32 Fast and Healthy Shrimp Recipes

By Food & Wine
Updated October 31, 2019
For days when you're looking for a lighter lunch or dinner, shrimp a great option to leave you satisfied and with time to spare. Try dishes like Hugh Acheson's grilled shrimp with apples and charred scallion and a quick shrimp pad-thai. Read on for more of our favorite fast and healthy shrimp recipes.
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Gingered Stir-Fry with Shrimp and Snow Peas

Credit: © Antonis Achilleos
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Large nonstick skillets that can create a sear are ideal for stir-fries. For this recipe, F&W’s Grace Parisi creates layers of flavor with Chinese chile-garlic sauce and matchsticks of fresh ginger.

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Mama Chang's Stir-Fried Shrimp and Scallions

Credit: © Fredrika Stjärne
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Joanne Chang’s mother used to make this sweet-and-spicy shrimp stir-fry all the time. When she was old enough to cook, Chang asked her mom for the recipe. “She hemmed and hawed until she finally gave it to me, revealing her secret ingredient: ketchup.”

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Healthy Shrimp and Grits with Leeks

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Like many traditional Southern dishes, shrimp and grits is usually loaded with butter, cheese and sometimes bacon or a ham hock. This lighter version is completely meat- and dairy-free. The dish gets its flavor from sweet sautéed leeks and a quick white wine pan sauce.

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Shrimp Cocktail with Marie Rose Sauce

Credit: © Tina Rupp
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Chef and Food Network Canada star Anthony Sedlak spikes the ’70s throwback Marie Rose sauce (mayonnaise and a touch of ketchup) with brandy and horseradish. It’s fantastic with shrimp cocktail as well as fried seafood like battered cod.

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Shrimp-and-Pork Dumplings with Bamboo Shoots

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Chef Martin Yan makes his delicate dumpling wrappers with cornstarch, wheat starch, water and shortening. For an easier way, wonton wrappers, usually sold in the freezer section of the supermarket, make quick work of dumplings.

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Sweet-and-Sour Shrimp

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Trying to create an alternative to Heinz and Hunt’s, two Brown University undergrads created Sir Kensington’s, a small-batch ketchup that balances sweet and tangy (sirkensingtons.com). To show off its aromatic side, F&W’s Grace Parisi uses it in a sauce for a shrimp stir-fry.

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Grilled Shrimp with Apple and Charred Scallions

Credit: © Fredrika Stjärne
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“Shrimp come from all over the world, but I think the kind from coastal Georgia and the Gulf is the best—and it’s pretty much a sustainable product,” says Hugh Acheson. Here, he prepares the shrimp as a light appetizer with green apple, charred scallions, smoked paprika and sesame seeds.

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Marseille-Style Shrimp Stew

Credit: Johnny Valiant
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Large shrimp make this a knife-and-fork stew. Melissa Clark spreads a garlicky French rouille on toasts for dipping in the stew.

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Quick Shrimp Pad Thai

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This is a great, fast version of American-style pad thai, with an appealing combination of sweet, sour and spicy flavors. Look for the noodles in the Asian section of markets.

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Shrimp Slaw with Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette

Credit: © John Kernick
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Kent Rathbun’s weight loss prompted him to create healthy dishes for his Dallas restaurants. He makes his crunchy jalapeño-spiced coleslaw with crab, shrimp and lobster, but this shrimp-only version is also delicious.

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Goan Shrimp Curry

Credit: © David Malosh
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Sanjeev Kapoor and his wife, Alyona, love beach vacations in Goa. Kapoor prepares this shrimp curry in typical Goan style, so it's tangy, spicy and vibrant.

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Grilled Shrimp with Mom's Avocado-and-Orange Salad

Credit: © Tina Rupp
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Andrew Carmellini’s dish is a mix of two beloved salads: shrimp-avocado and shrimp-citrus. He throws in a few surprises, too, like the hot sauce in the dressing. He recommends a fruity one from the Caribbean made with habaneros: “Habaneros are crazy,” he says.

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Smoky Shrimp and Grits

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Old-school Southern cooks prepare grits with an abundance of butter and cheddar. To make the dish less heavy, Grace Parisi cuts back on the cheese, drops the butter altogether and adds spinach.

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Grilled Shrimp with Sweet Chile Sauce

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Chile-spiced shrimp cooks on a grill or in a grill pan in just 30 minutes.

