This Crockpot Cajun Shrimp Pasta is a quick and delicious seafood meal that delivers on the spice!

I have a serious love affair with all things cajun – from their buttermilk beignets and their chicory coffee, to their sausage & shrimp gumbos, I’m all about The Big Easy.

(So much so that I did everything in my power to make The Princess and the Frog my daughter’s favorite Disney movie – and I succeeded! Now just to convince her that our next family vacation should be to Tiana’s hometown…)

The food heritage of the area is beautiful and diverse – with a smattering of French Canadian, West African, and Native American influences. I especially love how they take traditional French cooking (which can seem intimidating) and make it beautifully rustic and their own, with generous spices that you wouldn’t find in traditional French fare.

However, the one drawback to Cajun cooking is that all that flavor can take hours to develop. If you’ve ever made an authentic gumbo from scratch, you know that the flavor is hard won but worth it.

So that’s why I wanted to develop an easy cajun meal that can be made in the crockpot with minimal prep time.

The crockpot is wonderful for really enhancing flavor over time – so even if you think that I didn’t add enough spice to this recipe, trust me that it will strengthen over time (and if it’s still not spicy enough for you, you can add some additional spices in the last half hour or so of cooking).

The final result is a flavorful recipe with great depths of flavor, thick noodles and a generous amount of shrimp and veggies. We actually used spaghetti noodles in this recipe and they puffed up to take on the texture of udon noodles.

Just a note if you are making this for a family – my daughter loves certain spicy meals but she couldn’t eat the noodles in this recipe as they really absorbed the spice (which was one of my favorite things about this meal) – but as a bonus, she ended up eating a bowl full of veggies and shrimp which is always a win! You might want to just offer your kids a few noodles to see if they like them, or be pre-emptive in removing the jalapeno and cajun spice.

Ingredients for Crockpot Bang Bang Shrimp & Noodles

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium-sized onion, minced
• 1 cup sweet bell peppers, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 Jalapeno pepper, deseeded and minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-16oz can tomatoes, with juice
• 1 lb pasta, uncooked
• 5 cups chicken broth or water
• 2 teaspoon cajun spice, or more to taste
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 lb shrimp, uncooked
• 4 Tablespoons tomato paste
• Hot sauce, optional

Tip: adjust the spices to your family’s personal preferences.

Kitchen Tools You May Find Helpful

• Crockpot
• Crockpot Liners <– I haven’t used these but I have several friends who SWEAR by these for easy clean up
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Kitchen knife
• Peeler

This is the crockpot that I use the most often – it has a thermoshield which not only prevents little fingers from being burned if the kids touch the outside of the crockpot, but it’s also great for bringing along to potlucks. I also like that I can set the cook time on it, so if we end up taking too long playing outside (or running errands) I don’t have to worry about the food burning.

How to Make Cajun Shrimp & Noodles

Place the olive oil, onion, peppers, celery, carrots and garlic in the bottom of a crock pot and heat on high 10 minutes, until the onion is translucent.

Add the tomatoes, pasta, spices, broth and let cook on high for 30-45 minutes until the pasta is thick and has doubled in size.

Stir in the shrimp and tomato paste and cook an additional 10-15 minutes until the shrimp is fully cooked through.

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