Grilled Jerk Shrimp
Seafood is a summer essential. Every summer I make myself seafood dinners, as well as order different types of seafood like fish or shrimp when I’m out to eat. This year, when I was on vacation with my friends, we had seafood almost every night. Whether we were eating in or out, someone always had a shrimp dinner. One night, when we got shrimp from Bill’s Seafood, the local market, we were talking about different ways to prepare shrimp. Personally, I’ve always sauteed shrimp, but my friend Jen mentioned that she really enjoys grilled shrimp, which I’ve surprisingly never had before. Fast forward to when I got home from vacation and still had this shrimp conversation on my mind. I decided it was time for me to try grilled shrimp as I love grilling food and had a perfect recipe in mind.
Enter grilled jerk shrimp. Full of Caribbean flavor, jerk shrimp is both sweet and spicy, pairing well with tropical fruits and rice making it perfect for a summer meal.
the details of the grilled jerk shrimp
Grilled shrimp is super delicious. It gives you a break from the sautéing you may do in the winter; and the flavor from the grill cannot be matched by any other cooking utensil. What I love about grilled shrimp is it is super easy to make and is quite versatile. Specifically, all you need to do is put some shrimp on skewers and grill for 2-3 minutes on each side. It tastes great buttered, but can really be mixed up with a sauce like jerk sauce.
Jerk sauce is the perfect combination of sweet and spicy that can be made more on the spicy side or sweeter side depending on what you prefer. What gives the sauce these flavors? Well, the hot peppers, brown sugar, and 3 key spices take control . Typically, scotch bonnet peppers are used in jerk sauce to really amp up the heat. Since my local grocery store does not sell peppers that hot, I had to settle for the next best thing – habanero peppers. As for keeping the jerk sauce sweet, the mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice is able to tone down the spice, while providing you with a traditional Jamaican/Caribbean flavor. With the addition of 6 more ingredients, you can whip up this Caribbean inspired dish as a side dish or your main meal. It is delicious either way!
grilled shrimp subsitutes
If you don’t like jerk sauce, just follow the steps for grilling and skip putting the sauce on. The shrimp will still turn out amazing. If you don’t like shrimp, grill some pork or chicken with the jerk sauce marinated on the meat. Jerk pairs very well with these two meats and is guaranteed to leave you just as satisfied.
Finally, you may wonder how to serve the shrimp. Well, like I mentioned earlier you can eat it as a side, make it the main dish, OR you can even put it in a rice bowl or tacos. The options are endless!
Overall, if you make this recipe, please leave a comment below, tag me on Instagram, pin it, or go like my page/share on Facebook!
Grilled Jerk Shrimp
Equipment
- skewers
- grill
Ingredients
- 24 pieces of frozen shrimp deveined and peeled
- kneadmorefood's Jamaican Jerk Sauce
Instructions
- Thaw your shrimp according to the package. Once the shrimp is thawed, take the tail off and put about 6 on a skewer.
- Preheat your grill on medium high.
- Next, use your favorite jerk sauce, like my homemade jerk sauce, and coat the shrimp. Cover and let marinade in the fridge for at least 15 minutes, while you wait for the grill to heat up.
- Once the grill is heated, place the shrimp on the grill and cook for at least 5 minutes and up to 7. To ensure that each side is cooked, turn the shrimp halfway, after about 3 minutes. Once shrimp is pink, remove from grill and serve.
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