Creamy pesto zucchini noodles with shrimp and spinach

Creamy pesto zucchini noodles with shrimp and spinach

5
Points®
Total Time
25 min
Prep
15 min
Cook
10 min
Serves
4
Difficulty
Easy
This creamy sauce is made with reduced-fat cream cheese, not heavy cream. Its flavor is brightened by some lemon zest and tomatoes that get stirred in at the end. We cook the zucchini noodles just long enough so they are tender and warm, but not mushy. If you cook them for too long, water leaches out of the zucchini, thinning the sauce.

Ingredients

Garlic-flavored olive oil

2 tsp

Uncooked shrimp

1 pound(s), extra large, peeled, deveined (21 to 25 shrimp per lb)

Table salt

1 tsp, divided

Spinach

9 oz

Reduced fat cream cheese

¼ cup(s)

Pesto sauce

¼ cup(s)

Uncooked zucchini

1 pound(s), spiralized , (about 5 cups)

Grape tomatoes

1 cup(s), halved

Lemon zest

½ tsp, grated

Grated Parmesan cheese

8 tsp

Instructions

  1. In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Season shrimp with 1/4 tsp salt and add to skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until shrimp are golden and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
  2. Add spinach to skillet and cook, tossing, until wilted, about 1½ minutes. Transfer to plate with shrimp.
  3. Add cream cheese and pesto to skillet and cook over low heat, stirring, until cream cheese is melted. Add zucchini noodles and remaining 3/4 tsp salt and cook, tossing, for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes. Cook just until zucchini noodles are almost wilted, about 1 minute.
  4. Add shrimp, spinach, and lemon zest to skillet. Cook over medium heat, tossing, until shrimp and spinach are hot and zucchini noodles are wilted, about 1 minute. Spoon into bowls. Sprinkle with Parmesan.
  5. Serving size: 1½ cups noodles and shrimp and 2 tsp Parmesan

Notes

If your pesto sauce is concentrated (like the kind that comes in a tube), you may want to reduce the pesto to 3 tbsp.