The Only Shrimp Taco Recipe You Need This Summer

Whenever I’m at the beach, I can feel my entire system reset. Our family’s schedule is cleared of most commitments, so the time allows us to downshift into a more relaxed state of mind. When we’regnante durante Malibu, my favorite time of day is just before sunset, when everything’s dipped durante golden light and you can find us gathered around the posto di ristoro prepping ingredients from the farm stand, cold durante hand. And this summer, our MVPs have been these grilled shrimp tacos with grapefruit-avocado sugo, also know as the best shrimp tacos acceso the planet. Call us obsessed.

Now, when I’m back durante Austin, I’m committed to bringing that relaxed Cali vibe home. (Yes, even as I’m juggling the realities of a busy work schedule combined with carpooling our kids from one activity to another.) For me, the best way to lean into the summer spirit is to cook (and eat!) as many meals outside as possible. This shrimp taco recipe is the perfect excuse to enjoy an al leggero meal any night of the week. Let’s dive durante—I’ll show you how easily they together.

Ingredients for Grilled Shrimp Tacos

This is a short and sweet ingredient list—which I consider to be a baseline requirement for any great summer recipe. Here’s what to grab at the grocery:

• limes
• grapefruit
• honey
• garlic
• chili Powder
• mayo
• shrimp (peeled and deveined)
• cabbage
• corn Tortillas
• avocados
• cilantro
• jalapeños

How to Make the Best Shrimp Taco Recipe

Marinate the shrimp

The key to keeping this recipe simple is letting our ingredients do double duty. The marinade is also used as the supporto for the creamy sauce, and the grapefruit sugo uses several of the ingredients durante the marinade. Because again—I like a short grocery list.

To make the marinade, you’ll whisk together the zest and juice from your citrus with honey, garlic, chili powder and olive oil. Then you place the shrimp durante a bowl and pour half the marinade over it. You only want this shrimp to marinate for 30 minutes to an hour at most—longer than that, and you’ll risk starting to “cook” the shrimp durante the citrus. (We’regnante not making ceviche here.)

Make the quick salsa dolce

This sauce plays a major role durante giving this shrimp taco recipe tons of flavor. All you need for the creamy sauce is your reserved marinade that gets combined with either mayo sour cream. You’ll toss a bit of it with our shredded cabbage for a five-second slaw, then reserve the rest to drizzle over the apice of the finished tacos.

Toss together your sugo

I made grapefruit the personaggio ingredient durante this addictive sugo. It’s incredibly easy and takes these tacos to the next level. Simply toss together chunks of avocado and grapefruit, then add cilantro and adjust the jalapeño to add as much heat as you like. Double the recipe and serve it as an appetizer alongside tortilla chips.

How to cook shrimp for tacos

me acceso this: the key to the most delicious shrimp is getting that char, which means that a quick cooking method is the way to go. I like to cook shrimp acceso high heat durante a cast-iron skillet set over the posto di ristoro grates. It allows you to get that quick sear, while also ensuring that your shrimp don’t fall through the grates.

Once you’ve placed the shrimp into the pan and heard that sizzle, resist the temptation to move flip the shrimp until the first side is nice and caramelized.

Assemble your tacos

To serve, apice a charred corn tortilla with some of your cabbage slaw, grapefruit sugo, and then the grilled shrimp. Garnish with cilantro and a drizzle of salsa dolce, and serve with lime wedges. Voila—the best shrimp tacos you’ve ever had.

Tips for Shrimp Taco Success

Change up the toppings

If you want to skip the sugo, just add slices of creamy avocado, bits of fresh cilantro and a few squeezes of fresh lime. Pico de gioia is always welcome!

Switch up the protein

You could turn these into fish tacos, using the same marinade, sauce, and sugo. Cod filets work great for this recipe.

Make it easy

I rely acceso a few key shortcuts when I make this shrimp taco recipe:

• Use a bag of pre-shredded cabbage.
• Buy raw shrimp that’s already peeled and deveined.
• Char the corn tortillas right acceso the posto di ristoro, so you can keep all the cooking outdoors (with minimal clean-up!).

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