Crispy Coconut Shrimp – fresh shrimp dipped in coconut batter, then rolled in an aromatic combination of coconut flakes, breadcrumbs and spices. So Decadent, So Exotic, So Tasty!! Can be baked or fried!
Want something that would get your taste buds excited. Sure you do. Is it possible for you to make it without resorting to deep frying? Yes, you can.
Transport yourself to the Caribbean with this coconut shrimp. It requires very little time and is always a crowd-pleaser. It would satisfy your craving for something light and sultry.
Fried or Baked Coconut Shrimp
This is one those recipes that you can easily whip up especially when you forgot to thaw your frozen protein or simply because you’ve done so much for day.
In this recipe, I used coconut flakes, garlic powder, dried thyme, paprika, and bread crumbs to coat these juicy fresh shrimps that hubby got from the market. And that’s not it!
The batter here isn’t your average Joe. It is made with flour, egg, and coconut milk. Yes! That’s like “double coconutty treat”. If that’s sounds too much for you, you can always play around by substituting it with water, beer or milk. (Psssstt… go with beer if you’re serving it as an appetizer. 😉 )
These shrimps are super crispy on the outside, sweet and tender shrimp on the inside. You can even bread the shrimp ahead of time and let them rest in refrigerator until ready to bake. Talk about easy dinner!
After baking or frying you are left with a crispy coconut exterior and succulent tender shrimp inside. If you simply can’t deal with hot oil and the unwanted calories , then go the baking route. I guarantee you that it is equally delicious as the fried ones.
Coconut Shrimp Dipping Sauce
And what’s a good coconut shrimp without some dipping sauce? To complement the shrimp, I like serving them with a sweet creamy dip like pineapple marmalade, Dijon mustard and mayonnaise combination. Or if you want more heat in your mouth, go pair it with sweet chili sauce or sriracha aioli dip.
How about this Caribbean pepper sauce HERE ? You get to decide.
Whether as a regular weeknight dinner or as party appetizer, these scrumptious, crunchy, sweet and no-fuss coconut shrimps will always be a Mom’s favorite. No one will complain and they won’t even notice that it only takes less than 30 minutes to prepare. 😉
Enjoy!!!
Watch How to Make It
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Tips and Notes:
- You can replace coconut milk with water, beer or milk.
- You may use Panko instead of regular breadcrumbs.
- If you want more sweetness into this dish, substitute coconut flakes with sweetened shredded coconut.
- If frying , place shrimp in hot oil about 375°F fry directly until shrimp is crisp and heated through, about 3-5 minutes.
- See make-ahead notes in the recipe box.
Crispy Coconut Shrimp
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Ingredients
- ½ cup flour
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup coconut milk
- 1 pound large shrimp , 16-20 pieces
- ½ cup bread crumbs
- 1 1/2 cups coconut flakes , see notes
- 3/4- 1 teaspoon salt , adjust to preference
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme , iptional
Pineapple Marmalade Dip
- 1 cup pineapple marmalade
- 2 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoon mayonnaise
Sriracha Dipping Sauce
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 2/3 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1-2 tablespoons sriracha adjust to taste
Instructions
- Prepare the dip by combining ingredients together and refrigerate.
- Marmalade Dip: In a medium bowl, combine the marmalade, mayonnaise, and Dijon mustard. Cover and refrigerate for at least several hours to allow flavors to blend. Do the same if making the sirracha sauce.
- Preheat oven to 450°F. Align cookie sheet with parchment or foil paper, coat with cooking spray.
- Peel and devein shrimp leaving the tails on. Butterfly the shrimp: cutting halfway through the back, stopping at the tail, so they will be able to stand tail up.
- Whisk the egg, coconut milk, milk or beer, and flour in a medium mixing bowl until a smooth batter is formed.
- In another bowl, mix bread crumbs, coconut flakes, and spices.
- Hold shrimp by tail, dip each shrimp first in batter, and then roll in seasoned coconut mixture. Place on baking sheet tail up.
Baking
- Bake the shrimp until cooked through and the coating is starting to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Serve the shrimp with dip.
Frying
- If frying shrimp, heat oil to 375°. Fry shrimp a few pieces at a time, for 2-3 minutes on each side or until no longer pink and golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
Tips & Notes:
- When you finish breading the shrimp you can place in the fridge, and let it stay there til you are ready to fry about 4-6 hours.
- If you want to make this days or months ahead of time then it can be done. Here’s how you do it:
- Remove shrimp from the fryer and bring to room temperature. Place shrimp making cookie sheet or large plate, make sure they are not touching each other. Place in the freezer until it freezes.
- Now transfer to an airtight plastic bag or a zip-lock bag and store for up to two (2) months.
- When ready to eat or serve, pre-heat oven to 400°F, line a cookie sheet or baking pan with parchment or foil paper cook /bake for about 18- 20 minutes flipping once halfway through baking, until shrimp is crisp and is heated through.
- If frying, place shrimp in hot oil about 375°F fry directly until shrimp is crisp and heated through, about 3-5 minutes.
