Simple Shrimp Recipes

Delicious and adaptable shrimp are a great complement to a variety of meals. We'll cover all you need to know about cooking shrimp, including tips and our best simple shrimp recipes, so you can begin preparing your shellfish dish immediately.

What Flavors Goes Well With Shrimp?

Shrimp is one of those ingredients with a fresh taste, which contributes significantly to its attractiveness. However, shrimp still requires spices and herbs to avoid being too bland.

When seasoning shrimp, you should use herbs and spices that bring out the shrimp's natural seafood flavor instead of ones that might overpower it.

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Garlic: As a universally flavorful ingredient, it is not surprising that garlic goes nicely with both fresh and dried shrimp. Because it has a strong umami flavor, we suggest either sautéing it in olive oil before adding shrimp or using it as the main seasoning with everything else in the background.

Citrus Fruits: Fruits include lime, lemon, and orange and are known to be natural complements to shrimp and other shellfish. The strong, bitter citrus oils go wonderfully with the shrimp's umami flavor.

Zest: The outermost layer of the lemon peel (the zest) contains the highest concentration of aromatic oils. Add one or two teaspoons of julienned or grated zest to shrimp stir-fry or throw the entire peel into a shrimp sauce. This adds a great deal of bright flavors and effectively counteracts the natural saltiness in the seafood.

Dill: Dill is another traditional shrimp seasoning. This subtle herb will enhance shrimp without concealing its flavor.

Peppers: If you enjoy spiciness, chili peppers deserve a try. In several shrimp recipes, chili peppers add not only heat to the flavor but also the pink color of the shrimp.

Cajun Seasoning: It is a rustic combination of paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, black pepper, and oregano. The mix gives the shrimp dish layers of smokey and spicy depth.

Old Bay Seasoning: The spice blend imparts earthiness, depth, and a spicy sweetness due to its extensive variety of pungent spices. Use it for a shrimp boil recipe, include it in the breading for deep-fried shrimp, or add it to a regular cocktail sauce recipe.

Best Simple Shrimp Recipes

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Jerk Shrimp Recipe

Jamaican jerk is made by rubbing the meat with spices and letting it marinate. The myriad of seasonings makes the dish a little more complex, but every bit worth it!

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Honey Garlic Butter Shrimp Recipe

There’s something so irresistible about garlic and butter together and how they interact with honey. Your palate will appreciate the sweet and nutty dynamic. And taking up only 17 minutes of your time, you’ll find it hard to fault this dish.

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Shrimp Remoulade Recipe

The boiled and the beautiful. Our remoulade is mayonnaise taken up a notch with cayenne and mustard seasonings. Add the sauce to bland, boiled shrimp, and you get this delectable dish. Now you’re onto a foolproof Louisiana secret!

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Shrimp Alfredo Recipe

This dish will do wonders if you’re feeling the blues and need a comforting meal. Spaghetti and plump shrimp are served in a creamy white sauce that’s robust with garlic and onion flavors to satiate.

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Lemon Garlic Shrimp Recipe

If you’ve never tried lemon and garlic flavors together, this is your time to do so! In five simple steps, you can create a seasoned dish that tastes like it’s been cooked in a fine restaurant. Sprinkle fresh coriander and serve with rice.

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Cajun Shrimp and Sausage Recipe

This dish will be great the first time you make it and even better the second time. It’s simple enough to master, with smoky sausage and plump shrimp that come together in 20 minutes.

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Hunan Shrimp Recipe

We sought to keep this recipe as close to the original as possible. Slight changes like replacing regular soy sauce with a low-sodium version ensure you’ll get a healthy and authentic Hunanese dish with no compromise on flavor!

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Shrimp Cocktail with Red Sauce Recipe

Do appetizers right with this savory cocktail. Its combination of ketchup, sriracha, Tabasco, and lime juice puts other sauces to shame and lends the lifeless shrimp succulent flavors.

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Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta Recipe

The heart of this recipe lies in tossing shrimp in a buttery, herb-infused sauce for a glossy finish. Meanwhile, the al dente pasta is the perfect vehicle to help soak up these flavors.

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Kung Pao Shrimp Recipe

Take your meals to serious new heights by adding this recipe to your menu. You can count on hoisin, soy sauce, and brown sugar to pack a punch of flavors into the shrimp in just 20 minutes! Now that’s how you serve a truly flavorful meal.

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Shrimp Pasta Salad Recipe

This dish gives you a bit of everything — crunch, substance, and refreshment in one bite. It consists of a light shrimp, cucumber, and celery mix with a small dose of carbs. Isn’t it the perfect side treat?

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Cilantro Lime Shrimp Recipe

Cilantro and lime are by far one of the best flavor combos you’ll stumble upon. Incredibly satisfying, they season this dish to a fresh, citrusy stir-fry that awakens the taste buds. You’ll want to make this a weekly regular!

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Stir-fried Shrimp and Egg Recipe

This protein-powered main course warrants a meal of eggs stir-fried to perfection and seasoned with scallions. The best part? Anyone can crack it!

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Grilled Shrimp Salad Recipe

This dish is a bowl full of surprises. It features beets, cucumbers, oranges, and honey for a burst of sweet essence. Bonus: you can convert it into a full dinner if you double the serving!

