If you’re looking for a quick meal that everyone loves, these are a family favorite!
Shrimp Tacos combine juicy, seasoned shrimp with fresh, crunchy veggies and your fave toppings for an easy weeknight wonder.
Tuck them into corn (or flour) tortillas and create a taco bar for a fun take on taco night.
An Easy Weeknight Meal
- Shrimp is a protein that is quick to cook making this dish come together FAST!
- Tuck these into flour or corn tortillas (or even turn them into a shrimp taco salad).
- Add in lots of fresh veggies to make them healthy and flavorful!
Ingredients for Shrimp Tacos
- Shrimp: Shrimp are a lean, flavorful protein that cooks up quickly. Choose peeled and deveined shrimp (with the tails removed) for easy prep.
- Taco seasoning: Adds a burst of zesty, smoky flavor. Use homemade taco seasoning or store bought.
- Tortillas: I love the flavor of corn tortillas but flour tortillas (or even crispy taco shells) work too!
- Cilantro slaw: A vibrant blend of shredded cabbage, carrots, and a light dressing, it gives a satisfying crunch and a refreshing tanginess.
- Lime: A squeeze over the top brightens up the flavors, adding a bit of acidity that ties the whole dish together.
Homemade Taco Seasoning
A simple mixture with chili powder, ground cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, and salt u0026 pepper. Add a little cayenne pepper for some heat if you’d like!
How to Cook Shrimp for Tacos
For the best-tasting slaw, prepare it well ahead of time and keep refrigerated so the flavors can all blend. Once the dressing is prepared, use only enough to keep the slaw coated but not soaking so it stays crisp and crunchy!
- Peel and devein the shrimp (and remove tails if desired). Mix with taco seasoning, garlic, and lime juice.
- On a hot skillet or grill, cook shrimp until they are pink.
- Scoop slaw into warm tortillas and add shrimp and desired toppings.
Toppings for Shrimp Tacos
Serve this easy shrimp taco recipe with your favorite toppings or create a taco bar for your next get-together!
- Sauces: Add guacamole, or drizzle with hot sauce, sour cream, or homemade salsa.
- Fresh: Add the cabbage slaw below or your favorite coleslaw. Try a few slices of avocado or radishes.
- Flavorful: Olives, jalapenos, extra lime wedges, cilantro. Our fish taco sauce makes a great shrimp taco sauce too!
Serving Suggestions
Appetizer: Anything goes with tacos, making it a simple and fun dinner. For an appetizer, serve some tortilla chips with mango salsa and Pico de Gallo.
Sides: Add Mexican rice, or our tex mex rice, refried beans or corn salad!
More Taco Night Favorites
Did you make these Shrimp Tacos? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Shrimp Tacos
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound medium shrimp shelled & deveined, tails removed if desired
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning bought or homemade
- ½ lime juiced
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 8 corn tortillas or flour tortillas
Cilantro Slaw
- 1 cup cabbage finely sliced
- ¼ cup purple cabbage finely sliced
- 2 tablespoons cilantro chopped
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- ½ teaspoon cumin
Instructions
- For the slaw, in a medium bowl, mix together green and purple cabbage, cilantro, mayonnaise, and cumin. Refrigerate.
- In a separate bowl, combine shrimp with taco seasoning, lime juice, and garlic powder.
- In a pan over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil. Add the seasoned shrimp in a single layer. Using tongs, cook shrimp for 1-2 minutes on each side until they're pink and cooked through.
- Warm the corn tortillas over an open flame or follow package instructions.
- Fill each warm tortilla with slaw and cooked shrimp, adding any other desired toppings.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dinner, Entree, Main Course, Seafood
Cuisine American, Mexican© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
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Just a question: your photos show a doubled taco wrap enveloping the filling. But there is no note to do so …………. and your serving size states 4 ……… but your list of ingredients lists 8 wraps.
Assuming this means there is a total of 4 double walled tacos ?
Reviews all make these sound pretty tempting !
Hope to try soon.
Hi Toni, each serving is for 2 tacos for a total of 8 tacos. Enjoy!
These are delicious! Thank you! Loved the house made taco seasoning – so much better than the packaged variety. The only thing that confused me a bit was in the narrative, you mention lime juice for the slaw but its not listed in the ingredients (or did I miss it)? We added the juice of the smaller half of a lime. We so enjoy your recipes and look forward to being on your mailing list (saw the link in previous post). Thank you! A taco Tuesday wind!
I think adding the lime juice is key. I was trying to figure somehow to cook or marinate the shrimp the same as beef , adding water , etc. I just used low sodium taco seasoning with extra garlic powder and added lime juice and grilled on a panini grill. I heated the 6” corn tacos, added avocado,cheese and green chili sauce. Scrumptious!
That sounds delicious, Linda! Thanks for sharing.
I look forward to receiving recipes on a regular basis. Your shrimp tacos were amazing!!
Thank you Lorraine! To receive emails with new recipes, you can click here to sign up to receive emails. Look forward to sending you recipes!
If you are looking for fast weekday dinner idea – this is it! I added jalapenos to the slaw, we like it hot! And cayenne to the seasoning. Yuuum!
this is a great website for moms feeding large crowds
It was really good!
So easy to make & lots of flavor!
Hi! Looks delish. Which slaw are you using, the apple one you mention in the notes or the cilantro one? Thank you!
Hi Ruth, we used the cilantro slaw in this recipe :)
Made these shrimp tacos for dinner making only one minor adjustment by also adding fresh squeezed lime juice and zest to the slaw. The flavors were amazing!! My husband loved them. Amazing taco recipe
Has anyone tried this with pre cooked shrimp? I need to do about 8 lbs of shrimp for a party and I really don’t have time or patience to prep that much shrimp.
Hi Janis, we have only made this recipe with raw shrimp seasoning it before cooking but we would love to hear how it turns out for you with pre-cooked shrimp!
Nothing like crunching down on one of those shrimp tails! I get that they look good for a photo, but it’s disingenuous to take a photo of someone about to eat a taco with shrimp tails left on!
You can remove them before cooking if you’d prefer. Enjoy the recipe!
This was quick and simple with amazing flavor!!!
I am so glad you enjoyed the tacos Mollie!
Simple and yet delish! Used it just today for a quick dinner to whip out of nowhere. My husband was very happy!
We love those quick and easy recipes too Lyndsay. So happy your husband loved it!
Making them tonight and I wish the ingredients for different toppings were in the list of ingredients or at least printed along with the recipe.
Thank you for the suggestion Nate!
The best shrimp taco I’ve ever had. I used all organic & used a NON GMO tortilla, avocados, salsa, my own taco seasoning. Oh man is this ever good.
I enjoy quite a few of your recipes & so glad to have found you, thanks!
Thank you so much Sharon! Happy cooking!
COuld you substitute the mayonnaise for something else (mayonnaise is basically the bane of my existence as far as food items go, I can’t even have it in my refrigerator at home, the look of it alone isn’t just too disgusting)????
Do you have any recommendations?
Sure you can, you could use a little bit of sour cream (although it’ll be more tart) or even create a vinaigrette with olive oil, seasonings and a little bit of cider vinegar or just lime juice. Let us know how it goes!
I always substitute plain greek yogurt for mayo, and sometimes for sour cream. It’s less calories and more healthy. No one in my family has caught on yet. I’ll try the taco recipe tonight!