When Dan and I were in Belize, we ate at the restaurant next to our hotel one night and we both got something called Rasta Pasta. It was an angel hair pasta with shrimp, peppers and a really yummy garlic sauce. It was so good we went back and got it again before we left. 😋

I was still thinking about it days after we got back home and I wondered if I could find a copycat recipe that tasted anything close to the same. I did some searching and I found one that sounded really similar to what we had. I made it this week, and while it wasn’t AS good as the one in Belize – but I knew it wouldn’t be! – it did taste pretty darn close to it. And I wanted to share it with y’all now.

Here are the ingredients you will need:

– 8 oz penne pasta (I used penne when I made it this week, but definitely going to switch to angel hair pasta next time I make it)

– 1 pound shrimp peeled and deveined

– 2 Tablespoons jerk seasoning

– 2 Tablespoons olive oil

– 1 red bell pepper

– 1 orange bell pepper

– 2 cups spinach

– 2 green onions

– 4 garlic cloves

– 3/4 cup water

– 3/4 cup heavy cream

– 1 cup Parmesan cheese

Once you have all your ingredients, the first thing you’re gonna do is cook the pasta according to the package. When it’s done, you can set it aside.

Take your shrimp and coat it with the jerk seasoning and add to a skillet with the olive oil. Cook for 3-5 minutes per side and set aside when done.

After removing shrimp, add 1/4 water to skillet to “deglaze” the pan, and remove any brown bits. Add peppers, green onion, and garlic to pan and simmer for about five minutes.

Add remaining water, heavy cream, and jerk seasoning and simmer for an additional 3 ish minutes. Add pasta, spinach and Parmesan and stir well, and then add your shrimp back and stir some more.

It turned out really yummy and even though it wasn’t exactly the same as the Rasta Pasta we had in Belize, it was pretty dang close and for a bit, I was back on the beach. 😎

If you try it, you’ll have to let me know what you think!

Until next time! 🙂

Megan Nelson