There’s no shortage of shrimp recipes. From casual appetizers to slightly fancier ones, to weeknight dinners and crowd-friendly staples, shrimp recipes are some of our year-round favorites. When the sun is out and the temperature rises about 60 degrees, you’ll have your pick of grilled shrimp skewers and a. But even during cold months, when frozen shrimp is easier to come by and you can’t imagine stepping on your deck to grill, there are plenty of comfort food staples like shrimp and grits. And the beauty of making a shrimp dish is that they cook in three minutes flat so dinner can be on the table before your little ones can shout, “when will dinner be ready?” (Okay let’s be real…they’ll ask that no matter what)
1. Vito's Shrimp Scampi
Shrimp scampi is supposed to be buttery, lemony, and herbaceous. This has all of that, plus the perks of blistered tomatoes and a lot of heavy cream, which makes it so much better.
2. Shrimp & Masa Grits With Chorizo
Rick Martinez’s spicy twist on classic southern shrimp and grits introduces chorizo and jalapeño peppers. The peppers, along with red bell pepper, garlic, and onions, are sautéed in the same pan as the chorizo, so they can absorb the rich, smoky flavor of the meat.
3. Taro Shrimp Fritters
Taro doesn’t get nearly enough time in the spotlight, so we simply bumped the usual sweet potato out of the picture and replaced it with the tropical root vegetable.
4. Sautéed Shrimp with Lemon, Garlic, and Parsley
Anytime I am both craving shrimp and lacking inspiration in the kitchen, I will make an iteration of this exact shrimp recipe. It’s unfussy and more importantly delicious.
5. Creole-Seasoned Seafood Boil
A good seafood boil is made with corn on the cob, potatoes, snow crab legs, shrimp, lemon, bay leaves, and butter. A great seafood boil calls for Zatarain’s Creole Seasoning, too.
6. Crispy Sesame Shrimp & Green Beans With Soy-Ginger Sauce
When I think of fried shrimp, I think of them being accompanied by French fries and a cold shandy. But this shrimp recipe is proof that they can make it onto your dinner table in non-summer months.
7. Grilled Romesco Shrimp
In less than five minutes, you can make homemade romesco sauce and grill the shrimp for this simple dinner that’s big on flavor. “The romesco is made entirely from pantry ingredients and requires nothing more than whirling everything together in a food processor,” writes recipe developer EmilyC.
8. Summer Rolls With Garlic & Lemongrass-Poached Shrimp
Making spring rolls is scary—the translucent wrappers mean that everyone will be able to peek in at your handwork, like someone looking in your overstuffed cabinets and realize that you’re secretly a hoarder. Fortunately, Rick Martinez demonstrates how to make each roll look so beautiful that you’ll want to put them on display.
9. Shrimp Tacos Dorados, al Pastor-Style
We can’t get enough of the contrast of juicy, sweet pineapple and fiery shrimp tucked into corn tortillas. The shrimp are marinated in a spicy chile purée made with achiote paste, plus guajillo and morita chiles.
10. Herby Shrimp Toasts
This elegant shrimp appetizer hardly requires any prep work, which instantly makes this one of our go-to recipes for quick entertaining.
11. Speedy Shrimp With Horseradish Butter
It only takes five minutes to make this zesty—and yes spicy—shrimp dish that serves two.
12. Coconut Shrimp With Pineapple-Habanero Salsa (Camarones al Coco)
Cast me off to sea with a platter of these coconut shrimp accompanied by slow-roasted pineapple salsa. Sunburn, embraced.
13. Crispy Shrimp With Lemony, Brothy Beans & Greens in a Multi-Cooker
We’ll never get over how an Instant Pot (or any pressure cooker for that matter) can make quick work of otherwise time-consuming tasks, like cooking brothy beans until they’re tender, as is the case with this satisfying recipe.
14. Sheet-Pan Shrimp & Broccoli With Cocktail-Sauce Sauce
Shrimp cocktail doesn’t just need to be served as a petite happy hour appetizer. This sheet pan supper brings together everything you love about the party starter, plus broccoli, for a complete family-friendly dinner.
