Grill Shrimp

Grilled shrimp is a tasty dish that is sure to please any seafood lover. With the smallest amount of effort and a delicious outcome, grilled shrimp may actually be one of the most rewarding dishes to cook. Scroll down to Step 1 to learn how you can grill shrimp for your next meal from the sea.

Steps

Readying the Shrimp

1. Purchase shrimp from your seafood grocer. If possible, buy your shrimp the day that you plan on cooking it. Shrimp thaw quickly and can go bad even more quickly. For the best possible results, buy fresh shrimp on the day that you plan to cook them. Make sure that you buy either jumbo or colossal sized shrimp for easier grilling. Smaller varieties of shrimp are more likely to fall through grill openings.
   • Shrimp come in all different colors with the commonest colors being brown, greyish green, and slightly pinkish.
2. Peel your shrimp (optional). Shrimp can be grilled with or without their shells. Remove all of the shell except for the part that is around the tail of the shrimp. The tail will serve as your handle for dipping and eating the grilled seafood. Cooking with the shell on will create a more tender meat and stronger shrimp taste. Removing the shell will allow the marinade to penetrate the meat and give the seafood more taste of your spices.
   • Use a pair of scissors or a sharp knife to cut the shell along the back of the shrimp. Be careful not to tear the meat of the shrimp. In some cases, shrimp have very soft shells. If you find that this is the case, you can peel the shell off with your fingers.
3. Devein the shrimp. Use a small, sharp knife to cut down the back of each peeled shrimp. Pull out the back vein while washing the shrimp under cold water. The vein is most noticeable in jumbo or colossal shrimp. You don’t necessarily have to remove the vein, but shrimp veins are often filled with sand, meaning that they can give the shrimp a gritty texture.
   • If you look over your shrimp and don’t see any vein at all, it has already been cleaned by your seafood grocer.
4. Give your shrimp a boost of flavor. The favored way to do this is by marinating the shrimp. There are hundreds of kinds of marinades you can try--from spicy to pleasantly sweet and salty. Put your shrimp in a bowl and pour your marinade over them. Put a lid or foil on the bowl and let them sit and soak up the flavors of the marinade.
   • You can also simply brush your shrimp with olive oil to help it cook on the grill.
   • Rub Make Hot and Spicy Shrimp on your de-shelled shrimp to give your shrimp a kick of flavor.

Grilling the Shrimp

1. Choose between a grilling basket or skewers. Shrimp can be grilled either in a basket or when they are threaded on skewers. If you choose to use wooden skewers, make sure that you soak them in water for a few hours before you start grilling--they can catch on fire if they aren’t soaked. A grilling basket needs no preparation. Whichever method you use, make sure that the device is placed three or four inches from moderately high heat.
   • Metal skewers don’t need to be soaked and work the same as wooden skewers.
2. Grill your shrimp. Keep your shrimp on the grill for five to seven minutes. You will need to turn the shrimp over halfway through the cooking process so that both sides of the shrimp get cooked evenly. Keep an on your shrimp while they cook--the outside of the shrimp should turn a nice pink color when it is cooked while the meat inside should turn white and opaque.
   • Be careful not to overcook the shrimp or else it might become tough and chewy (which is never a good texture for shrimp).
3. Remove the shrimp from the grill when it is done cooking. Place it on a fresh, clean plate. According to the Food and Drug Administration, placing cooked seafood on a platter that once held raw seafood can cause contamination of the food. Eat the shrimp right away because it will taste best fresh off the grill.
4. Enjoy!

Tips

• Leave enough room at the end of each skewer to grasp the stick for easy turning and handling.
• When piercing the shrimp with the skewer, fold the seafood into a U-shape and strike through it twice. This helps keep them steady and intact on the stick when moving it.

Warnings

• Shrimp that smell of ammonia may not be fresh or safe to eat. If you smell an undesirable scent, ask the seafood attendant for a more recently thawed batch of shrimp.

Things You'll Need

• Shrimp (jumbo or colossal)
• Marinade
• Scissors
• Small, sharp knife
• Grilling basket/skewers
• Grill
• Clean platter

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Sources and Citations

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• Cook Shrimp
• Raise Sea Monkeys
• Prepare Shrimp for Cooking
• Cook Cereal Prawn
• Prepare and Cook Prawns
• Make Coconut Shrimp
• Pan Fry Shrimp
• Make Panko Fried Shrimp
• Fry Shrimp

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