This easy cilantro lime shrimp recipe is a show-stopper, and it’s all thanks to my secret roasted garlic sauce with loads of Mediterranean flavors. Citrusy, perfectly garlicky and just enough spicy, this weeknight-friendly recipe takes just 20 minutes!
Where I come from in Egypt, fresh herbs, garlic and citrus are three essential ingredients when it comes to flavoring fish. This goes for anything from simple baked cod and to shellfish like steamed clams and shrimp. In this cilantro lime shrimp recipe, we play up the same winning flavor combination but add a few guest-stars.
You can cook the shrimp any which way–cast iron skillet, indoor griddle, or grill–and it takes about 5 minutes. As soon as it’s done, you toss it in a delicious sauce made with a whole head of roasted garlic, fresh lime juice, a touch of spicy harissa (or chili paste), and cilantro or herbs of your choice. I have to say, the sauce is out of this world!
Yes, you do use a whole head of garlic here, but don’t worry! Once roasted, garlic becomes soft, creamy, and delicately sweet. It’s not too overpowering–you’ll honestly have to stop yourself from eating it its own. The flavor is quite tamed and pleasant.
This recipe is the perfect appetizer served with or atop crusty bread to make good use of the delicious sauce! But you can also turn it into a quick dinner with your favorite pasta or grain and grilled zucchini on the side.
Table of Contents
Ingredients and Substitutes for this Cilantro Lime Shrimp Recipe
You really can’t go wrong when you pair garlic and citrus with seafood. But I go a step further by adding loads of cilantro and a small amount of white wine and chili paste. We end up with a sauce that has an incredible depth of flavor, with very little work. You’ll need:
- Garlic: Roasting a whole head of garlic from scratch makes a huge difference in terms of flavor, but you can use store bought in a pinch.
- Cilantro: If you don’t like cilantro, basil works well with this recipe. (For more info on swapping fresh herbs, see our guide: These 12 Fresh Herbs Will Transform Your Simple Meals.)
- Lime: Fresh lime juice adds the perfect zing to balance the sweet and savory garlic flavor. Lemon juice works as a substitute.
- Dry white wine: Adds a complexity to the acidic element of the sauce, but you can substitute with more lime juice.
- Extra virgin olive oil: The base of the sauce, so a high quality extra virgin variety is essential. Our peppery Spanish Hojiblanca would be amazing.
- Harissa adds to the bright and citrusy flavor while adding smokiness and a good heat (more below).
- Shrimp: Wild-caught jumbo shrimp (about 16 to 20 shrimp per pound) are a good option for this recipe; they will remain plump and juicy.
- Kosher salt and black pepper are the simple seasonings that give the flavor its full potential! If you food ever tastes flat or bland, you likely need to add a pinch more salt and taste again.
Ingredient Spotlight
If you have yet to discover harissa, North Africa’s famous flavor-booster, you’re in for a treat. This incredibly complex chili paste has layers upon layers of flavor: lightly sweet, spicy, citrusy, with a hint of smoke.
- READ MORE AND MAKE IT FROM SCRATCH: Homemade Harissa Recipe
- TRY IT: Harissa Paste by Villa Jerada at Our Shop
- BEST SUBSTITUTE: Your favorite chili paste, or leave it out if you don’t like spicy.
Can I Use Frozen Shrimp?
Most fish and seafood you buy at the fish counter was likely frozen and thawed out. And with advanced flash-freezing technology these days, a frozen bag of wild-caught shrimp may be better and taste more “fresh” than what you’ll find at the fish counter. So it’s fine to use frozen shrimp in this recipe. Just be sure to thaw it out properly first.
- READ MORE: Guide To Buying And Cooking Shrimp
How to Thaw Frozen Shrimp
You have two options to thaw shrimp:
- Put the frozen bag of shrimp into a bowl and leave it in the fridge overnight.
- Place the (sealed) bag of frozen shrimp in a bowl of water in your sink. Stir every 5 or so minutes to break up any ice. The shrimp should be thawed in about 20 minutes. Be sure to pat it dry thoroughly before cooking.
How to Make Cilantro Lime Shrimp
Cooking shrimp is easy–it takes less than 5 minutes. But the secret to juicy, flavorful shrimp is in the sauce, and this is a particularly good one. Here are the steps:
- Get ready. Preheat your oven to 400°F.
- Roast the garlic. Use a serrated knife to trim the top off the whole head of garlic (about ¼ to ½ inch from top), exposing the cloves but keeping the bunch intact. Set on a large sheet of foil, drizzle generously with olive oil, and close the foil to wrap. Roast in the heated oven for about 10 minutes or until slightly tender and fragrant, then remove from the oven and let cool briefly.
- Process the garlic. Once cool enough to handle, peel and crush or chop the roasted garlic as finely as possible.
- Prepare the sauce: In a small bowl, combine the roasted garlic, 1 cup chopped cilantro leaves, juice from 1 lime, 1 tablespoon dry white wine (optional), 3 to 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, and 2 tablespoons harissa. Whisk together and set aside.
