Pasta with Red Crab Sauce is one of my guilty pleasures. This deliciously decadent seafood sauce is easy to make and is guaranteed to impress the seafood lover at your dinner table.
2cupsspaghetti saucehomemade or your favorite brand
1teaspoongarlic powder
1teaspoononion powder
¼teaspoonblack pepper
⅙teaspoonred pepper flakesmore or less to taste
1teaspoonfresh basilchopped
⅔lblinguine or spaghetti
½cup pasta cooking water reserved when draining cooked pasta
1teaspoonfresh Italian parsleychopped as garnish - optional
Instructions
Add olive oil, chopped garlic, and red pepper flakes to a large skillet or large saucepan over medium-high heat and saute for about 1 minute.
Reduce the stove to medium heat and add the crab meat to the pan. Let the crab meat saute for an additional 1-2 minutes. Adding more olive oil if needed.
Optional - If you have some dry white or red wine handy add a splash to the crab meat after sauteing to deglaze the pan.
Add the tomato sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and chopped fresh basil to the pan. Bring the sauce to a boil and reduce the heat to low.
Continue cooking for 2-3 minutes, then move the pan off the heat, and let it sit while the pasta cooks.
Place a large pot of salted water over high heat. Cook the pasta al dente, per the instructions on the box. *When you drain the pasta, save half a cup of the pasta water.
When the pasta has finished cooking, reheat the crab sauce. Adding the reserved pasta water to the sauce.If the sauce appears to thin, skip adding the pasta water.
Toss the pasta with a little bit of the sauce, then top the pasta with the remaining sauce and garnish with chopped parsley (optional).