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.
I have leftover chilled shrimp. Would this work as a cold appetizer?
Hi, Bonnie! I have never tried that, but I don’t see why not!
I have never left a review on any recipe so you are the first. Finally found the chili paste today so I finally got to make this. All I can say is OMGoodness. It is amazing. Followed your recipe to the letter, made double and tossed with pasta. Already looking forward to leftovers tomorrow.
Wonderful!! Thanks so much, Saundra!
I made this tonight and my family LOVED it! By far the best tasting shrimp recipe I’ve tried so far.
I made some Linguine noodles with a little olive oil, pesto, sundried tomatoes and capers also. Then added a Olive Garden copy cat salad with dressing. If I could give you more stars, I would.
Sounds like a wonderful meal, Shelli!!
Excellent dish. My teenager devoured it. The sauce is unreal.
That’s wonderful to hear! Thanks, Dara!
Do you think I could use cilantro stir in paste?
You can give it a try, Chantelle. I have not personally used it. Please let us know if it works out.
Hi, how much pasta do you recommend using?
Hi, Nina! There’s no exact amount, here. I usually just use a box of what I have on hand to feed my family of 4.
Made this last night for dinner and it was a hit! This will be added to our dinner rotation!
Do you warm the sauce if used over pasta?
If you make a little extra sauce to toss in pasta, you can warm it up a bit before tossing. I personally don’t. I rely on the hot pasta to absorb the sauce.
Hello,
I love your recipes, and we are just working through a number of them that we find appealing, and this is one of them. I have to question your nutritional information on this one though. How on earth could this amount to that many calories per serving? The only high calorie ingredient is olive oil and there isn’t that much of it, not per serving. Could this be a mistake?
Hi Suzy,
Can I substitute something else for the white wine?
You can omit the white wine 🙂
dont like cilantro what can i use to replace it
You can use basil, Mike.
I had to substitute parsley for cilantro and it came out great! I had the chili paste but I chose to use Truff extra hot sauce instead. One of the best dishes I’ve had in awhile! (COVID shut down but still makes me not miss the restaurants!)
Thank you, Stephanie!
Hi I made this tonight exactly as written with pasta. It was so good. Thanks so much for the recipe. The whole family loved it. I have made a few of your other recipes and they were great. With much love from an American living in Switzerland.
So glad to hear it, Heidi! Thank you so much.
I have made this twice. I followed the directions exactly the first time. Second time I made it I put the shrimp in the sauce and marinated them for a couple of hours. That made it easier for me to serve to my guests having it all combined beforehand. Both times I served it on whole wheat spaghetti using a little of the pasta water to add to the sauce. It is very flavorful and makes a good scampi style dish.
Thanks so much for sharing, Hailey! So glad
Can i use tomato paste instead of chili paste?
Hi Anna. Not quite the same thing here. Chili paste is used here mainly for the kick of spice it provides. Tomato paste is far thicker and is not what we’re looking for here. You can use dry chili flakes though.
Can I use Sriracha for the chili paste. Want to make tonight. Looks amazing!
That could work, Leslie!
I was wondering if I could make this on the stovetop since I don’t have access to an outdoor grill. Thanks
Sure, Catherine. An indoor griddle or skillet is a great option for this recipe 🙂