These Tacos de Camarones feature juicy flavorful shrimp, fresh crunchy cabbage, and a cool cilantro lime cream sauce all wrapped in warm corn tortillas. This quick and easy shrimp taco recipe is ready in under 20 minutes!
These tacos de camarones are one of my all time favorite quick and easy meals to put together. Shrimp cooks up in minutes, making this meal come together in less than 15 minutes. These tacos are perfect for a weeknight meal!
Ingredients Needed
- Shrimp: use medium sized raw shrimp that has already been peeled, deveined, and tails removed. It saves time when prepping to cook. Buy medium size shrimp, they are the perfect size for tacos, larger shrimp typically take more than one bite and can be awkward in the tacos.
- Taco Seasoning: this homemade taco seasoning is the BEST!
- Corn Tortillas: use store bought standard size corn tortillas, or make your own homemade corn tortillas.
- Shredded Cabbage: buy bagged pre-shredded cabbage at the market, or thinly slice your own.
- Queso Fresco: crumble some up to go on top. Can substitute with Feta cheese if needed.
How To Make
- Prepare the shrimp, ensure shrimp is completely thawed, peeled and deveined.
- Coat with the taco seasoning.
- Cook the shrimp in a skillet with a small amount of avocado oil. The shrimp will become opaque and have a pinkish coloring when they are done. They cook quickly, keep an eye on them.
How to Buy and Thaw Shrimp
Most ‘fresh’ shrimp you will buy at the market has been frozen and thawed to be sold as fresh. For the freshest shrimp you should buy your own frozen shrimp and thaw it yourself.
To save time look for shrimp that has been peeled and deveined as this process takes a bit of time and there is no real benefit to doing it yourself. If you have shrimp that needs to be peeled and deveined, watch this video to see how.
To thaw shrimp place them in a bowl with a lid or a sealed bag in the refrigerator overnight. If you are in need of a quick thaw option you can fill a large bowl with cold water, place the shrimp in a sealed plastic bag, and submerge them for 20 minutes. You may need to place a bowl on top to ensure the shrimp are completely submerged during this time.
Seasoning
These shrimp for these tacos de camarones are tossed and seasoned in a quick homemade taco seasoning of chili powder, garlic and onion powder, cumin, Mexican oregano, and salt. If you want to punch up the spice and heat factor you can add I some cayenne powder.
Topping Ideas
- Shredded cabbage or lettuce
- Coleslaw
- Crumbled Mexican Cheese (queso fresco or cotija) or feta
- Fresh diced cilantro
- Fresh squeezed lime juice
- Cilantro Lime Crema (recipe included below)
- Pico de Gallo
- Fresh fruit salsa like this Mango Salsa or Pineapple Salsa
- Sour cream or Crema
- Sliced avocado or guacamole
Commonly Asked Questions
Once shrimp is cooked it will keep in the refrigerator in a sealed container for 3-4 days.
This recipe can be made with fresh or frozen shrimp. If using frozen, make sure you prepare in advance since you will need to thaw the shrimp, it’s best to let the shrimp thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
