Seasoned with soy sauce and flavorful dashi broth, this Japanese-style Pasta with Shrimp and Asparagus is incredibly delicious and ready in less than 30 minutes! It’s also gluten-free!
Spring is in the air! Say goodbye to hot pot and stews, and let’s welcome bright and light dishes with spring vegetables!
Today I’m going to share a super quick and easy Japanese Pasta with Shrimp and Asparagus (海老とアスパラガス簡単和風パスタ).
What’s Japanese Pasta?
You might have heard of the word Wafu Pasta (和風パスタ) while you were visiting Japan. Wafu Pasta refers to Japanese-style Pasta.
Wafu (和風) means Japanese-style and we often use this word to describe something that’s Japanese-style. In cooking, it can be the use of Japanese flavor profiles and ingredients. You might have heard of Wafu Dressing (Japanese-style salad dressing) or Wafu Hambagu (Japanese style hamburger steak).
3 Tips to Make This Recipe
1. Pick good asparagus.
Asparagus is very sweet and delicious when it’s in season! You should look for firm and crisp stalks with tightly closed budding tips. There are different sizes of asparagus, and for this recipe, I think it’s best to pick thin to medium-width stalks so that they don’t require cooking for a long time.
2. Cook stalks and spears separately.
The texture of the food is important, especially when you want to fully enjoy seasonal fresh vegetables. You don’t want to get mushy wilted asparagus!
In cooking, little extra steps help and improve the final dish. Please remember to cook stalks first because they take a longer time to cook than spears.
3. Cook pasta till al dente in the frying pan.
Don’t cook your pasta until al dente when you are boiling pasta in the pot, as you will need to toss the pasta with ingredients and seasonings in the frying pan. You don’t want to end up with overcooked pasta. Purposely undercook the pasta for this dish.
Make this Japanese Pasta Gluten-Free
Gluten-Free Soy Sauce
Soy sauce is traditionally brewed from water, wheat, soybeans, and salt. If you are gluten intolerant, you won’t be able to use soy sauce in cooking unless it’s tamari soy sauce (100% wheat-free ones) or gluten-free soy sauce.
Kikkoman offers 3 varieties of gluten-free soy sauce. For this recipe, I used the regular gluten-free soy sauce (blue label) which tastes just like regular soy sauce.
Gluten-Free Pasta
I’ve tried several brands of gluten-free pasta and by far Garofalo’s Gluten-Free Spaghetti and Linguine are the BEST pasta that I’ve tasted.
The texture and flavors are just like regular pasta. Mr. JOC and the kids didn’t notice that this was a gluten-free dish until I mentioned it. So if you have a family member or friend who is allergic to gluten, you can all still enjoy the same meal with this pasta!
Use Other Spring Vegetables
There are so many wonderful spring vegetables that you can incorporate into this dish in case you don’t like asparagus. Here are my choices of spring vegetables that would go well with this dish.
- Artichokes
- Belgian endive
- Butter lettuce
- Cabbage (in Japan, we have “spring cabbage” 春キャベツ)
- Collard greens
- Fava beans
- Fennel
- Green beans
- Mustard greens
- Peas
- Snow peas
- spinach
- Swiss chard
- Watercress
The Amount of Chili Peppers
Mr. JOC and I love adding 1-2 dried red chili peppers (without seeds) in this pasta. I’d chop into smaller pieces and cook with olive oil and garlic to infuse the flavor. However, my children think it’s a bit too spicy, even with one red chili pepper.
If you have children, another option is to sprinkle crushed chili peppers over pasta at the table. As the chili peppers are not infused into the oil, you would need more chili flakes to enjoy the kick, but it works.
If you love spicy food, I highly recommend cooking with chili peppers. I hope you enjoy this recipe with your family and friends!
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Japanese Pasta with Shrimp and Asparagus
Video
Ingredients
- ¼ red onion (2.5 oz, 70 g)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 6 oz asparagus spears
- 10 pieces shrimp (9 oz, 260 g; peeled and deveined)
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1½–2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1–2 dried red chili pepper (seeds removed; optional)
- ¼–⅓ cup dashi (Japanese soup stock)
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce (use GF soy sauce for gluten-free)
- crushed red pepper (red pepper flakes) (optional)
- 8 oz gluten-free pasta (4 oz/113 g per person; I used my favorite GF pasta brand‘s linguini)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. Bring a big pot of water to boil.