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Garlic Shrimp Recipe

What can you learn from a dish like this? That simplicity is indeed the ultimate sophistication. You’ll be amazed at how 20 minutes and a garlic butter sear can produce a splendid and restaurant-worthy meal.

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Shrimp Lettuce Wraps Recipe

When it comes to convenient meals, these wraps are just perfect. All they require is 30 minutes, and they make for an excellent healthy snack too!

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Chili Lime Shrimp Recipe

Two dynamic flavors go head to head in this chili and lime recipe to create a knockout dish. Add a bit of Cajun seasoning and paprika to complete a robust flavor profile. Whenever you have 15 minutes to spare, you can whip this recipe out!

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Salt and Pepper Shrimp Recipe

As well as being inexpensive and easy to make, this meal is delightful. Salt and pepper are a humble seasoning duo that does wonders for a dish. So expect no less when it comes to this recipe. You’ll be blown away by its complex flavors.

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Air Fryer Shrimp with Mayo Sauce Recipe

This recipe makes for a delicious meal with just the right amounts of crisp and creamy. An aromatic marinade, some mayo, and ketchup sauce complete it with appreciated tangy flavors.

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Pan Fried Shrimp Recipe

This lustrous dish is so shimmery it’s sure to dazzle your world before you taste it. It’s a simple fry with carrots, bell peppers, and broccoli to complete it with crunchy bits.

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Shrimp Rangoon Recipe

You can’t go wrong with this Rangoon. It’s simple, convenient, and ultimately forgiving. The best part is, for a dish that looks this sophisticated, it’s surprisingly effortless. You won’t regret adding this to your repertoire!

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Orange Shrimp Recipe

This gorgeous dish is visually appealing and flavorful. It pops with colors that’ll make a rainbow jealous, and the quenching citrus is refreshing. An overall sweet and savory dish for the books.

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Shrimp Louie Recipe

Few dishes walk the talk like Shrimp Louie. It has seafood’s fresh, oceanic essence paired excellently with avocado’s creamy texture so that you can eat it as is and love it! But even served with toasted buns, as we’d recommend, you couldn’t fault it if you tried.

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Shrimp Newburg Recipe

Our Newburg recipe centers around a rich, elegant sauce made with milk, butter, paprika, lemon juice, and Worcestershire sauce. After that, give it just five minutes to simmer and thicken up. The result is a fragrant dish best enjoyed with cooked rice.

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Shrimp Marinade Recipe

Prepare to get soaked up in sriracha flavors with this simple marinated dish. If you’re a fan of bold flavors, you may want to take the shrimp with no embellishments.

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Tips

The line between perfectly cooked and overdone shrimp is quite thin, which can make home cooking shrimp a little stressful. However, we are here with a few tips and tricks to boost your confidence to new heights. Let’s learn how to determine when shrimp are fully cooked and how to get them soft and juicy every time.

Keep Shrimp Tender While Cooking

Consistency is essential to a successful shrimp dish. You should ensure that all of your shrimp are the same size (no mixing jumbo and medium shrimp) and are added to the pan at the same time.

No shrimp should be stacked on top of one another. The only way to evenly cook the shrimp is to spread them out in a single layer across the pan's bottom, so they are all exposed to the pan's hot surface.

Shrimp cook quickly, which is partially why they are overcooked or undercooked. You can cook shrimp at a lower temperature for a longer amount of time, but we recommend searing or sautéing shrimp over high heat for the best results. It gives them the most desirable texture, which is juicy and soft without any stringiness.

How to Know When Shrimp Is Done

After a few minutes of heating, the shrimp will become white and orange. This indicates the outside has been cooked.

You should pay attention to the crevice on the shrimp's back where the vein was removed. Keep an eye on the thickest section of the shrimp; it is done when the flesh at the base of the crevice changes from transparent to opaque.

Remove them immediately from the heat. Even after turning off the heat, the pan will remain hot. This means that the shrimp will continue to cook if left in the skillet. Transfer them over spaghetti, greens, polenta, a salad, or just a dish for serving.

Shrimp are used in a wide variety of cuisines because of their delicate flavor, which makes every dish seem extraordinary. Let’s take a look at our simplest shrimp recipes!

Simple Shrimp Recipes

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Our simple shrimp recipes introduce healthy and delicate meal ideas. These dishes are sure to satisfy your seafood cravings!

Ingredients

• Jerk Shrimp
• Honey Garlic Butter Shrimp
• Shrimp Remoulade
• Shrimp Alfredo
• Lemon Garlic Shrimp
• Cajun Shrimp and Sausage
• Hunan Shrimp
• Shrimp Cocktail with Red Sauce
• Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta
• Kung Pao Shrimp
• Shrimp Pasta Salad
• Cilantro Lime Shrimp
• Stir-fried Shrimp and Egg
• Grilled Shrimp Salad
• Garlic Shrimp

Directions

1. Choose a recipe that you like.
2. Assemble all the essential ingredients.
3. Follow the instructions to give you incredibly quick and simple shrimp recipe in less than 30 minutes!