Cajun Blackened Shrimp & Scallop Alfredo
The Bourbon Street Alfredo — blackened crust, silky cottage cheese sauce, zero apology.
Bourbon Street Lore
Seafood Alfredo is the most expensive way to eat badly. You pay $28 for shrimp and scallops, then drown them in a cream-and-butter sauce that costs more calories than the seafood costs dollars — and you still leave the table hungry two hours later. This rebuild keeps the two things that actually make the dish: the blackened crust, and a sauce that clings. The crust comes from a dry spice rub hitting a hot pan. The cling comes from blended cottage cheese, which turns silky in a blender and holds together over heat the way yogurt won't. Half the calories, double the protein, same shrimp and scallops.
Portion Matrix (Cooked Blackened Seafood — pasta & sauce as add-ons)
Cajun Blackened Shrimp & Scallop Alfredo
Tap a portion size. Watch the numbers move. That’s the whole book.
Per serving adds: high-protein pasta ~110–200 cal per 2 oz dry depending on brand • blended Alfredo sauce ~58 cal / ~8g protein per serving (cottage cheese, low-fat milk, Parmesan)
Macros: USDA FoodData Central (shrimp, cooked; scallops, cooked) + label data (low-fat cottage cheese, Parmesan, low-fat milk, high-protein pasta) • cooked weights • searing oil included in the seafood matrix.
The Numbers Up Front
Total Cooked Yield: ~64 oz / 1.8 kg finished dish (about 5 bowls)
Default Portion: 1 bowl — 12 oz / 340 g finished
✂️ Trim Trim Trim
The seafood needs nothing — shrimp and scallops are about as close to pure protein as the ocean gets. The sauce is the entire lever. Restaurant Alfredo is heavy cream, butter, and a mountain of Parmesan; this one is 1 cup of low-fat cottage cheese blended smooth, which delivers the same glossy coat with roughly 28g of protein built into it instead of 40g of fat. Two tablespoons of Parmesan do the savory work that half a cup used to. High-protein pasta is the second lever — same bowl volume, far better macros.
Ingredients
Use-what-you’ve-got friendly.
Sorted by dish, with the spices you probably already own kept separate.
The Seafood + Pasta
- ◆12 oz high-protein pasta (Barilla Protein+, Fiber Gourmet, or Carbe Diem)
- ◆8 oz scallops
- ◆8 oz shrimp, peeled & deveined
- ◆1 tbsp olive oil
The Silky Alfredo Sauce
- ◆1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
- ◆¼ cup low-fat milk
- ◆2 tbsp Parmesan
- ◆1 clove garlic
- ◆⅛ tsp black pepper (replaces white pepper)
- ◆Pinch of salt
- ◆Optional: ½ tsp lemon zest or ½ tbsp lemon juice
- ◆Optional: a dash of Louisiana hot sauce
- ◆1 tsp smoked paprika
- ◆½ tsp garlic powder
- ◆½ tsp onion powder
- ◆½ tsp oregano
- ◆½ tsp thyme
- ◆⅛–¼ tsp cayenne
- ◆⅛ tsp black pepper
- ◆Salt to taste
Garnish
- ◆Parsley to finish
Instructions
- 1
In a blender, add the cottage cheese, milk, Parmesan, garlic, salt, black pepper, and the optional lemon. Blend until completely smooth and creamy. Don't rush this — smooth is the whole point.
- 2
Boil the pasta as directed on the box.
- 3
Spray the shrimp and scallops with no-fat cooking oil and coat both sides with the blackening seasoning.
- 4
In a hot pan, sear the scallops 2–3 minutes per side; remove.
- 5
Sear the shrimp 1–2 minutes per side; remove.
- 6
Add the olive oil to the pan, then pour in the blended sauce (the garlic is already in it) and simmer 2–3 minutes until silky, scraping up the blackened bits left behind.
- 7
Toss in the cooked high-protein pasta.
- 8
Add the shrimp and scallops back in.
- 9
Finish with parsley.
🧠 Why This Works
Blended cottage cheese is the trick the whole dish hangs on. Whole, it's lumpy and sharp; blended, it turns into a smooth, neutral, high-protein base that behaves like cream but carries ~28g of protein per cup. It also holds under gentle heat — Greek yogurt splits when it hits a hot pan, cottage cheese doesn't, which is why it's the base here and yogurt is the swap. Meanwhile the blackening rub does its work in the pan before the sauce arrives, so the crust is already set and the fond it leaves behind seasons the sauce for free. Bold, smoky, spicy, creamy — the blackened crust against the creamy sauce is what makes it elite.
🌶️ Flavor Boosters
Extra cayenne in the blackening mix • a dash of Louisiana hot sauce stirred through the sauce • lemon zest over the top at the end • a pinch of extra smoked paprika • fresh cracked black pepper
🔄 Use What You’ve Got
- —No scallops? Go all shrimp — 16 oz of shrimp works exactly the same way
- —No cottage cheese? Blended nonfat Greek yogurt gets you close, but keep the heat low and stir it in off the burner so it doesn't split
- —No high-protein pasta? Regular pasta works — carbs go up, so know you're trading some macro headroom
- —No blender? A food processor or an immersion blender in a tall cup both work; the sauce just has to end up smooth
- —Store-bought blackening seasoning is completely fine — the eight-spice mix is only there for when you don't have it
📦 Meal Prep Notes
Blend the sauce ahead — that's the real time-saver. It holds 4 days in a jar and turns this into a 15-minute weeknight dish • Cooked pasta keeps 3 days; reheat it on low with a splash of milk to loosen the sauce • ⚠️ Sear the shrimp and scallops the day you eat it. They get exactly one good cook. Reheated they go tight and squeaky, and a scallop is too expensive to ruin on purpose.
🥗 BOWL BUILD (top-down)
1. Base: high-protein pasta, tossed in the sauce
2. Sauce: the blended cottage cheese Alfredo, simmered in the blackening fond
3. Protein: blackened scallops and shrimp
4. Finish: parsley, and a dash of Louisiana hot sauce if you want it
Full bowl (12 oz as built): ~250–270 cal • 32–36g protein • 6–8g fat • 32–36g carbs
📊 Before & After(per 12 oz bowl)
| Calories | Protein | Fat | Carbs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurant Seafood Alfredo | 580 | 18–20g | 28–30g | 70g |
| ⭐ Blackened Shrimp & Scallop Alfredo | 250–270 | 32–36g | 6–8g | 32–36g |
| You Saved / Gained | −330 cal | +15g protein | −22g fat | −36g carbs |
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