Our Best Shrimp Recipes – NYT Cooking

These recipes come together quickly enough for an easy dinner on a busy night and feel special enough for a party.

Melissa Clark’s shrimp scampi.David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

By Krysten Chambrot and Allison Jiang

Published Sept. 11, 2024Updated Sept. 5, 2025

Lightning fast to cook and always satisfying to eat, shrimp is a hero in the kitchen and, if there’s a stash in the freezer, it can be dinner any night of the week. Best of all, it has so much range, standing on its own in a delicious shrimp cocktail, pairing beautifully with a rich sauce or cozying up to vegetables, rice, grits or pasta. Below are 17 recipes that put it to use expertly and deliciously.

Lidey Heuck swaps clams for shrimp in this breezy take on spaghetti vongole, ready in 45 minutes from start to finish. A ¼ cup of garlic infuses a sauce built on burst tomatoes and white wine, and lightened with lemon zest and parsley, for a balance of tart and sweet, zesty and mild.

Recipe: Shrimp Pasta

This 25-minute recipe from Lidey Heuck was one of our most popular recipes of 2025 so far, probably because it’s so easy to make. The marinade becomes the pan sauce, built from ingredients you most likely have in your pantry: honey, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and crushed red pepper.

Recipe: Honey-Garlic Shrimp

Fresh citrus juice, found any time of year, is the star of this dish from Yasmin Fahr. Shallots and jalapeños quickly bathe in orange and lime juice to remove their bite, then everything is tossed with pan-seared shrimp.

Recipe: Citrus Skillet Shrimp With Shallots and Jalapeños

In this Melissa Clark recipe, coconut milk spiked with Sriracha, ginger and garlic coat shrimp and sweet potatoes. Everything roasts on a sheet-pan, but the sweet potatoes get a head start while the shrimp marinate. Adding the shrimp to the pan shortly before the end of cooking to ensures that they stay plump.

Recipe: Sheet-Pan Coconut Shrimp and Sweet Potatoes

Some recipes couldn’t be easier, and that’s the case with this gem from Mark Bittman. It takes just 10 minutes. All you need to do is plop the ingredients on a sheet pan, then slide that pan under your oven’s broiler. And there you have it: dinner with time to actually enjoy it.

Recipe: Sheet-Pan Shrimp With Tomatoes, Feta and Oregano

Julia Reed, who wrote about politics, food and the South, brought this recipe to The Times in 2002 in an effort to recreate a meal she had at Pearl’s Cafe in Sewanee, Tenn. Her version of the classic dish is reminiscent of New Orleans’s shrimp cardinale, creamy and full of tomatoes, with a stock built on the shrimp shells. It’s all a contrast in textures, the plump shrimp snapping under your teeth against the cheesy, buttery porridge.

Recipe: Shrimp and Grits

This coconut shrimp recipe from Margaux Laskey is a true gift, tossing shrimp with cornstarch and egg whites instead of whole eggs and flour for a lighter crunchy coating. The dip that goes alongside, made from a blend of orange marmalade, Dijon mustard, lime juice and some Sriracha, is a blend of sweet, savory, tart and spicy for a dish that makes you feel like you’re beachside.

Recipe: Coconut Shrimp

Bagged frozen vegetables are the ultimate utility player in this dish, studded with — you guessed it — sweet, tender shrimp. Eric Kim takes the freezer staple and cooks them with, in his words, “shrimpy oil” and onion, then adds eggs, day-old rice and soy sauce, finishing it all with a condiment-heavy yum yum sauce. It’s a perfect weeknight meal, full of ease, flavor and comfort.

Recipe: Shrimp Fried Rice

A little honey, lemon and spicy harissa coat these skewered shrimp, smoky from the grill. Once they’re cooked, take a cue from Yossy Arefi and scatter them over rice, tuck them into a flatbread or pair them with a crisp salad.

Recipe: Grilled Harissa Shrimp

Garlic and white wine make fast friends with shrimp in Melissa Clark’s five-star winner. Here, the crustaceans are cooked in a seasoned sauce built on wine or broth, butter and, yes, garlic. A spray of lemon juice adds some zing to this quick dinner, best paired with crusty bread or pasta.

Recipe: Classic Shrimp Scampi

For summer on a plate anytime of year, make this quick, showstopping dish from Pierce Abernathy. Inspired by, but not technically, a ceviche, the shrimp are grilled first, then marinated in lime juice and coconut milk. Grilled corn kernels add a smoky dimension to the sliced red onion, serrano chiles and cherry tomatoes.

Recipe: Grilled Shrimp Ceviche With Corn and Coconut

With its three sauce options, this shrimp cocktail from Eric Kim is a surefire crowd pleaser. Don’t love cocktail sauce? Make a garlicky dill butter. Prefer a little kick? A curried honey mustard may be just the thing. Serve it with one or all three, and let your guests revel in variety.

Recipe: Shrimp Cocktail

Built on the Creole holy trinity of bell pepper, onion and celery, this classic dish sings over white rice, sprinkled with brightening scallions and parsley. But it works equally well, as Vallery Lomas advises, over brown rice and quinoa.

Recipe: Shrimp Creole

Another full, light dinner, this one from Genevieve Ko pairs asparagus spears with frozen shrimp, which she quickly thaws under running cold water. They’re ready to go right into the pan just moments later so that you can get dinner on the table in 20 minutes start to finish.

Recipe: Quick Shrimp and Asparagus Stir-Fry

An amenable canvas, shrimp quickly takes on flavors, an attribute Kay Chun uses to her advantage here. A brief marinade in a mix of Scotch bonnets or habaneros, scallions, garlic, thyme, soy and allspice infuses the crustaceans before their stint on the grill. Beware: Kay describes the resulting rub as “superhot,” so if mild or medium is more your speed, pull back on the chiles and lose their seeds.

Recipe: Grilled Jerk Shrimp

Make Yewande Komolafe’s tacos to feel like you’re at a seaside stand. Red cabbage, briefly tossed with lime juice to soften it, adds crunch to each otherwise tender bite. Fill to your heart’s content: Guacamole and diced onion are particularly nice here, but pico de gallo, fresh cilantro and more lime would also be lovely.

Recipe: Shrimp Tacos

This simple weeknight meal from Yasmin Fahr takes inspiration from Indian and Thai curries. The shrimp is quickly coated in a mix of garlic, ginger and turmeric, then cooked quickly and finished with coconut milk and soy sauce. Spinach (or bok choy or kale) add a verdant lift, as does a finish of scallions, chiles and cilantro. Be sure to sop up the broth, rich with flavor, with rice, noodles or naan. It’s your choice.

Recipe: Ginger-Garlic Shrimp With Coconut Milk

Rice and shrimp are a natural pairing, and this recipe, which Melissa Clark adapted from Madhur Jaffrey’s first cookbook, “An Invitation to Indian Cooking,” further proves that point. The shrimp are steamed lightly with turmeric, garam masala and more, and then the rice is cooked in a liquid built on the pan drippings. It adds welcome spice and shrimpy flavor to the whole dish, best served with cooling yogurt.

Recipe: Shrimp Pullao