Instant Pot Shrimp Fra Diavolo with Penne
Instant Pot Shrimp Fra Diavolo features a spicy tomato sauce that’s packed with Italian flavor and just the right amount of heat. This healthy meal is paleo and gluten free AND a one-pot, no-thaw meal!
This Instant Pot Shrimp Fra Diavolo is a gluten-free one-pot meal that cooks the sauce, pasta, and shrimp in less than 20 minutes. It’s so easy, you can enjoy this flavor-packed meal on a busy weeknight!
📙 This Shrimp Fra Diavolo Instant Pot recipe is included in the No-Thaw Paleo Cooking in Your Instant Pot cookbook, written by my friend Dr. Karen Lee.
About No-Thaw Paleo Cooking
No-Thaw Paleo Cooking in Your Instant Pot is written by one of the friends I’ve made through blogging, Dr. Karen Lee. I know how much work goes into writing cookbooks, and I’m so happy to share her beautiful book with you!
Even if you don’t eat paleo, the recipes in this cookbook are delicious and healthy. You can easily substitute ingredients that you are more familiar with if desired (such as a traditional pasta in this recipe).
The book offers 75 paleo Instant Pot recipes that cook from frozen, so you don’t have to remember to thaw anything ahead of time.
Cooking from frozen can be a real time saver when you need a quick meal to get on the table. This book makes cooking from frozen quick, easy, and healthy.
No more making last-minute changes to your meal plan because you forgot to pull the meat out of your freezer to defrost!
Click here to check out the table of contents and see more of the gorgeous meals in the book.
What Is Shrimp Fra Diavolo?
Fra Diavolo, or Diablo, is Italian for “brother devil.” But don’t be alarmed! This tomato-based pasta sauce is only as spicy as you make it. Traditionally, it packs heat from fresh and dried chile peppers.
This Instant Pot Shrimp Fra Diavolo recipe calls for just 2 teaspoons of crushed red pepper flakes. (And you’re welcome to use more or less, depending on your preferences.)
Instead of lots of chile peppers, this pasta sauce gets its signature red color and deep umami flavor from canned diced tomatoes and tomato paste.
Is Shrimp Diavolo Healthy?
Paleo recipes are grain-free and high in protein. This pasta recipe is packed with protein, thanks to the shrimp. It also calls for brown rice pasta instead of white wheat.
Brown rice pasta contains more fiber than white pasta, and it’s naturally gluten-free. It also doesn’t taste much different from the noodles you might be more familiar with. So give it a try, you might love this healthier take on a pasta dinner.
We’ve also included instructions to serve Instant Pot Shrimp Fra Diavolo sauce over spaghetti squash and zucchini noodles, for a low-carb version of this already healthy dish.
How to Make Shrimp Fra Diavolo over Penne in an Instant Pot
This Shrimp Fra Diavolo over Penne recipe will work in any brand of electric pressure cooker, including the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, or Power Pressure Cooker XL.
Like all of the recipes in Karen’s new cookbook, there’s no need to thaw the shrimp before making this Instant Pot Shrimp Fra Diavolo. The shrimp, sauce, and pasta all cook together in the pressure cooking pot, making clean up easier than ever!
This recipe starts by building a flavorful Italian red sauce with onions, garlic, diced tomatoes, and frozen shrimp. Then add the gluten-free penne pasta and water.
🛑 Do NOT stir the pasta after adding it, just gently press to ensure that all of the pasta is fully submerged in water.
Seal the pressure cooker and set it to cook on low pressure for 5 minutes. (This is one of the very few recipes we cook on low pressure.)
After releasing the pressure, test one of the noodles, and if it still has some bite to it, turn the pressure cooker to Sauté to cook the sauce a bit longer, until your pasta is perfectly al dente.
What Kind of Shrimp Is Best for Instant Pot Fra Diavolo over Penne?
There are so many different kinds of frozen shrimp you can buy!
This recipe calls for large, raw shrimp that are peeled and deveined. The larger size helps keep the shrimp from getting overcooked in the pressure cooker.
That’s also why it’s important to cook Instant Pot Shrimp Fra Diavolo under low pressure. Shrimp cook quickly and can turn rubbery fast, so use low pressure to give you more control over the texture of your shrimp.
More Favorite Italian Dinners for the Instant Pot / Pressure Cooker
You can never go wrong with Italian! Here are some of our other favorites:
- Pepperoni Pizza Pasta for the Pressure Cooker is a cheesy and comforting 30-minute weeknight dinner.
- Pressure Cooker Sloppy Lasagna turns your favorite baked pasta casserole into an easy one-pot meal for the Instant Pot.
- Classic Minestrone Soup from Bless This Mess Please is a veggie-packed soup filled with filling pasta shells and white beans.
- Meat Lover’s Calzones from Barbara Bakes are stuffed with three kinds of meat plus mushrooms in easy homemade pizza dough.
Instant Pot Shrimp Diavolo over Penne
This 20-minute Instant Pot Shrimp Fra Diavolo with Penne is a flavor-packed one-pan meal with just the right amount of spice.
Ingredients
- 1 pound frozen peeled and deveined large shrimp
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, pressed or finely minced
- 2 cups diced tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 cup white chardonnay or pinot grigio
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper, or more to taste
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, divided
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup brown rice penne (see Notes for other serving options)
Instructions
- Rinse the frozen shrimp under cold running water.
- Select Sauté to preheat the pressure cooking pot.
- Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pressure cooking pot. When hot, add the onion and garlic. Sauté for 1 minute or until the onion is soft. Add the shrimp and sauté for 1 minute. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, wine, Italian seasoning, salt, crushed red pepper, basil and parsley (reserve 1 tablespoon for garnish). Stir. Add the water and penne but do not stir. Make sure the pasta is submerged in liquid.
- Press Cancel. Lock the lid in place. Select Low Pressure and 5 minutes cook time.
- When the cook time ends, turn off the pressure cooker and use a quick pressure release. When the valve drops, carefully remove the lid.
- Stir the pasta and shrimp. Test the pasta for doneness. If the pasta needs a little more time, leave the lid off and press Sauté to simmer the liquid. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is al dente.
- Ladle the pasta and shrimp into 4 bowls, garnish with the remaining parsley and serve immediately.
Notes
To use spaghetti squash in the recipe, cook the spaghetti squash first. Place a whole spaghetti squash on a trivet in the inner pot, pour 1 cup of water in the inner pot, and cook on HIGH pressure for 15 minutes. Use a quick release. Take out the spaghetti squash and cut around the shorter the diameter. Scoop out the seeds and loosen the strands with a fork and set aside to top it with sauce.
If using zucchini noodles (zoodles), spiralize the zucchini and quickly stir it into the inner pot with sauce just before serving.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 297Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 3mgSodium: 699mgCarbohydrates: 32gFiber: 3gSugar: 6gProtein: 5g
Nutrition information is calculated by Nutritionix and may not always be accurate.
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The recipe calls for 1 cup of brown rice penne pasta. That doesn’t seem like enough for 4 servings. Is that correct? Do you use a 1 cup measuring cup? I would think you would use 1/2 bag of the 16 ounce pasta. Thank you!
Hi Sandy – you can use 1/2 bag of 16 ounce pasta. Just make sure the pasta is submerged in liquid. Enjoy!
Barbara, I appreciate your quick response. Thank you!
This recipe was a true-blue homerun with our crowd! Like many others, we made a few changes: we used chicken stock instead of the chardonnay and switched out the penne for fettuccini. We also used precooked frozen shrimp and added that toward the end. This recipe did not turn out soupy at all, and the flavors were deep but not overwhelming. I printed this out and put it in my recipe binder because it is a definite keeper for us!
Thanks Deon – glad you and your family loved this recipe.
Decent flavor. Shrimp was overcooked. And, it was soupy.
Hi Scott – thanks for the feedback. Often when pasta is a little soupy, you can just let the pasta sit for a minute or two and it will absorb the excess liquid. What brand/type of pasta did you use? What size shrimp did you use?
First of all, thank you very much for the recipe it was ABSOLUTELY delicious. As everyone always does I did make some minor changes, using a 15 oz can of tomato sauce instead of diced tomatoes, dried parsley and basil instead of fresh (1 tbsp + 1 tsp) and cut back by 1/2 on the pepper flakes and used regular penne. Even with the changes it was very good and easy to make. My question is in the recipe it says 3 tbsp olive oil, divided in the instruction it said to use 1 tbsp to saute garlic and onion but I read it 3 times and cannot see where the other 2 tbsp are added. We didn’t miss it so I’m not worried about it, just curious or am I going blind too? Thanks again, this will definitely be a recipe that will be repeated in our house and passed on to others in the family..
Oh and BTW it was NOT soupy at all.
Hi Pam,
This is Karen, the cookbook author. Thank you for making the recipe and giving us your feedback! I mistakenly gave Barbara the wrong direction about the oil. Eeek! The cookbook has the right ingredients and direction and it was my mistake for sharing the wrong info with Barbara. You don’t need to ‘divide’ the oil and yes, 3 tbsp is what I used since the recipe needs a “bit” of EVOO flavor so I used 3 tbsp. But you use it all at once. Glad you enjoyed the recipe with your tweak!
If I were using the spaghetti squash and as I understand I cook it separately. What’s the reduction of liquid then just to make the sauce and cook the shrimp
Hi Teresa – If you’re not going to cook the pasta, I would omit the water and reduce the wine to 1/2 cup. Let me know how you like it.
Do you mean diced tomatoes in the can using the liquid as well? And if you’re not gonna use pasta and maybe use zucchini noodles would you not put in the cup of water
Hi Mary – yes diced tomatoes in the can using the liquid as well. If you’re not going to cook the pasta, I would omit the water and reduce the wine to 1/2 cup.
I am an experienced with pressure cooking and I think with 2 cups of liquid and the shrimp frozen when you place them in the pot, I think this would be very soupy at the end. I don’t see you adding a thickener. Your photo makes it appear as if the dish has a thick sauce. I am asking because I wouldn’t want to end up with shrimp soup! Am I missing something?
Hi Kim,
I’m the author of the “No Thaw Paleo Cooking in your Instant Pot.” When I used my brand of pasta, it soaked up most of the water when it was finished. And there was enough tomato sauce to mix with the pasta. So when you add ‘your’ brand of pasta, as long as it’s submerged in the liquid, you’ll be fine, even if you don’t use all of the water. I wanted to make sure readers had enough liquid to cook the pasta and for the IP to come to pressure so that’s why I recommended 1 cup of water. Hope that makes senes.
P.S. The image is a bowl of this recipe as it’s served. So there may have been some sauce left in the IP since not everything out of the IP is on this bowl.