them sit for a 15 minutes or so and dry again.