These delicious Blackened Shrimp are the perfect versatile and fast weeknight meal. Try them in tacos, lettuce wraps, on pasta, rice, or simply on their own!
I love having a big bag of frozen shrimp on hand for those busy weeknights when we need a fast, delicious meal! They thaw out so quickly in a bowl of warm water, and they only take 5 minutes to cook all the way through.
The incredible spice mix I paired the shrimp with double as a marinade, and the perfect coating to give these babies a beautiful blackened crust.
What Are Blackened Shrimp?
Blackening is a style of cooking that is most often associated with Cajun cuisine. Using a gorgeous mix of bold spices and a touch of herbs, the shrimp are completely coated in the spice mix before letting them sizzle on a hot skillet.
This mixture includes brown sugar which begins to caramelize the second it hits the pan, which helps the spice mixture cling to the shrimp and get crispy. So good!
How to Make Blackened Shrimp
First, mix your blackening seasoning well in a small bowl. Dump the mixture over your shrimp and stir until each one is coated generously. Set the shrimp aside for 30 minutes to marinate and soak up all those amazing flavors.
Next, heat a skillet up to medium-high heat. You can even go all the way to high heat if you want a nice dark crust. Coat the pan in 1 tablespoon of olive oil and arrange the shrimp in the pan in one layer. Let them cook for 2 minutes and then flip. Cook for another 2 minutes, add your garlic, and let it toast up in the pan for 30 seconds.
That’s it, you’re done! It doesn’t get any easier. Top these shrimp with some chopped up cilantro and serve with lime wedges. YUM!
We used frozen shrimp for this recipe, but you can use pre-cooked. Cook them for only 30 seconds on each side so that they don’t get overcooked.
How to Serve Blackened Shrimp
We served these as shrimp tacos, but you can enjoy them in so many different ways! Make a low-carb lunch or dinner by using them in lettuce wraps, top your rice or pasta with them, or just grab a fork and eat them as is!
Who’s ready to dig in?!
Looking for More Shrimp Recipes? Try These:
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Blackened Shrimp
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon oregano dried
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 ½ pounds shrimp uncooked, peeled
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
Optional garnish
- cilantro fresh, chopped
- lime wedges
Instructions
- Combine the chili powder, paprika, cumin, oregano, garlic powder, brown sugar, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Dump the mixture over the shrimp and mix well. Set aside to marinate for 30 minutes.
- Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high. Arrange the shrimp in a single layer and cook for 2 minutes. Flip and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add the garlic, stir, and cook for 30 seconds. Garnish with cilantro and lime wedges to serve.
Video
Recipe Notes
- If you use pre-cooked shrimp, cook only for 30 seconds on each side as to not over-cook the shrimp.
- Allow frozen shrimp to thaw fully before cooking.
This was delightful. I did add cayenne pepper because we like a little heat. It looked just like your picture. The cilantro and added lime put it over the top. I’m going to try this rub on grilled chicken. I think it would be delicious. This is my new “blackening “ rub!
I never rate recipes, but this is my go to that I’ve used over and over again. I add some cayenne because we like it extra spicy!
Would it be ok to prepare the marinade and place it on the shrimp in the morning and then cook it in the evening after returning home from work?
Yeah, considering it’s not really a marinade but more of a dry rub, it should be fine.
LOL whooops I forgot the brown sugar and I didn’t read the whole instructions….meaning I mixed ALL the ingrediants first,…another oops but I dont think it affected it too much. I made sure to cover all the shrimp with the mixture by mixing thouroughly once dumped on top and let it sit in the fridge for 40 min. Added them to my ramen noodles and whaa laa a fast tasty healthy meal! I can’t imagine it with brown sugar so I’m glad I didn’t have any. Thanks for posting the recipe!
Shoots I forgot to mark the stars…5 stars!
My husband, who has a “maybe I like it” relationship with seafood loved this and cleaned the bottoms of the shrimp platter with bread. I used a regular pan and they were cooked through before any blackening seemed to appear so I took them off. If the blackening part is important I would use a cast iron pan. Will make again and again.
This is look amazing! However, I’m rather new to cooking. I imagine I’ll take off tails before cooking correct? Thank you.
Yes! There is a video for this recipe as well if visuals help you out! You can click the “jump to video” button at the top of the page, or scroll all the way down to the recipe card. If you have an ad blocker turned on, you might not be able to see the video (just something to keep in mind) but it should help you!!
I loved this recipe!! It is a easy, healthy, and quick recipe. It has tons of flavor without being too spicy.. I paired it with rice. The shrimp were cooked perfectly. This will be my go to meal on busy days. Thanks
We had this in tacos with mango salsa. So good!
My son really liked this recipe. Blackened seasoning the best one for home cooking.
Preface this saying we didn’t have cumin so I didn’t use that or replace the spice with anything. I had just under a lb of PRECOOKED shrimp so I felt like I didn’t need to make up the volume of spice.
I had to rinse the shrimp to thaw so they were wet when I added the spices to it so I think it made it go weird, it was all clump and mush when I tried mixing. BUT it still came out great! I think because I used precooked and it can’t cook long, I couldn’t get the “blackened” part. But boy did it taste good!! I will definitely make again! And we’re not huge spicey food people so leaving out the cumin still left more than enough spice!
They came out awesome. My only edit to this recipe would be to cut the cumin in half
It was way too hot. We substituted chipotle powder for the chili powder because that’s all we had; i guess that made it too hot. Will try again!
These were delicious and I tossed some into my homemade fried rice. Thank you for sharing!
Would you please share the recipe of the tacos in the picture you made with the blackened shrimp. Thank you
They are served over flour tortillas with pineapple salsa- there will be a recipe for the salsa coming soon 🙂
Omg…this is a keeper and possibly a weekly fav!!! Thank you!!❤️🙏🏼