This spicy shrimp tacos recipe with cream sauce is out of this world. Right now, it’s summertime, and this recipe is perfect for the season. I will throw this easy shrimp taco with cabbage slaw dish together, then head to the pool to eat dinner outside.
We could, of course, grill the shrimp outside, but today there will be a time crunch, so I’ll whip the recipe up in the kitchen and then head outside with Bae for a picnic. Yeah, we’re corny like that.
What Ingredients Will I Need for the Shrimp Taco Sauce?
Not many! And the best part of this dish is the sauce. I use a plastic dispensing bottle to get the sauce evenly distributed on the tacos. Also, it makes them more presentable. But you can just pour it on the shrimp tacos. Just get that sauce on those bad boys.
For the sauce:
- Mayonnaise
- Sour cream
- Lime juice
- Minced garlic
- Sriracha sauce
That’s it! But mixed together, it’s so good. I’m going to assemble 4 of them, but I’m guessing I’ll make some for lunch tomorrow, too. I make my sauce ahead of time during the day. I find it easier.
What size shrimp will I need for this recipe?
I used three large-sized shrimp for each taco. However, you can use medium-sized shrimp, too, and even jumbo shrimp would work as well.
The large shrimp, though, works perfectly, and topping them on the red cabbage, cilantro, cheese, bacon, and avocado will make your mouth water. Oh, and that delicious cilantro lime sauce is the chef’s kiss. It’s not really cilantro lime sauce since the cilantro is part of the spicy shrimp taco mixture, but it all mixes in together.
Garnish these bad boys with some lime wedges after topping them off with lime juice, and your tacos will impress your family and guests. And cilantro. A lot of fresh cilantro goes into these shrimp tacos. Delicious! Oh, and the bacon. That really adds a lot of flavor to this recipe.
Can I Make Substitutions?
You’re damn skippy. The great thing about this taco recipe is its versatility. And you can do add-ons like corn, for example. I love corn, so I’ve added it to this recipe quite a few times. This time, though, I didn’t have any corn in the kitchen, so no corn was added.
And that’s kind of weird since I usually have frozen corn in the fridge. However, I made some corn maque choux recently, so that’s what did me in.
Can I use chicken, shrimp, or pulled pork?
You can use chicken instead of shrimp or pulled pork. And you can even use beef for this taco recipe.
The avocado in this shrimp taco with cabbage recipe is everything. You can also make an avocado crema if you like to replace the crema sauce in this recipe. Avocado crema is always good.
For avocado crema, you’d just throw avocados, Greek yogurt/sour cream, some garlic powder, and lime juice in a blender until smooth, and you’re good to go. I’m a huge fan of the avocado.
What Can I Serve with These Spicy Shrimp Tacos?
You can serve avocado slices. They are always good, especially if you’re making an avocado crema. I usually whip up some refried beans and a salad. Mexican street corn is always good with tacos.
Since you’ll be placing the shrimp onto a bed of cabbage in your tacos, a salad isn’t really necessary. Plus, there’s the leafy cilantro in there, too. The cabbage slaw is filling, so you can serve these shrimp tacos on their own if you like. Just add some lime wedges for garnish and to drizzle on the shrimp tacos, crack some black pepper and salt to taste, and you’re good to go.
However, you can always make Mexican corn fritters or Mexican corn salad as sides, too.
About that cabbage
The roughness of the red cabbage goes well with the other ingredients, and it adds color to the shrimp tacos. You could, however, opt for lettuce instead of cabbage if you like. I personally like red cabbage, but lettuce is equally delicious to substitute in this recipe. I just like the color of the red cabbage for the presentation.
About the tortillas
I use the smaller-sized tortillas for this shrimp taco recipe. The tortillas that are eleventy bazillion inches long are just too difficult to eat and manage on your plate. I can only use two tortillas to make tacos for myself. This is a filling shrimp taco recipe.
What Makes This Recipe Special?
Well, I’m glad you asked that. OK, you didn’t really ask that. I asked that. The cilantro lime sauce is amazing. The sauce in the spicy shrimp taco sauce gives it a kick. You can tone that down if you don’t want that kick in your sauce.
You can also use avocado salsa for the spicy shrimp tacos, or avocado crema. Mango salsa would work well, too. I love mango salsa with spicy shrimp tacos. I use a corn tortilla to wrap in all of these flavors. The chili powder gives it a nice kick, and it contrasts well with the avocado.
I just slather the sauce across the top of the tacos, and it will make you want to add even more sauce. Taco Tuesday can be every night. In fact, it’s going to be Taco Tuesday tonight, and it’s not Tuesday. But I have to say that the leafy cilantro and the delicious sauce make this spicy shrimp taco recipe stand out from other recipes.
The fresh cabbage, garlic powder, lime wedges, chili powder, lime juice, cracked pepper and salt, the cilantro lime slaw, smoked paprika, and again, I’m going to brag about that sauce.
Will this shrimp taco recipe be too spicy for me? I’m not into spicy food.
