Name: Easy Instant Pot Shrimp Alfredo
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 8 ounce Linguine Pasta (**227 g. It's important to weigh the pasta.); 12 Shrimp (**colossal, jumbo or extra large. Use frozen thawed de-shelled, de-veined, tails intact or taken off.); 1.5 tbsp garlic (**minced); 1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper; 4 ounce cream cheese (**softened, Room temperature. ); 1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream (**slightly warmed in microwave oven. Read NOTES below for healthy alternatives.); 3/4 cup Parmesan Cheese (**shredded. Store bought or grate from a block.); 3 tbsp Unsalted Butter; 2 cup water (**warm); 2 tbsp Better Than Bouillon (**paste. Dilute this in the warm water to form an instant flavor packed chicken stock. )

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Easy Instant Pot Shrimp Alfredo is absolutely beginner friendly, loaded with juicy shrimp & a creamy sauce. This recipe will never give you a burn error, the dairy will not curdle & you'll have restaurant quality Shrimp Alfredo in Instant Pot under 20 mins.

Don't miss our huge collection of easy Instant Pot Recipes.

easy instant pot shrimp alfredo in a grey bowl with a spoon — Easy Instant Pot Shrimp Alfredo

Best Instant Pot Shrimp Alfredo

If you love alfredo sauce based recipes don't miss out this amazing Instant Pot Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo with broccoli. Best Instant pot shrimp alfredo begins with the best homemade alfredo sauce that'll make you lick your plate 😀 Why use store bought jar sauce when you easily make a crazy good creamy alfredo sauce at home!

This pressure cooker shrimp alfredo is extremely rewarding. You can even add some blanched broccoli florets at the end or even some frozen thawed green peas for an extra veggie boost.

creamy shrimp alfredo in instant pot — Creamy Instant Pot Shrimp Alfredo

Tips & Tricks

Dairy trick: Add the dairy after the pressure cooking cycle is over. This will prevent the heavy cream from curdling. Also, stabilize the fridge cold heavy cream by slightly warming it up in the microwave oven and than add it to the super hot instant pot. The will prevent the sudden thermal shock and won't curdle the cream.
Juicy shrimp trick: Saute the shrimp until pink and than add them back to the pot at the very end after making the alfredo sauce. Sautéing the shrimp at the beginning will do two things - it will release the shrimp flavor into the butter & prevent the shrimp from getting over cooked & rubbery.
Prevent Burn error: De-glaze the pot like crazy 😀 You need to loose any stuck food particles stuck at the base of the pot before you hit the PRESSURE COOK button.
Healthy Alfredo Sauce: If you are on a diet and want to replace the heavy whipping cream & cream cheese you can do so by adding 1 cup half and half or evaporated milk or regular whole milk, in that case just scoop 2-3 tbsp cashew cream (search in the vegan aisle of your grocery store) and add it while incorporating the ingredients. This will make the sauce creamier. You can also control the thickness of the alfredo sauce by increasing/decreasing the parmesan cheese.
Al dente Noodles/pasta: 7 mins high pressure followed y 10 mins natural release. This will give you perfectly cooked al dente pasta with a bite in it.
Tender noodles/pasta: If you prefer softer pasta than pressure cook on high for 10 mins followed by 10 mins natural release.
Veggie boost: You can add 1 cup small steamed broccoli florets while adding the shrimp or ½ cup frozen thawed green peas for an extra veggie boost.

Shrimp Alfredo Instant Pot Ingredients

Find the Ingredients with actual measurements at the bottom of the post. The list below is just a reference.

recipe ingredients on a black surface — Ingredients

Linguine Pasta: You can use fettuccine noodles, in that case check out the cook time from this post: Instant Pot Fettuccine Alfredo.
Garlic
Shrimp: De-shelled, de-veined frozen thawed shrimp. Colossal, jumbo or extra large size. You can either keep the tails intact or take them off. We feel that the tails add a little more flavor.
Dairy: Heavy whipping cream (read tips above for skinny alfredo sauce), cream cheese at room temperature (mixes well & fast into the sauce) & shredded parmesan cheese.
Liquid: You can use either store bought or homemade chicken stock or dilute Better than Bouillon paste in warm water for an instant flavorful stock. We recommend this crazy good stuff! It's the real deal. So much flavor!
Seasoning: Ground black pepper powder.
Cooking fat: Butter.

How to make Shrimp Alfredo in Instant Pot?

