Smoked Shrimp

Flavorful Smoked Shrimp are easy to make, absolutely delicious, and versatile in how you want to serve them. Shrimp on the smoker makes a great protein for a summer salad, serve them over pasta, put them in a taco, or just eat them off the skewer, these will be some of the best shrimp you have ever had.

Many people in our family really enjoy seafood, kids included. We enjoy seafood for dinner once or twice a month. It is a nice change from eating chicken, pork, and beef all the other nights of the month.

Trying different types of seafood on the smoker has been a treat lately. 

If you don't feel like smoking today, you can always check out Butter Poached Shrimp, but if you are looking to fire up that smoker today, keep reading.

Ingredients for Smoked Shrimp

Shrimp - I like to smoke jumbo shrimps. It will give you the most time on the smoker without overcooking them. Jumbo shrimp come in about 20 shrimp in a pound. I recommend at least six shrimp per serving, although I can put a ton of these away.

Seasoning - For this smoke, you don't need to complicate it. Salt and pepper would be just fine. Smoked paprika is my favorite, so I will add a little smoked paprika and salt to give these shrimp a little kick. You could also do garlic butter and salt for a nice taste. If you like a lemon pepper flavor with seafood, try using salt, lemon juice, and black pepper to season the shrimp.

Olive oil - Drizzling the shrimp with olive oil will allow the seasoning to adhere, it also ensures your shrimp don't stick to the grill grates.

Instructions for Smoked Shrimp Recipe

Step One: It is important to start with the raw, shell-off, dry shrimp. If you buy frozen shrimp, you will need to thaw them. You can place them in a bowl of water for 30 minutes or put them in the refrigerator for 12 hours. However, you must then make sure they are dry.

Draining the shrimp and then place them on a paper towel and pat them dry with another paper towel. I also recommend removing the shell. Personally, I don't like having to peel my shrimp as I try to eat.

I do leave the tail on, I think it looks nice, it also gives you a handle if you are eating these by hand. Also, make sure that you devein them. No one wants any of that in their food.

Step Two: Place the peeled, deveined, thawed, dry shrimp in a large bowl. Drizzle them with olive oil and then dust them with seasoning. Mix them in the bowl to ensure they are all coated evenly.

Next, you will slide them onto skewers. I like to skewer shrimp. This allows them to easily stay on top of the grill grate and lessens the chance of losing any shrimp into the abyss of the smoker.

Expert Tip: I like using flat skewers. It makes it easy to turn and move the food on the grill. Sometimes with round skewers, the food items will just spin around the skewer as you are trying to maneuver them.

Step Three: Place the shrimp onto the smoker rack in a preheated smoker. Smoke the shrimp skewers at 200°F for about one hour. Remove the shrimp when they are done and serve. the shrimp will be done with the flesh is no longer translucent.

Cooking at a low temperature can be challenging if you are using charcoal or stick burning smoke, you might have to close the vents a little more to get that low temp. The key is to smoke these with indirect heat, otherwise, they will be done in two minutes.

A Traeger grill or other pellet grill smoker allows you to easily set the temp at 200°F with full confidence.

How long do you smoke raw shrimp?

When you are smoking shrimp they can dry out very quickly. Shrimp are similar to lobster and scallops in the way that once the flesh is no longer translucent, it is done.

This happens when the shrimp's internal temperature reaches about 125°F. I don't find the need to internal temp my shrimp, but if you want to be on the safe side, you can use a thermometer to monitor the internal temp and pull them when they reach 125°F.

If they get over 130°F they will be overcooked with a chewy texture.

Common Questions

What flavor wood is best for smoked shrimp?

I like to use apple and cherry for smoking seafood. For this smoke, I used cherry pellets in my Traeger pellet smoker. You can also use a blend of different flavors of wood chips or pellets if there is a particular profile you want to try. Remember, if you are using a charcoal smoker and you add too many woodchips, you will get a temperature spike and this cook will be over very quickly.

How to serve Smoked Shrimp?

I like eating smoked shrimp skewers as they are.  A sweet or spicy dipping sauce can go very well with the smoked shrimp as a deliciously simple appetizer. I used our cajun seasoning dip to enjoy these shrimp. They are also great with just a drizzle of melted butter.

Serve the shrimp with rice, pasta, or salad for an easy protein to a simple main dish.

How to use leftover shrimp?

Our favorite way to use leftover shrimp is to chop it up and replace the salmon in these Crispy Salmon Bites with shrimp.

You can also replace the salmon in our Salmon Ball with shrimp to make a shrimp ball or shrimp dip. To make a dip just spread the mixture in a pie plate instead of forming it into a ball.

They are also great incorporated into Grilled Salmon Stuffed with Shrimp.

 

 

Check out some of our other Smoked Seafood Recipes

Smoked Salmon - This is a hot, smoked, cooked salmon recipe. Not cold smoked lox. It is moist, flavorful, and our favorite way to cook salmon!

Smoked Cod - Smoking this basic type of fish really brings it to a different level.

Smoked Oysters - This recipe will make you feel like you are in a swanky bar ordering off rounds of tapas.

Smoked Trout - If you enjoy fishing take a look at this. I caught and smoked my own trout. The best fresh fish ever.