Spicy pan grilled shrimp tacos loaded with a zest honey cilantro lime slaw and topped with a creamy sriracha sauce. These tacos are spicy, sweet, zesty and bursting with flavor! Shrimp tacos have become a weeknight favorite. They’re super quick and easy to make, present very well and will make you look like a pro!
This recipe is inspired by my popular spicy shrimp and avocado salsa tacos. Instead of an avocado salad, we’re switching things up by using a honey cilantro lime slaw and topping the tacos off with a creamy sriracha sauce. The spice from the shrimp paired with the crunch and sweet hint of honey from the slaw and the creamy sriracha sauce will make your mouth sing. The combo is a perfect combo of sweet, zesty, crunchy, spicy and creamy!! I had 3 tacos shooting this recipe and had to hold myself back from eating more! It all starts with fresh OR frozen shrimp. Lately, we’ve been using frozen shrimp a lot because it’s so handy and makes a great quick meal. If you are using frozen shrimp, run it through cold water for a few seconds to defrost it. You will need to devein the shrimp and remove the shell and tails if they have not been removed.
Next, place the shrimp in a large bowl or ziplock bag and combine with the spices below and oil of choice. There is no marinating needed for this recipe but you can place the shrimp in the fridge for up to 2 days if you’d like. The longer the shrimp sit in the spices the better. When you are ready to cook, simply place add the shrimp to a super hot grill pan and cook for just 1-2 minutes per side. If the shrimp begin to stick to the pan or if you’re not using a non-stick pan, add a teaspoon of oil to the pan.
Now all that’s left is to combine all the ingredients for the slaw and make the creamy sriracha sauce. The slaw can be made ahead of time and is good for up to 24 hours in the fridge.
For the sriracha sauce, you can use ranch, sour-cream or greek yogurt. We honestly like the ranch flavor best but a combo of ranch and sour-cream or yogurt is also delicious.
Watch Video How to Make the Tacos Now!
Spicy Shrimp Tacos with Cilantro Slaw and Sriracha Sauce
Ingredients
- 20 medium shrimp peeled and deveined
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon onion or garlic powder , optional
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, optional
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Cilantro Lime Slaw
- 2 cups cabbage shredded
- 1/4 cup red onion , thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup cilantro, minced
- 1/2 jalapeno, seeded , optional
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- salt and pepper, to taste
Creamy Sriracha sauce
- 1/4 cup ranch dressing, or sour-cream or greek Yogurt
- 1 tablespoon Sriracha
- 6 small corn or flour tortillas
Instructions
To cook the Shrimp:
- Combine shrimp, oil, and spices in a medium bowl or ziplock bag. Use right away OR cover and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes or up to 48 hours. Heat a large heavy-duty or cast iron skillet on high heat for 2 minutes. Add a teaspoon of oil to the pan and shrimp. Cook shrimp until pink and cooked through, about 4-5 minutes.
To make the Slaw
- Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl until mixed through. Use right away or cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
To make creamy Sriracha Sauce
- Whisk sriracha and ranch or sour-cream or mayo in a small bowl. Taste and add more sriracha if desired.
To assemble:
- Grill tortillas on the stovetop over the flame until lightly charred (this step is optional). Top each tortilla with 4-5 pieces of shrimp and some slaw. Drizzle with sriracha sauce. Serve with lime wedges on the side. Enjoy!!
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This was so fabulous! Marinated the shrimp the night before and the flavors were so yummy! Used a whole bag of colossal shrimp and after cooking them, cut them up into smaller pieces for the tacos. Next time will definitely make twice the amount of the slaw. Will make this a standard meal โ it was easy to prepare, cook and reminded us of our favorite taco dive bar in Cozumel. Wouldnโt change a thing on the recipeโฆ.
Made last night the marinade for shrimp or fish was good but the cilantro was NOT good, I donโt advice for it too be wet we preferred it dry and with white onions not purple. Corn tortillas should be fried not plain makes big difference.
Fantastic go to! Super quick and easy!
This recipe and the instructions are confusing – the recipe calls for 20 shrimp, bu then says to put 4-5 shrimp per tortilla, and there are 6 tortillas called for – so that’s 24 – 30 shrimp, not 20. And, it says it serves 4, but with 6 tortillas. The math is super inconsistent. I wish I had read through the recipe more before I pulled 20 shrimp out the the freezer. . .
I made this tonight, and it was amazing! My hubby gives it a five star rating and asked me to make it again. Thatโs the highest praise!
Soooo good! Itโs a keeper. Thank you for sharing!
Iโd like to know the nutritional values, Carbs, calories, fat and sugars please
I asked for the same thing. Hopefully they will get back to us.
Lisa, I wanted to know the same thing. I found a similar recipe with these nutritional values.
Calories 320; Total Fat 20g; Cholesterol 50mg; Carbs 29g; Fiber 4g; Sugar 7g; Sodium 600mg; Protein 9g.
Hope this helps.