- Meanwhile, cut ¼ red onion and 2 cloves garlic into thin slices.
- Cut 6 oz asparagus spears diagonally and separate the spears and stalks, as we will sauté the stalks first because they take longer to cook.
- Sprinkle Diamond Crystal kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper on 10 pieces shrimp. If your shrimp is not peeled or deveined, you can check my tutorial for instructions.
- Once the pasta water is boiling, for 4QT (16 cups or 3.8L) add 2 Tbsp salt. Then, add 8 oz gluten-free pasta. As we will cook the pasta a little longer after draining, cook it 1 minute less than the directions on the package.
- Heat 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When it’s hot, add the shrimp and cook until the bottom side is nicely browned, about 2–3 minutes. Don’t touch the shrimp until it releases itself from the skillet. Once it has a nice char on one side, you can easily flip.
- When one side of the shrimp is nicely browned, flip and cook the other side for 2–3 minutes. Once the shrimp are nicely golden brown, transfer to a plate and set aside.
- Lower the heat to medium low, add 1½–2 Tbsp unsalted butter and swirl around.
- Add the red onion and garlic slices and sauté for 1 minute. If you like spicy pasta, add 1–2 dried red chili pepper now. Increase the heat to medium and add the stalks of asparagus. Sauté for about 3 minutes, until asparagus stalks become tender.
- Then, add the spears of asparagus and cook for another 1–2 minutes, until the asparagus are tender but still nice and crisp.
- Add the shrimp back into the skillet, add ¼–⅓ cup dashi (Japanese soup stock), and increase the heat to medium high.
- Add 1 Tbsp soy sauce (gluten free) and adjust based on your preference.
- Add the cooked pasta and toss to combine with the ingredients. If you‘d like, sprinkle freshly ground black pepper. Serve immediately. Optionally, you can garnish with crushed red pepper (red pepper flakes).
i made this for my dog who has kidney failure and poor appetite, modified it so it didn’t have soy sauce/salt and it was still really tasty and he loved it! thank you so much, Nami 🙂
Hi Corduroy, We are so happy to hear this recipe brought back his appetite!
Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!☺️
So simple and so good. Luckily, I found some frozen shrimp from Trader Joe’s in the freezer and had all the other ingredients on hand – but had to sub asparagus for broccoli. I was irked with myself for not trying this recipe sooner! Since I added the chili flakes during the cooking process I only meant to serve it to my husband and myself but our 3 and 6 yr old boys ate most of it! Definitely a life saver when you run out of ideas and/or time to cook a weeknight dinner. Easy prep and who doesn’t love shoyu, garlic, and butter?! Thank you Nami-San!! Oishiikatta desu!
Hi Meknoma! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
Nami and JOC team are so happy to hear you and your family enjoyed the Japanese-style pasta! 🥰
Your recipes and photos are motivational and inspirational! Thanks.
Hi Dana! You have no idea how much your kind words meant to Nami and JOC team!
Thank you very much for your feedback! 🥰
Hello Nami or your assistants,
I would like to make Japanese Pasta with Shrimp and Asparagus 海老とアスパラガスの和風パスタ. What sort of Dashi would you suggest I use?
Can I use normal Linguini not gluten free?
Thank you very much.
Sandi Lucas Melbourne, Australia
Hi Sandi! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
We recommend using Awase dashi for this recipe. https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-make-dashi/
And yes! You can use normal Linguini as well. Happy cooking!
Nami san
I tried your recipe for chin jao rosu and just love it! I used pork strips instead of beef. The flavors blended so well and it was a hit with my husband. Saiko! Tomorrow I will try making the wafu pasta with asparagus and shrimp. I might substitute the shrimp with salmon. Tanoshimi desu! Oishi recipes Arigatou!
Hi Diana, Thank you very much for trying many of Nami’s recipes and your kind feedback!
We are glad to hear you and your husband enjoyed them. Domo Arigato! どうもありがとう!💕
Nami,
Do you happen to have a recipe for a mochi cookie?
Hi Gloria, We currently don’t have the Mochi Cookie on the site. We’ll make sure to add the recipe to Nami’s list. Thanks for your request! 😊
I had my doubts by the slim ingredients, but this was fabulous! My husband and I devoured it! Thanks so much for teaching me how to make this!
Hi Joyce, We are so glad to hear you and your husband enjoyed this Japanese style pasta! Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback.
