Take taco night to the next level with these flavorful and smackin’ good shrimp tacos. Grilled shrimp marinated in a garlic-oil flavored with Mexican spices, topped with a zesty lime slaw inside of a warm tortilla coated with chipotle sour cream.
I was thumbing through some magazines last weekend and stumbled across a recipe for shrimp tacos in Better Homes & Gardens Magazine. I only needed to purchase the shrimp and the red cabbage for the slaw. I had the rest of the ingredients to make them. After getting David’s opinion on the ingredients, I decided to tear the recipe out and give it a try.
Oh my goodness! They were so good, we scarfed them up in about 10 seconds flat and wanted more! I just had to share the recipe with you.
Here’s how you make them:
Prepare the Shrimp:
If using frozen shrimp, thaw them out. If using fresh, peel and devein them.
Rinse shrimp and pat dry with a paper towel. In a small bowl whisk to combine olive oil, garlic, cumin, chili powder, and season with salt to taste. Add the shrimp to a zip-top bag and pour the oil mixture over the shrimp. Seal the bag and gently massage the shrimp to coat with the mixture. Chill no less than 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
Prepare the Slaw:
Meanwhile, cut, core and shred the cabbage. Place it in a large bowl.
Zest and juice the lime.
In a small bowl combine the lime peel, lime juice, red wine vinegar, sugar, and salt. Mix well, then pour over the shredded cabbage. Toss to coat; set aside at room temperature, tossing now and then to ensure the lime mixture coats the cabbage well.
Prepare the Chipotle Sour Cream:
In a small bowl combine sour cream and chipotle, then place in the refrigerator, until needed.
Grill the Shrimp:
Thread shrimp on 10-inch metal skewers (or wooden skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes), while the grill pan is heating.
Add shrimp to grill and cook 3 to 4 minutes. Turn and cook an addition 3 to 4 minutes. The shrimp are done when they are opaque and have a slit brown crust. Remove the skewers from the grill and then remove shrimp from skewers.
To Serve:
Prepare the tortillas by grilling them or per package instructions. Spread the chipotle sour cream onto the prepared tortillas, then top with three of the shrimp. Add a spoon full of the slaw on top of the shrimp, then sprinkle with cilantro and pass lime wedges!
These smackin’ good shrimp tacos with lime cabbage slaw are so good, they will have your lips smackin’ hard!
Enjoy!
Smackin' Good Shrimp Tacos With Zesty Lime Slaw
Ingredients
The Shrimp
- 1 pound fresh or frozen medium shrimp peeled and deveined
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
The Slaw
- ¼ teaspoon granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
- 1 lime juice + zest
- 3 cups red cabbage shredded
The Chipotle Sour Cream
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce finely chopped
The Tacos
- 12 6-inch flour or corn tortillas
- fresh cilantro for serving (optional)
- lime wedges for serving (optional)
Instructions
Prepare the Shrimp
- If using frozen shrimp, thaw them out. If using fresh, peel and devein them.
- Rinse shrimp and pat dry with a paper towel. In a small bowl whisk to combine olive oil, garlic, cumin, chili powder, and salt. Add the shrimp to a zip-top bag and pour the oil mixture over the shrimp. Seal the bag and gently massage the shrimp to coat with the mixture. Chill no less than 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
Prepare the Slaw
- Meanwhile, cut, core and shred the cabbage. Place it in a large bowl.
- Zest and juice the lime.
- In a small bowl combine the lime peel, lime juice, red wine vinegar, sugar, and season with salt, to taste. Mix well, then pour over the shredded cabbage. Toss to coat; set aside at room temperature, tossing now and then to ensure the lime mixture coats the cabbage well.
Prepare the Chipotle Sour Cream
- In a small bowl combine sour cream and chipotle, then place in the refrigerator, until needed.
Grill the Shrimp
- Thread shrimp on 10-inch metal skewers (or wooden skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes), while the grill pan is heating.
- Add shrimp to grill and cook 3 to 4 minutes. Turn and cook an addition 3 to 4 minutes. The shrimp are done when they are opaque and have a slit brown crust. Remove the skewers from the grill and then remove shrimp from skewers.
- To Serve: Prepare the tortillas by grilling them or per package instructions. Spread the chipotle sour cream onto the prepared tortillas, then top with three of the shrimp. Add a spoon full of the slaw on top of the shrimp, then sprinkle with cilantro and pass lime wedges!
mjohnson9706 says
Beautiful! The absolutely best tacos I ever had in my life were some fish tacos at a restaurant in the Cancun airport. Your shrimp tacos look amazingly like them and are bringing all kinds of happy thoughts to mind 🙂 I’m thinking I’ll have to surprise my husband with these one night this week.
debbeedoodles says
Awesome! I’m glad I was able to bring you happy memories. 🙂
Sandra Charles says
These look good and I have them on my to try list. Tomorrow, I am fixing your buttermilk pancakes for our guests . . . takes me a while to get to a recipe but these sounded delicious. Anything with buttermilk I think tastes better so I am looking forward to them.
debbeedoodles says
Great!
Keria says
This recipe is extremely incomplete!! No instructions on what to do with the sugar, or red wine vinegar. Please re do this!!!
Debbie Spivey says
Keria – Thank you so much for bringing the error to my attention! These two ingredients were to go into the slaw mixture. I hope I did not run you into a snag with this recipe!! I do find it funny, you are the first to ask this. I appreciate you trying my recipes!