Find the detailed step by step recipe along with measurements + Video at the bottom of the post.

Step #1 Saute Shrimp & garlic

sauteing shrimp and garlic in instant pot — Saute shrimp & garlic in instant pot

Saute Shrimp: Set instant pot on SAUTE HIGH heat function, add butter and gently release the frozen thawed de-shelled deveined shrimp (tails intact or off your choice) and saute until pink. Set them aside.
Saute garlic: Add more butter and saute the garlic for just 1 min. This will help the garlic release the maximum flavor.

Step #2 De-glaze pot

de-glazing instant pot with a steel ladle — De-glaze pot

De-glaze pot: Pour chicken stock, add ground black pepper and de-glaze the pot very well with the help of a spatula scraping the sides and the bottom of the pot. This will help loosen any stuck food particles and help prevent the BURN error. DO NOT rush this step. CANCEL the SAUTE function.

Step #3 Pressure cook pasta

pressure cooking linguine pasta in instant pot — Stack Pasta & pressure cook

Layer Pasta: Break the Linguine pasta into halves and add them in a bird nest pattern or zig zag pattern in a 2-3 slots. DO NOT add the pasta all at once. This is important.
Pressure cook: Secure the lid, seal the valve and PRESSURE COOK on HIGH for 7 mins followed by 10 mins natural pressure release.

Step #4 De-tangle pasta, add dairy

detangling cooked pasta in instant pot — De-tangle pasta

De-tangle Pasta: With the help of a pair of fork de-tangle the cooked pasta really well to help untangle the strands. This will take sometime and require a bit of your patience. If you skip this step a few strands of the cooked pasta will remain all clumped.
Add dairy: Next, add the slightly warm heavy whipping cream and softened cream cheese. Stir well to fully incorporate the cream cheese. You should have a creamy liquid-y sauce at this stage. Hit the SAUTE and keep it on LOW heat. Bring the alfredo sauce to a gently simmer stirring often so that it doesn't stick at the bottom of the pot.

Step #5 Add shrimp & serve

preparing creamy alfredo sauce in instant pot and adding shrimp — Prep creamy alfredo sauce

Add Parmesan: Now, CANCEL the SAUTE function and add the shredded parmesan cheese. Stir to mix well until the cheese completely melts and blends into the sauce. If you want more extra sauce you can always add more heavy whipping cream at this stage or even some whole milk should do the job.
Add shrimp & serve: Now, transfer the sautéed shrimp into the instant pot and gently mix them with the pasta. Your shrimp alfredo pasta is ready to serve. Enjoy! It tastes best when served almost immediately. The sauce begins to thicken as the dish cools down.

best instant pot shrimp alfredo in a grey bowl being lifted with a fork — Best Instant Pot Shrimp Alfredo

Best wines with Shrimp Alfredo

We prefer these wines:

Chardonnay.
Pinot Grigio.
Pinot Noir.
Beaujolais from France is a mild red that goes very well with Shrimp Alfredo.

Best sides with Shrimp Alfredo

As today's recipe contains no veggies, we love to serve our creamy shrimp alfredo with a side of steamed veggies like this:

Instant Pot Steamed broccoli.
Instant Pot Steamed carrots.
Instant pot steamed green beans.
A crisp light salad like Caesar salad also goes very well.
Texas Toast: If you don't mind extra calories!

Can Shrimp Alfredo be frozen?

Yes, you can freeze Shrimp Alfredo for upto 2 months in heavy duty portion control freezer safe bags or containers. The pasta would turn soft when thawed and reheated. You can undercook the pasta slightly to avoid this, I would say do 5 mins high pressure & 10 mins NPR.

Also, cream based sauces has a tendency to separate. If you feel the sauce had separated you can always add a few splashes heavy cream before reheating the alfredo.

How long can Shrimp Alfredo stay in the fridge?

Today's easy instant pot shrimp alfredo would last for 3 days in the fridge. Pasta has a tendency to soak up a lot of sauce, so to bring back the right consistency just add a few splashes heavy whipping cream, gently mix it with the pasta and than reheat.

Can you reheat Shrimp Alfredo?

Yes, you can reheat shrimp alfredo in the microwave oven until warm or hot. Add a few splashes heavy whipping cream / half & half or milk to bring back the right consistency of the alfredo sauce. Sauce coated pasta when stored would soak up a lot of liquid from the sauce.