15. Grilled & Chilled Shrimp Rolls
These shrimp rolls are the epitome of summer—lemon-flavored shellfish tossed in mayo and stuffed into buttery top-split hot dog buns. While a cold lobster roll salad might always take precedent, we love the affordability of the more casual shrimp roll.
16. Crock-Pot Jambalaya
Instead of standing over the stove for hours watching jambalaya come together, put everything in a Crockpot, set it, and forget it. Four hours later, dinner is served!
17. Spicy Shrimp
The simplicity of this recipe tells you everything you need to know—that these shrimp are dead easy to prepare and they’re really quite spicy.
18. Pesto Risotto for One With Shrimp
Cooking risotto has a meditative quality that I love when I’m not up for a big cooking project. And yet the flavors and colors in this risotto recipe give the impression that it required a lot more work than it actually does.
19. Braised Shrimp Puttanesca
Large shrimp snuggle up in a cozy bed of canned tomatoes, anchovy fillets, capers, and Kalamata olives. If you don’t like shrimp (why are you here), you can apply this sauce to pork or chicken, too.
20. Piri Piri Shrimp
Treat these spicy head-on shrimp as an elegant appetizer or the star of the show. Serve with crusty bread for scooping up the remaining piri piri sauce.
21. Butternut Squash & Shrimp Bisque
We love butternut squash soup just as much as we’ll scoop up every last bit of a seafood bisque—so, why not put the two together? We upgraded the stock with Jamaican rum and used coconut milk for an extra-creamy, slightly sweet soup.
22. Shrimp Salad on a Croissant with White Bean "Mayo"
A work-from-home lunch, but better. Shrimp salad is tucked into mini croissants, which is my new favorite sandwich vessel.
23. Shrimp Soup Dumplings
Will I burn the roof of my mouth slurping these shrimp soup dumplings? Yes. Is it worth it? Absolutely.
24. Roasted Shrimp & Asparagus Scampi
An under-30 minute dinner that serves four? Yes, please! With large shrimp and fresh asparagus at the helm, it’s the ultimate spring meal.
25. Barbecue Shrimp: A Down-Home, Messy, Good Meal
Over the years, we’ve shared a lot of shellfish recipes including shrimp, lobster, and crab. But this one is what our readers call our best shellfish recipe of all time. “Cooked in their shells with more pepper, garlic, and butter than you are probably comfortable with, the shrimp come out ready for you to peel and eat,” says award-winning recipe developer Waverly.
26. Shrimp with Coconut Milk Grits & XO Sauce
You’ll fall in love with this in-your-face XO sauce made from sardines, anchovies, Chinese sausage and ham, five-spice powder, garlic, ginger, and u sauce. Sure, you can use it on just about anything but we have to say that it’s really, really good with shrimp.
27. Sheet-Pan Seafood Pot Pie
I love any type of pot pie, but I’m always remarkably disappointed by how the bottom crust gets a little soggy. This pot pie, which is packed with lobster meat, lump crab meat, and shrimp, is baked on a sheet pan to ensure that both sides of the crust get golden brown and crispy.
28. Champagne Alfredo with Crispy Prosciutto & Shrimp
Is this the most elegant version of shrimp pasta we’ve ever laid eyes on? Quite possibly, yes. Wide pappardelle noodles are twirled with thin shavings of prosciutto. The champagne cream sauce is the epitome of luxury.
29. Bouillabaisse
A good bouillabaisse is, yes, about the seafood—shrimp, mussels, clams, white fish, and lobster—but it’s also about the stock. “A hint of saffron, an accent of zested orange, and a few sliced fennel bulbs and fronds bring out an essence from the seafood that would otherwise remain hidden,” writes recipe developer Belle Année.
30. Sheet-Pan Shrimp Scampi for One
Just because this shrimp recipe is for lazy people everywhere (myself included) doesn’t mean that it lacks flavor or creativity. In fact, it’s quite the opposite! The shrimp are tossed in a marinade made from garlic, soy sauce, mirin, olive oil, sugar, red pepper flakes, and lemon zest, before roasting in the oven for just 10 minutes.
Written by: Kelly Vaughan
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2 Comments
Over the years, I've adapted the recipe and added capers, using smoked paprika, and omitting the cumin. With a healthy squeeze of lemon juice. It's a great weeknight meal.
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