It’s the sriracha sauce that gives this a spicy taste. And this recipe only calls for a tablespoon of sriracha. I’m from New Orleans, and I don’t like recipes that are too spicy. You can adjust this, too, if you want more or less of a kick.
Use one teaspoon if you want less, and throw the whole bottle of sriracha in if you want to feel pain. Please don’t do that. It was just a bad joke.
It’s called spicy shrimp, but it’s not hot spicy. And now I can say I love spicy shrimp even though the S word was something I typically avoided making or ordering at a restaurant. Spicy shrimp is good spicy, not hot spicy. I’m not being judgey!
Spicy shrimp tacos are one of my favorite things to make. You can use your imagination, and it’s a great summertime dish. You can use cayenne pepper if you want to give this dish some heat.
The cilantro for the spicy shrimp tacos really brings out a nice color, and, just to brag, I grew the cilantro on my lil’ balcony, so it doesn’t get fresher than that.
Frozen shrimp or fresh?
As for the shrimp, you can use frozen shrimp or fresh. It’s easier for me to get frozen shrimp. It all depends on where you’re located. There is nothing like cooked shrimp in a bed of avocado, bacon, and other goodies in a heated tortilla. There’s nothing like a tasty flour tortilla filled with delicious shrimp.
Let’s do this! I’m hongry, y’all.
Prep: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Total: 25 minutes
Serves: 4 (about 10 tacos)
Ingredients:
For the spicy shrimp taco sauce:
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon of lime juice
- 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon of Sriracha sauce, or to taste
For the shrimp:
- 1 lb shrimp (I used large-sized shrimp)
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- salt and pepper to taste
- .5 teaspoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
Ingredients to gather for your taco toppings:
- 5 slices of bacon, chopped
- 10 small corn tortillas (you can use hard taco shells if you like)
- 1/2 of a red cabbage, shredded
- 1 large avocado, pitted, peeled, and diced (you can use 2 small avocados if you can’t find large ones
- 1/2 red onion, diced
- 5 oz Cotija cheese (you can sub feta cheese or any type of white cheese)
- 1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped well
- 2 limes, cut into wedges
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees
- Chop bacon into 1/2″ pieces, then cook until fairly crispy. Set aside.
- Thaw out, pat dry, peel and devein shrimp, then place in a bowl. Add seasonings and garlic to the shrimp and stir.
- Heat a pan over medium-high heat, then add the olive oil. Add shrimp when the pan is warm, and cook for about 2 minutes per side or just until cooked through and pink in color.
- Set the shrimp aside on a platter.
- Wrap tortillas in foil and lightly toast them in the oven for about 10 minutes while preparing the other food.
- Slice the red cabbage, and dice up the avocado. Chop the red onion into strips, and chop the fresh cilantro.
- Add that to your working station, also known as your platter with the shrimp:)
- Remove heated tortillas from the oven.
- Build the tacos starting with the cabbage, avocado, onion, cilantro, and cheese, then add three shrimp for each taco. Now add some of the bacon pieces on top of each taco.
- Mix together all of the ingredients for the sauce ingredients and pour over the tacos. I use a squeeze dispenser, but it’s not necessary. I usually make the sauce ahead of time for no explainable reason. Add the lime wedges for garnish. Enjoy!
Spicy Shrimp Tacos with Bacon Slathered in a Creamy Sauce
Ingredients
- .5 cup sour cream
- .5 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce
- 1 pound shrimp large, peeled and deveined
- 2 gloves garlic minced
- salt and pepper to taste
- .5 teaspoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 5 slices bacon chopped
- 10 tortillas small
- .5 head cabbage red
- 1 avocado large, pitted, diced
- .5 onion red, sliced
- 5 ounces cheese Cotija
- .5 biunch cilantro fresh, chopped
- 2 limes cut in wedges
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees
- Chop bacon into 1/2" pieces, then cook until fairly crispy. Set aside.
- Thaw out, pat dry, peel and devein shrimp, then place in a bowl. Add seasonings and garlic to the shrimp and stir.
- Heat a pan over medium-high heat, then add the olive oil. Add shrimp when the pan is warm, and cook for about 2 minutes per side or just until cooked through and pink in color.
- Set the shrimp aside on a platter.
- Wrap tortillas in foil and lightly toast them in the oven for about 10 minutes while preparing the other food.
- Slice the red cabbage, and dice up the avocado. Chop the red onion into strips, and chop the fresh cilantro.
- Add that to your working station, also known as your platter with the shrimp:)
- Remove heated tortillas from the oven.
- Build the tacos starting with the cabbage, avocado, onion, cilantro, and cheese, then add three shrimp for each taco. Now add some of the bacon pieces on top of each taco.
- Mix together all of the ingredients for the sauce ingredients and pour over the tacos. I use a squeeze dispenser, but it's not necessary. I usually make the sauce ahead of time for no explainable reason. Add the lime wedges for garnish. Enjoy!
Nutrition
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