- Cook the shrimp: Heat a grill, indoor griddle, or cast iron skillet over high heat. Pat 1 1/2 pounds of peeled and deveined shrimp dry and season with salt and pepper, drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil and toss. Arrange on the preheated surface and cook for about 2 minutes per side, or until the shrimp turns just pink. Even the largest shrimp will be ready within about 5 minutes, so be careful not to overcook it.
- Finish and serve. Immediately toss in the delicious sauce. Serve the cilantro lime shrimp immediately.
Ways to Mix it Up
The beauty of this cilantro lime shrimp recipe is that it can actually go with just about any sauce you like! Try tossing the shrimp in homemade Fresh Basil Pesto or 5-Minute Chermoula for something herby. If you want a more citrusy sauce, go for Ladolemono, aka a Greek salad dressing you’ll want to put on everything!
What to Serve with Cilantro Lime Shrimp
This cilantro lime shrimp recipe makes a mean appetizer for a crowd, on its own with toothpicks and a bowl of extra sauce on the side for dipping.
For a full dinner, serve over Greek Lemon Rice or Couscous, or double the sauce and toss with a pound of cooked spaghetti or orzo. Or, for shrimp tacos with a Mediterranean twist, borrow the slaw and serving suggestions from my Salmon Tacos recipe.
You can also skip the starch and serve this easy shrimp recipe with something green like Grilled Zucchini or Lemon Broccoli.
More shrimp recipes to try
Fish and Seafood
Easy Mediterranean Shrimp Kabobs
Mediterranean Diet Recipes
Mediterranean Shrimp Soup
Fish and Seafood
10-Minute Shrimp Lettuce Wraps Recipe
Browse all Mediterranean recipes.
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Try our Harissa Paste!
Slightly sweet, smoky, and tangy with just the right amount of spice. The perfect addition to your Cilantro Lime Shrimp.
Cilantro Lime Shrimp
Ingredients
- 1 small head garlic
- 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1 tablespoon dry white wine (optional), or substitute with more lime juice
- 3 to 4 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus more for coating the shrimp
- 2 tablespoon harissa (or your favorite chili paste)
- 1 1/2 pounds peeled and deveined large shrimp (pre-peeled thawed frozen shrimp work well)
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
Instructions
- Get ready. Preheat your oven to 400°F.
- Roast the garlic. Use a serrated knife to trim the top off the whole head of garlic, exposing the cloves but keeping the bunch intact. Set on a large sheet of foil, drizzle generously with olive oil, and close the foil to wrap. Roast in the heated oven for about 10 minutes or until slightly tender and fragrant, then remove from the oven and let cool briefly.
- Process the garlic. Once cool enough to handle, peel and crush or chop the roasted garlic as finely as possible.
- Make the sauce: In a small bowl, combine the roasted garlic, cilantro, lime juice, white wine, extra virgin olive oil and harissa. Whisk together and set aside.
- Cook the shrimp: Heat a cast iron skillet, grill, or indoor griddle over high heat. Pat shrimp dry and season with salt and pepper, drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil and toss. Arrange on the preheated surface and cook for about 2 minutes per side, or until the shrimp turns just pink. Even the largest shrimp will be ready within about 5 minutes, so be careful not to overcook it.
- Finish and serve. Immediately toss the grilled shrimp in the delicious roasted garlic sauce and serve immediately.
Video
Notes
- Shop this recipe: Visit our shop to browse quality Mediterranean ingredients including the olive oil and harissa paste used in this recipe.
- To get ahead, roast the garlic ahead of time and keep it in the fridge. See this tutorial for how to roast garlic. You can also use store-bought roasted garlic in this recipe, if you must.
- You can cook the shrimp on a sheet pan if you prefer. Leave the oven at 400°F, toss the shrimp with about 1/4 cup of olive oil, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of pepper. Spread on a sheet pan and roast for 6 to 9 minutes.
Nutrition
*This post first appeared on The Mediterranean Dish in 2015 and has been recently updated with new information and for readers’ benefit.
Hello Suzy,
We had some leftover savory mushroom steel cut oats risotto and were looking for a prawn recipe to compliment it. It didn’t take long to find your recipe; we typed ‘prawn recipe’ into the search engine and then looked at the photos… yours was the clear favourite.
We made the dish last night and absolutely loved it. We’re going to have the leftovers on pasta tonight and think it would be perfect on homemade pizza too. Thanks so much for posting.
My family loved this. I served it with rice that I seasoned with lemon and terregon and made it a meal. We will be roasting garlic more often in our home. 🙂
Awesome, Anne! Thanks so much for sharing. I am glad to hear you all enjoyed this. XOXO
Hi Suzy, I really wanna try my hands at this recipe! It looks so easy and yum! But where I stay, I cannot find dry white wine, cud u please suggest an alternative for it!!:) Thank u;)
Hello, Zahra! Thank you so much for your question. I have been away from my office and just now am able to connect my laptop, sorry for the delay. Yes, you can eliminate the wine here, and I would simply adjust the lime juice and olive oil to your liking to compensate for the missing 1 tbsp wine. Or, you can use 1/2 tsp mild vinegar such as white wine vinegar and adjust from there. Enjoy!
