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!
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).