Lemon, chilli & garlic spaghetti with prawns
Bright, 20-minute spaghetti tossed with prawns, blistered cherry tomatoes, lemon zest and parsley — perfect for a speedy midweek supper.
This lemon, chilli and garlic spaghetti with prawns is the sort of speedy dish that makes you look like you’ve put in an hour when it takes twenty minutes. Bright lemon and blistered tomatoes lift the prawns and a splash of pasta water turns everything into a glossy, clingy sauce.
Perfect for midweek suppers or a last‑minute dinner for friends — quick, fresh and more impressive than it has any right to be.
Ingredients
- 400 g spaghetti
- 400 g raw king prawns — peeled and deveined
- 50 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves — thinly sliced
- 1 fresh red chilli — deseeded and finely sliced (adjust to taste)
- 300 g cherry tomatoes — halved
- 1 lemon — zest and juice
- 15 g flatleaf parsley — finely chopped
- sea salt — for pasta water and seasoning, to taste
- black pepper — freshly ground, to taste
Equipment
- colander
- microplane or fine grater
Instructions
Fill a large saucepan with plenty of water, bring to the boil and add a generous pinch of sea salt (water should taste of the sea).
Add the spaghetti and cook uncovered until just al dente (check packet for timings; aim for 8 minutes). Before draining, reserve about 150 ml of the cooking water.
Meanwhile, warm the extra virgin olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the sliced garlic and sliced chilli and cook for 60 seconds until fragrant but not browned.
Add the halved cherry tomatoes, a pinch of sea salt and a grind of black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes blister and begin to collapse, about 3 minutes.
Push the tomatoes to one side of the pan, add the prawns and cook for 2–3 minutes until pink and opaque, turning once so they colour evenly.
Drain the spaghetti, add it to the frying pan with the lemon zest, lemon juice and most of the parsley. Add 60–120 ml of the reserved pasta water and toss over the heat for 60 seconds until the sauce clings to the pasta — add more water if needed to loosen.
Taste and adjust seasoning with sea salt and black pepper, scatter the remaining parsley and serve immediately with a final drizzle of olive oil.
Tips
- Reserve the pasta water before you drain — the starchy water is what makes the sauce silky without cream.
- Keep the garlic moving in the pan and remove it from the heat if it starts to brown; browned garlic tastes bitter.
- If your prawns are frozen, thaw them in a bowl of cold water for 10–15 minutes before cooking; pat dry thoroughly so they sear.
- Make‑ahead: cook the tomatoes and garlic, cool and refrigerate for up to 24 hours; add prawns and freshly cooked pasta when ready to serve.
Substitutions
raw king prawns → 400 g cooked prawns, added at the final toss just to heat through
Stays closespaghetti → 400 g linguine or tagliatelle — slightly different texture but the sauce works the same
Stays closefresh red chilli → 1 tsp dried chilli flakes, added with the garlic
Noticeably different
Nutrition
Per serving · estimated
- 580
- Calories
- 36 g
- Protein
- 76 g
- Carbs
- 14 g
- Fat
- 4 g
- Fibre
- 3 g
- Sugar
- 560 mg
- Sodium
FAQ
Can I use frozen prawns?
Yes — thaw them in cold water for 10–15 minutes, pat dry and cook straightaway. Make sure they’re fully thawed so they sear rather than steam.
How do I stop the pasta from drying out?
Reserve some pasta cooking water and add it to the pan when you toss the pasta; the starch loosens the sauce and helps it cling.
Can I add cheese?
You can grate a vegetarian hard cheese over the finished dish, but it will change the clean lemon flavour; omit if you need to keep it dairy‑free.
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