Coconut Shrimp
You won’t believe how easy this is to make, and it’s so much cheaper and tastier to make it right at home!
I’m not the biggest fan of coconut but oddly enough, I am obsessed with coconut shrimp. I’ve only had it a few times because it’s always a bit pricey at the restaurant and I can’t stand having to pay an arm and a leg for something I could easily make right at home. Plus, the homemade version is always a million times better, right?
I’ve actually been wanting to make coconut shrimp for several months now but Jason was never available as my “official” hand model. He’s at school 14 hours a day, including the weekends, but earlier this week, he told me he could write his final paper at home. So I scurried out of the house for that emergency grocery run, scored some gorgeous shrimp and hurried home to fry these babies before the sun went down.
Now this recipe comes together very easily and quickly in a simple 4-step process. The flour mixture, the egg mixture, the coconut breadcrumb mixture and then into the oil. That’s it! It’s a 20 minute process altogether – easy peasy, right?
Just make sure you have that sweet Thai chili sauce ready to go because once these babies are fried, you won’t want to wait a single second before devouring them. They are unbelievably crispy with that wonderful coconut crunchiness, and with the sweet Thai chili sauce, it was absolute perfection.
So when you’re short on time and in need of a crowd-pleasing appetizer, these must be on your menu. It’s easy, simple and sure to disappear from your table!
Coconut Shrimp
Ingredients
- 2 cups vegetable oil
- 1 cup Panko bread crumbs
- 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- Sweet chili sauce, for serving
Instructions
- Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium high heat.
- In a large bowl, combine Panko* bread crumbs and shredded coconut; set aside.
- Season shrimp with salt and pepper, to taste. Working one at a time, dredge shrimp in the flour, dip into the eggs, then dredge in the coconut mixture, pressing to coat.
- Working in batches, add shrimp to the Dutch oven and fry until evenly golden brown and crispy, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Serve immediately with sweet chili sauce, if desired.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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I have been teaching myself to cook using recipes from your site for the past few weeks, and I made these tonight with some crunchy roasted broccoli. So good! I love that your recipes are so user-friendly and yet still so flavorful. Thank you!
Can I bake these?
You can certainly try baking these but they won’t have that amazing crispness!
I have a very old newspaper clipping recipe for Coconut shrimp. You marinate 2 dz lrg cooked shrimp in 2 cups Baily’s Irish Cream for 1 hour in fridge, coat each with coconut and fry in 1/4 cup canola oil untill coconut browns. Remove coconut bits from oil, add the rest of the Bailey’s from the marinating dish plus 1 teaspoon corn starch to make a sauce for lightly cooked snap peas. ( To cook shrimp add salt, pepper, Old Bay, hot pepper flakes, basil, oil and white vinegar to 2 TO 3 cups of boiling water – drop in cleaned deveined shrimp. DO NOT OVERCOOK! The more spices, the better – you can’t add too much. Drain in cheese cloth and let marinate in fridge overnight. Rinse and eat cold or use in this recipe. OUT OF THIS WORLD FLAVOR!
I just made this and it was DELICIOUS! Thank you for sharing!
Not having Panko on hand I used crushed Ritz crackers. Worked perfectly. This is the best tasting coconut shrimp recipe EVER! It could not be easier and tastes as good if not better than Red Lobster. Way to go. Thank you for such a great recipe.
thank you for sharing this easy recipe my husband and i loved working together in the kitchen and this was a fun dish to make.
I made this coconut shrimp recipe twice and it was absolutely delicious! I’m actually making it again tonight to prove to my sister that this tastes so much better than the frozen kind she normally eats.
Chung-Ah, this is the third recipe that Ive tried (I also made the orange chicken and pan roasted lemon chicken) and each one left me wanting more. You truly have a gift for cooking!
Ugh, this was SO GOOD. Thank you for the recipe! My alternative was a beer battered coconut shrimp – I figured this one would be more crisp, and it was perfect! I put about a half an inch of canola oil in a pan and fried them that way. Also, my grocery store doesn’t carry fresh shrimp anymore, so I went with small frozen ones and I think I like this option better (although it’s much more time consuming!). It makes for optimum crunchiness. Served with couscous and cucumber salad. Lovely. 🙂
Omfg, thanks very much for posting this! It is gonna help when I order Coconut Oil at the grocery store! Very Fab!
Listen here Ms. Chung-Ah… I don’t know know what kind of evil sorcery you’re up to by posting these delicious recipes and forcing me to come back for more, but it’s working!!! : )
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I love your recipe. I marinated the wee beasties in coconut milk and used rice flour instead of panko. It was awesome! Thank you!
http://rodweston.wordpress.com/2014/05/12/coconut-shrimp/
Fantastic meal! I made it with Jasmin rice and a side of veggies. The five year olds were -at first Ewww! But one bite and were delighted. Thanks for a simple and great tasting recipe.
Looks great where can you get Panko bread crumbs?
You should be able to find it at your local grocery store by the ethnic foods section.
Silly question, I would need uncooked prawns with tails left on, correct?
Yes, this recipe calls for uncooked prawns.
Trying these tomorrow with sweetened coconut! But I am wanting to bake them instead of frying (trying to eat better!). Do you think it will work to bake them? What temp and time would you recommend?
Marcy, you can certainly try to bake these but I cannot speak for the change in taste/texture of the dish. I have never baked these myself so you will have to adjust temp and time as needed.
yummy double dipp yummy
I have wanted to do my own shrimp, but do not know how to buy it, what to look for, frozen in bags in the freezer section, from the seafood counter….what? What is medium compared to large or small. I know what salad shrimp is but is that considered small? My local grocery store has not been very helpful and the other store does not have a seafood counter.
Karen, you are looking for fresh shrimp, not frozen. As this recipe calls for medium shrimp, shrimp with a 41/50 count will do. Hope that helps!
I have made this with fresh frozen shrimp – just thaw them out, pat them dry, as use as usual.
I want to make these but only have sweetened coconut. Will that work? It’s what I use when I make coconut chicken strips.
I prefer to use unsweetened for a more milder sweetness but sweetened coconut should work just fine as well.
It works perfectly.
When I eat coconut shrimp out, they have a sweet taste. I don’t see anything sweet in the ingredients.
As mentioned in the post, you can serve these alongside sweet Thai chili sauce.