Hola, mi sugerencia para sustituir el vino blanco, sería agregar una cucharada adicional de jugo fresco de limón y una cucharada de miel de abejas
Hello, my suggestion to replace the white wine, would add a spoonful of additional fresh lemon juice and a tablespoon of honey bee
Hello David! Yes, your idea to sub the white wine for more lemon juice and a little honey would completely work here! thanks for sharing!
This was SO good. My husband couldn’t stop commenting on it. And thank you for posting a link to the chili sauce you used. I was thinking of using a Cajun hot sauce but the quantity had me concerned. Clicked on the link and realized that I had the same sauce you recommended in the fridge. My husband also suggested that I use your sauce recipe with scallops. We served this tonight with barley (cooked with Rotel tomatoes and cheddar cheese) and a caesar salad.
Carol, thank you so much for taking the time to share! The sauce would be great on scallops as well…Good idea!
It looks so good!!!
The recipe looks simple enough, but there are so many types of hot sauce, what do you recommend???
Hi Sylvia, you really can’t go too wrong with hot sauce. Just be sure it’s a chili sauce that is not sweet like this one for example http://amzn.to/1V7yMoO
This was really flavorful, easy to make, and light (so you don’t feel terrible after eating it!) I added chicken with the shrimp and almost liked the chicken better since is soaked up more flavor. I love anything with cilantro!
Wonderful to hear! I like that you added chicken…I’ll have to try that sometime! Hope you find more recipes to try.
Love baking with little foil packets and especially with salmon. Copper River Salmon goes pretty quick as it’s season is gone before you can blink, but Costco usually carries it. This looks sensational. Thanks!
Jacquline, thanks for stopping in! Isn’t cooking salmon in foil so easy. If you try my salmon baked in foil, let me know how you like it!
Our new favorite dish!! The sauce is amazing and so easy!! Do you happen to post the nutiritional information anywhere?
Jennifer, so glad to hear you liked this shrimp recipe! It’s a favorite of mine as well. At this point, I do not list the nutritional information, but there are some great apps out there to help you with that. This is a fairly light recipe though 🙂
We are going to make this on the grill this weekend! So excited to finally try this recipe!! Also serving steak with a sweet & spicy hoisin sauce. I’m lost for a side though??!!! Any help? Plain white rice? Couscous? Orzo??
This would be perfect on the grill, Jacqui! I typcially do a plain white rice or couscous with a salad like fattoush https://www.themediterraneandish.com/fattoush-salad/. And actually, here is a like for an Israeli Couscous recipe that doubles as side or salad https://www.themediterraneandish.com/israeli-couscous-recipe/
Hope you enjoy it all!
I made this for a Memorial 6 couse luncheon this last May> It is fantastic and I will add this recipe to my collection. I’m going to make it again, but cooked over an open fire when I go camping. Thanks for sharing.
David, I am so glad to hear this! And I love your idea of cooking the shrimp over an open fire when camping! Brilliant!!! Have a great weekend.
Made this for Valentine’s Day and now it is our go-to meal for special occasions and/or impressing guests. Love this recipe! Thank you!
Jennifer, that is so great to hear!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to share. I hope you find other fun recipes here.
Made this recipe this week – FANTASTIC!!! Loved the sauce – perfect combination of citrus, garlic and heat!!! I grilled the shrimp on skewers on the grill, then brushed the shrimp with the sauce while still warm. Served with a kale/shaved brussel sprout/quinoa/feta cheese salad – perfect compliment, and especially delicious on a warm Summer night! Thank you!!!
Jan, this is great to hear! Thank you so much for sharing. I love your take ont his recipe and the kale and shaved brussel sprouts quinoa salad sounds wonderful! Hope you find other inspiring recipes here.
It is very tempting. I don’t have wine; any substitute?
Hi there! Since the wine is minimal, try compensating with a little more lime juice + olive oil to your taste.
This recipe sounds fantastic. Do you think it would work if I made the sauce a few days ahead of when I plan to have the meal. We are going camping and I’m thinking if I make the sauce before I leave it will make things a lot easier.
Hi Patty! Glad you like the grilled shrimp recipe. I have not tried making the sauce too far in advance. I imagine it would be okay up to two days in advance. You could also prep everything in advance and put it together, then add the cilantro last minute. Hope this helps.
Really good! My husband claims it’s the best recipe I’ve ever made, which is a huge compliment since I cook a lot. He’s been telling everyone about it. Thank you!!
Jeannette, that is so great to hear! Thank you to you (and your husband) for the kind encouragement. I hope you will try more of my recipes soon! Thanks for taking the time to share.
Divine dish! Served it with warm tortillas and spinach avocado salad.
Thank you so much, Lisette! It’s great to hear feedback on my recipes. What a great idea to serve this shrimp with torillas and your spinach avocado salad! A healthy and tasty meal all around!