OMG Nami, this was SO tasty. Love all your recipes. We did this one pretty much as written, other than we added some oyster mushrooms (because we had them), cooked in a separate step and added back into the pan along with the shrimp. We went a little lighter on the pasta and just a bit heavier with the asparagus. Also added a dab of a butter-miso compound to each portion at the end. Not sure exactly what made this work so well but I suspect it’s the combination of soy sauce and butter. Will definitely make again.
Hi Ann! Thank you so much for your kind words and feedback. I’m glad you really enjoyed this recipe! 🙂
Easy and simple . Very useful for senior person.
Hi Mia! Thank you so much for your kind words. I hope you enjoy(ed) the recipe! 🙂
I keep a small shaker of Korean gochugaro to use as a seasoning at the table. Ichimi is also a great thing to use atthetable.
Hi Bkhuna! I agree! 🙂
This looks awesome and I would like to make it but don’t have time to make dashi. Can I use store bought dashi? What kind and what brand? Thank you! 🙂
Hi Amanda! Can you get powdered dashi or packet dashi?
powder: https://www.justonecookbook.com/dashi-powder/
packet: https://www.justonecookbook.com/dashi-packet/
おいしいです!
I really enjoyed this recipe. It is very versatile with the toppings.
For the first time, I made it just as your recipe says. I love the selection of asparagus, onions, and shrimp together. It’s a nice pairing. I tried mine with a little shichimi togarashi rather than crushed chili pepper since I had some handy.
The second time I made it I tried adding some mushrooms and topping it with katsuobushi. Mmmmmmmm. There are so many things you can do, and it’s fairly easy to make! My best tip for experienced home cooks is to cook the other ingredients while the noodles are boiling so you don’t have to wait as long. This will save cooking time, but for beginners, it’s probably better to start with your noodles cooked so you don’t interrupt the cooking of the other ingredients.
Hi Lion! よかった、ありがとう! Yes, it’s pretty versatile, and when Japanese do wafu pasta, it’s a similar guideline – with different ingredients and toppings (like katsuobushi etc). I actually recommend cooking the ingredients first instead of pasta. Pasta will get overcooked with remaining heat (we do not pour cold water to stop cooking pasta) while waiting for the other ingredients to finish. Also unless you drizzle some olive oil, it will stick to each other… so it’s “easier” if you focus on the ingredients first, and set aside, and wait for the pasta to finish… I had cooked pasta first in the past and pasta was left in a sieve and it became half dome “sieve” shape by the time I add to the ingredients to toss together. LOL.
Yes, you hit the nail on the head, Nami. There is no harm at all in a family occasionally eating one meal together that accommodates one person’s food allergy. Surely in a family that deals with this there will be plenty of other meals where the person with the allergy has a separate meal prepared, or part of the meal is made separately. That is so much hard work for a parent, and can make the family member with the allergy feel like a burden. It is definitely psychologically healthy to enjoy something together as a family where everyone eats the same meal, even if it’s just on occasion. I’m sure there are many people grateful to see recipes like this one. I am not vegan but I have friends who are and whenever I cook for them I’m happy to make a vegan meal and enjoy the same meal together with them, even though my primary diet is not vegan and that diet would not be healthy for me.
I certainly see the original commentor’s point. It’s important to listen to experts about the reality behind diet fads, but the most important thing is personal responsibility for our own nutritional choices. I’m making this recipe tonight and I’m not using any gluten-free pasta or soy sauce because making the substitution is easy and obvious for me, but for people who have to eat gluten-free, being able to do a web search for gluten-free recipes and find ones like this is probably a real help. Easier than getting halfway through a “normal” recipe and realizing some ingredients that have gluten are crucial and cannot be substituted. From the point of view of a food blogger, this recipe is categorized and presented well.
LOL I’ve been buying ingredients Tons of them, the the only thing here I have is Spinach. My local grocery store does not stock any of these ingredients. I’m lucky to find a Japanese Cucumber here. I want to do some of these recipes, but have to try to find the equivalence and it’s not easy. Buying these things online is not only expensive, but will be wilted before it gets here.
Hi Luke! Dashi is probably the only one that’s kind of unique to Japanese ingredients in this recipe as the rest of ingredients can be purchased in the American grocery stores (I’m not sure where you’re from). You can replace dashi with pasta water if you like, but it’s a big part of Japanese style pasta sauce. 🙂
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