Spicy Shrimp with Cilantro Dipping Sauce – Shrimp is coated in a mixture of spices and grilled to perfection. Served alongside a tangy cilantro dipping sauce that will keep you wanting more
It’s getting super close to my due date for baby #2. We’ve been nesting hard-core for the last week and I have no signs of slowing down. Getting organized has never felt so good!
With all the extra time spent on getting this home ready for a new baby, I’m leaning into easy recipes as much as possible. Well, let’s face it…I’m always leaning into easy recipes with a rowdy toddler running around. But now, more than ever!
Today’s recipe is a family favorite – even my picky husband loves it! For years, I’ve been trying to get him to eat shrimp. It’s easy to prepare, versatile, and packed with protein. But he just never loved shrimp.
Until now.
Without further ado, I present to you my Spicy Shrimp with Cilantro Lime Dipping Sauce!
The easiest way to prepare shrimp
Shrimp has never been easy to prepare and yet so incredibly flavorful! The key is using dry spices, which takes the prep time (and cost!) down considerably. In addition, the shrimp are simply grilled or cooked in a skillet, which also is super low-maintenance.
To make these shrimp, all you need to do is to throw shrimp into a large bowl with the spices and olive oil, toss together, and then cook. Boom! That’s all there is to it!
Cilantro lime dipping sauce
To take these shrimp to a whole other level, they are served with a cilantro dipping sauce that is almost as easy to make as the shrimp but, if you can believe it, even more flavorful.
All the ingredients are simply thrown together into a food processor or blender and blended until smooth. The resulting sauce is creamy, but a little runny to make it perfect for just coating the shrimp without overwhelming it.
Tips & Tricks
- To ensure the shrimp gets a nice char on the outside, make sure to pat them as dry as possible and the grill/skillet temperature is at least medium-high.
- The recipe for the dipping sauce makes a little more than you need for the shrimp. I love using the leftovers for topping my other fish/chicken dishes or even throwing over some rice & beans.
Spicy Shrimp with Cilantro Dipping Sauce
Ingredients
For the shrimp:
- 1 pound extra large shrimp peeled and deveined
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne (ground black pepper if you want less heat)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1½ teaspoon cumin
- 1½ teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
For the cilantro dipping sauce:
- ⅔ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup water
- 3 cloves garlic
- ½ cup cilantro leaves
- ½ cup roughly chopped green onions
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Instructions
For the shrimp:
- Toss shrimp together with olive oil and spices. Grill or saute over medium-high heat until shrimp turn pink and curl up. Remove from heat and place on serving platter with a bowl of cilantro dipping sauce. Serve immediately.
For the cilantro dipping sauce:
- Add all ingredients to blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Give it a taste and adjust seasoning, if needed. Serve with cooked spicy shrimp.
Notes
Pin for later:
More recipes you’ll love:
Grilled Bang Bang Shrimp Skewers
Shrimp Scampi with Linguine
Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken Skewers
I am looking for a shrimp salad recipe and most of them have some sort of mayonnaise dressing. Your cilantro dipping sauce looks delish. Do you think I could substitute the cilantro dipping sauce as a dressing for my shrimp salad? I am thinking of adding a few other ingredients such as grilled corn, red onions, etc. Your thoughts?
Spicy shrimps with a dip sounds like something perfect for a snack! I’m sure my family will love it!
I made this for dinner tonight and it was absolutely delicious! I want to put that dipping sauce on everything! Thank you for a great recipe!
Ooh I’m all about that cilantro dip!! What a delicious and vibrant sauce. I’d love that over salads or on sandwiches too! Yum!!
Drooling over this. Shrimp and cilantro dipping sauce sounds fantastic. I will be making this dipping sauce soon. Yum!
This Spicy Shrimp is easy, delicious and amazing! The flavors are perfect. Congratulations on baby #2!
Wow, such mouth-watering images! That cilantro sauce looks amazing and I can imagine using it for so many dishes, not just shrimp. Hot weather is starting here and I can’t imagine a better recipe to add to my rotation. Thanks for sharing and congrats on the baby!
Followed your instructions exactly and you are so right. This is the easiest way to cook shrimp, they came out delicious and the dipping sauce was a revelation. My husband loves anything cilantro and devoured the sauce. I will be making this combination again. Thanks so much for posting this fab recipe.
Oh man….that cilantro dipping sauce was so delish. I’m making another batch today to use as salad dressing. I could easily dip anything into it and be super happy.
This shrimp made such a delicious appetizer! The spices were perfect, and that cilantro dipping sauce added such a nice fresh flavor. They were super easy too.
Whoa, this looks SO good! I am always looking for new seafood recipes to make for my husband and we both loves cilantro, so this is a winner!
Oh my gosh this Spicy Shrimp with Cilantro Dipping Sauce was one of the best shrimp recipes that I have tasted in forever. I couldn’t get enough of it! The flavor was perfect. Spicy but not too hot! Everyone loved this recipe for Spicy Shrimp and I gave several your recipe link so they could print it.
Will definetely try the cilandro dipping sauce, looks delicious x
This looks absolutely wonderful. I love cilantro dipping sauce. I cannot have shrimp but I bet I could use an alternative!
The cilantro sauce and shrimp compliment each other perfectly – will be making again!
This dipping sauce is so flavorful. It adds such freshness to the spiced shrimp!
Yasss this looks so amazing! I love shrimp like this as garnish for my bloody mary!
Such fantastic flavors here. We are shrimp lovers so will be doubling the shrimp for my crew.
Looks so delicious! We like to put cilantro in out seafood dipping sauce too but it’s never the main ingredient. This is interesting and new to me 🙂
Congrats about your baby! This looks delicious – I love the lime and cilantro combo.
This looks super yummy and congrats on Baby number 2!