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Shrimp with Fresh Citrus Sauce

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Dan Kluger adds crunch to this delicious shrimp and summer tomato pasta with crisp lemon-chile crumbs.

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Smoky Citrus Shrimp with Parsley

Credit: © Quentin Bacon
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Grub co-author Bryant Terry eats these tangy, garlicky shrimp piled high on crispy toasts, but sometimes he sandwiches them inside a quesadilla oozing with shredded Jack cheese. He recommends buying wild-caught or sustainably raised shrimp from the United States or Canada, where environmental standards are stricter than in places like Latin America and Southeast Asia.

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Creole Shrimp with Garlic and Lemon

Credit: © Quentin Bacon
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Eco-minded chefs are cooking with wild American shrimp, but not just for ethical reasons. As Tory McPhail of Commander’s Palace in New Orleans says, “They taste cleaner and crisper, since they swim in the tides.”

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Barbecued Spiced Shrimp with Tomato Salad

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The big, bold Southwestern flavors in this shrimp seasoning—which include pure ancho chile powder, smoked paprika, cumin and brown sugar—epitomize Bobby Flay’s style. The seasoning mix would also be terrific on pork chops or beef tenderloin.

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Smoky Paella with Shrimp and Squid

Credit: © Quentin Bacon
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José Andrés prepares this satisfying rice dish with lots of seafood, including hard-to-find cuttlefish, and a house-made fish stock. To make it even easier, use squid in place of the cuttlefish, and skip the fish stock in favor of bottled clam broth from the supermarket.

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Grilled Shrimp with Mangoes and Chile

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Luke Mangan particularly likes juicy, sweet Yamba prawns (a.k.a., shrimp) from New South Wales, but any variety of fresh, large shrimp will do.

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Shrimp and Lemon Skewers with Feta-Dill Sauce

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Squeeze the charred lemons over the shrimp before serving for a tangy, smoky hit of flavor. You may want to make extra feta sauce to have with lean lamb steaks or chicken skewers.

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Shrimp with Fresh Citrus Sauce

Credit: © Tina Rupp
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Andrew Carmellini’s sauce uses blood oranges, tangelos, clementines and tangerines. He sautés the shrimp separately. To make it even easier, prepare a fast citrus sauce by adding grapefruit juice to the skillet as you cook the shrimp.

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Chipotle Shrimp Tostadas

Credit: © James Baigrie
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To create this Southwestern-inspired dish, Melissa Rubel Jacobson tosses shrimp with chipotle chile powder (made from dried, smoked jalapeños), grills them, then layers them on top of crunchy fried corn tortillas and crisp, citrusy slaw.

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Soba Noodles with Grilled Shrimp and Cilantro

Credit: © Stephanie Foley
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Garlicky, spicy and bright with lime, this noodle dish is both warming and energizing, according to Thai tradition. Just don’t skimp on the lime wedges or cilantro: “The sour juice protects the respiratory system in the early spring,” Su-Mei Yu says, “and cilantro helps when you’re congested.”

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Chili Shrimp

Credit: © Anna Williams
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Rajat Parr discovered Singaporean chili crabs while cooking at a hotel there and exploring the local street food. When crabs aren’t available, he substitutes large shrimp and cooks them in sweet, sticky chile sauce.

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Shrimp and Rice Pilaf, Indian-Style

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Grilled Miso Shrimp

Credit: © Con Poulos
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When grilling shrimp or scallops, use sticks of lemongrass or sprigs of rosemary as an alternative to metal or bamboo skewers.

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Spicy Shrimp in Chile Sauce

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Eric and Sophie Banh use fresh coconut juice in this sweet-spicy stir-fry. Since fresh coconut juice can be hard to find, use a combination of water and canned coconut milk instead.

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Shrimp Saganaki

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For shrimp saganaki, Greeks sauté shrimp in a pan with tomatoes, olives and feta cheese, then serve it right out of the skillet with bread to soak up all the delicious juices. Grace Parisi stirs fresh dill into her quick version to brighten the flavor.

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Spinach-and-Shrimp Salad with Chile Dressing

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Miso Soup with Shrimp and Tofu

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No soup is quicker to prepare than miso; just whisk miso paste into water. By adding shrimp, tofu and greens, it can double as a complete and light meal. Feel free to use leftover chicken or roast pork (or whatever else is at hand) in place of the shrimp.

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Curried Shrimp and Carrot Bouillabaisse

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