Nutrition Information:
How to Make Coconut Shrimp
JS says
Great recipe!
ImmaculateBites says
Thanks
Jennifer says
We LOVE coconut shrimp in my house and this recipe looks AMAZING!!! I make a dipping sauce with orange marmalade and sweet Thai chili sauce (2 parts orange marmalade 1 part sweet Thai chili sauce) with my coconut shrimp, but I think I might have to try the pineapple marmalade dipping sauce! Thanks for this recipe
imma africanbites says
Hi, Jennifer. That orange marmalade chili sauce sounds so amazing! Adding that to my list, too. Thanks.
Mariam says
Thanks so much immaculate I so much love your recipes. And I try most of your recipe a lot and they always come out can’t love you less
imma africanbites says
So happy to know that, Mariam! And thank you for trying them out. 🙂
Abiola Olawepo says
This is definitely a hit, I tried this recipe for the first time today and I will be making this more often, that was how much my family loved it. Thanks for always sharing your beautiful recipes.
ImmaculateBites says
Thanks Abiola. So happy to hear this .
Jennifer Corbett says
Hiya going to try this recipe tonight.Ive just made the dipping sauces how long do the last in a fridge for.As I’ve made loads but don’t want it to get wasted so was going make the coconut prawns on Wednesday as well as I’ve got my friends coming round Will the sauces be ok in the fridge till Wednesday
Thank you
ImmaculateBites says
Yes the will do just fine.
Lil says
Hi. Are you sure it’s a 1/2 cup of flour with just a 1/4 coconut milk & 1 egg? Batter is much too thick. Not like video. I had to add another cup of coco milk to get Same consistency. With adjustment, They were excellent!
ImmaculateBites says
Thanks for bring this to my attention. Had to retest recipe and 3/4 cup coconut milk worked.Will update
Thanks again.
Cindy says
This sounded really good and I saved the page until I was ready to try it. Unfortunately the batter was very, very thick using coconut milk so I added beer to thin it out. The coating, while tasty when dry, did not adhere well to the shrimp. I baked them & then broiled to give them a little color. They didn’t taste as good as the recipe sounded. Maybe if I added some more dry ingredients to help the coating bind to the shrimp and fried them, they’d be better. Disappointing as they really sounded good. I’ll keep trying your recipes as most of them are very yummy.
imma africanbites says
Sorry to hear it didn’t turn out well for you. I’ve been using the same recipe tho for countless times (and others, too) and it turns out as described above. Did you by any chance substituted coconut milk with coconut cream instead? They look almost the same, but Coconut cream have thicker consistency than the milk one and they’re often used interchangeably.
Gary Bradstreet says
Are the coconut flakes toasted or are they just regular coconut flakes
imma africanbites says
It’s toasted.
Michelle says
Hi, my husband and I had coconut shrimp in a restaurant last night. I haven’t had it in a long time and it tasted so good. I am hosting some friends for dinner in a few weeks and would like to try your recipe. How far in advance can I make up the tray of shrimp? (Looking to try to do as much ahead of time as possible.)
Thanks!
Michelle
ImmaculateBites says
Hi Michelle !
Check out the make ahead notes. Just did an update . Do let me know how it works out for you. Thanks !
Beth says
We just made these this afternoon! We baked them and they were very good! Thank you!
ImmaculateBites says
My Pleasure! Glad it worked out well for you.
Didina Gnagnide Angorinie says
This recipe is going into my repertoire, baking makes it even more kitchen-friendly. I love fried things (who doesn’t?) but they make such a mess. Btw Imma, I have yet to try homemade cube, but I managed to find something interesting: Liebig meat extract, the illegitimate grandfather of all cubes in the world! It’s 100% condensed beef, it makes a good beef broth and can be used as is as a flavor enhancer, just like a cube. The only downside is its price (a little jar is around 5 euros), fortunately a little goes a long way. Julius Maggi then invented an inexpensive version of it known as Maggi and the rest is history. I have been ill for 2 weeks unable to eat many solid food because of lymphonode swelling, I thank Liebig extract otherwise I would have been restricted to milk and knorr instant broth or soup D: . Proof that is pure beef is that my cats swarmed me when I opened the jar. I would be interested in making “soy sauce” with it but I don’t want to waste any in experiments, it is precious $$$. Bye, I shall also try the “fried” cabbage recipe because cabbage is fantastic (I love krauts).
Joce says
The directions say to add beer, but it’s not in the ingredients?
ImmaculateBites says
You can either use beer, coconut milk or milk. It all works. Just updated to make it clearer.
Moose says
Looks delicious!! How much ginger did you use?
ImmaculateBites says
My bad! No ginger used in the sauce. Just the 3 ingredients.
Cyndy12 says
I finally had a thorough look thru ur blog and still have a watery mouth from the variety…..i will be tryx lots of these meals esp anythx to do with shrimps/prawns and coconut….thx ever so much and keep up the gud work…
ImmaculateBites says
Thanks cyndy!
Manzayila says
This look delicious cant wait to try it! ive been looking at your blog for over an hour now and i’m impressed and very proud of your work. keep it up.