Shrimp Ceviche Tostadas – Poached shrimp tossed with a citrus vinaigrette, cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions and placed on top of homemade tostada shells.
Cinco de Mayo is tomorrow and let’s face it – it’s just not going to be the same. We’re all going to be enjoying our Mexican treats from home this year, whether you order takeout from your favorite local spot or make a feast of your own.
If you choose to make your own feast, I’ve got just the meal to change things up – tostadas. Think of them as open-faced hard tacos. But instead of topping with refried beans and ground beef, I’m going in a more refreshing direction.
Say hello to my Shrimp Ceviche Tostadas!
What is ceviche?
Ceviche is a seafood dish that contains fish or shellfish and is served cold and contains diced veggies and/or fruits. It’s super refreshing and perfect to enjoy during the hot, summer months. Traditionally, making ceviche involves poaching the fish in a cold, acidic marinade that will cook the fish.
However, this process is best when you have access to good-quality fish that is not likely to have bacteria – the acidic marinade will cook the fish but it is not guaranteed to kill all bacteria that may be present in the fish. Therefore, I am choosing to poach my shellfish in hot, boiling water to make it safe to eat and then marinade in the citrus liquid in the refrigerator.
How is this ceviche made?
As I said above, this ceviche will start with us poaching the shrimp in boiling water for a couple minutes, just until the shrimp is cooked. To prevent the shrimp from getting tough and overcooked, the shrimp is then immediately cooled in an ice bath.
Next, we chop up the shrimp into bite-sized pieces and add it to chopped jalapeno, red onion, and a mixture of fresh lime and orange juice. This mixture is refrigerated for 1 hour to let the shrimp absorb all the flavors.
Finally, the ceviche is finished off by adding in the last of the ingredients: diced cucumber, tomato, and fresh cilantro.
Assembling the tostadas
Once the ceviche is done, it’s ready to place on top of tostadas. I make my own tostadas to make them perfectly crispy – sometimes the storebought kind can be stale and boring. But they’ll work fine if you don’t want to make your own.
To make tostadas at home, you simply heat oil in a skillet and fry corn tortillas until golden brown. I like to flip mine frequently during frying to prevent bubbles from forming in the tortilla.
Once the shells come out of the oil, make sure to season them with salt and let them drain on paper towels.
When the tostadas are cooled, they’re ready for topping. I like to spread mine with a spicy mayo to hold the ceviche in place. The mayo is simple to make – just add hot sauce to the mayo and mix together.
Spread the mayo on the tostadas and top with the ceviche. And now they’re ready to eat!
Tips & Tricks
- Make sure the oil is hot before frying the corn tortillas. If it’s not hot enough, the tostadas will take too long to fry and will end up being oily and soggy.
- You’ll need to thoroughly drain the shrimp from the vinaigrette before topping the tostadas. Otherwise, the tostadas will get too soggy.
- This ceviche only keeps for a few days in the fridge so do not make too far in advance of serving time.
- This recipe makes large tostadas. But you can also make them miniature size for larger gatherings. Instead of frying your own large tostadas, you can use round corn tortilla chips as mini tostadas.
Shrimp Ceviche Tostadas
Ingredients
- 1 pound raw shrimp peeled
- 7 limes
- 1 orange
- ½ cup diced red onion
- 2 jalapenos minced
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 8 small corn tortillas
- 2 cups canola oil
- 1 cup diced cucumber
- 1 cup diced tomato
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- ¼ cup mayo
- 2 tablespoons hot sauce
- 1 avocado
Instructions
- Add water to a large pot with about 1 tablespoon of salt. Heat until boiling, then add the raw shrimp. Boil for 3 minutes or until pink and firm. Remove immediately from hot water and place into bowl of ice water to cool down quickly. Once cooled, drain the shrimp and pat down with paper towels. Remove tails and dice into bite-sized pieces. Place into large bowl.
- Juice limes and orange and place into bowl with shrimp. Add in diced red onion and jalapeno, along with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder. Stir together. Cover and place in refrigerator to marinate for 1 hour.
- While the shrimp marinates, make the tostadas. Add the canola oil to a heavy-bottomed skillet (such as a cast-iron skillet). Heat over medium-high heat until hot. Add one corn tortilla at a time and fry until browned on one side. Flip and then fry until other side has browned. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with a little salt. Repeat with the rest of the tortillas.
- Remove marinated shrimp from fridge and add diced cucumbers, diced tomatoes, and cilantro. Stir together. Give it a taste and add more salt, if necessary.
- To assemble the tostadas, first make the spicy mayo. Mix the mayo and hot sauce together in a small bowl. Spread about 1 teaspoon onto each tostada. Using a slotted spoon, scoop about 1/4 cup of ceviche onto the tostada, being careful not to get vinaigrette on the tostada. Slice the avocado and top each tostada with a slice. Serve tostadas immediately.
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More recipes you’ll love:
Grilled Bang Bang Shrimp Skewers
Shrimp Scampi
Shrimp & Grit Cake Bites
The avocado slice on top is the perfect finishing touch! Creamy, fresh, and balances the acidity beautifully.
Omg this looks so good!! And so do the shrimps on skewers you linked to. I haven’t had shrimp in time and was looking for a new recipe. I’ll try this this weekend.
Ahh I absolutely love ceviche and your recipe especially looks so refreshing. This will be perfect for hot summer months!
Toastadas are my absolute favorite! Serving toastadas with shrimp ceviche sounds absolutely fantastic! How delicious!
Wow, this Shrimp Ceviche Tostadas was amazing. I loved all the ingredients and textures coming together for one delish bite! This is a keeper recipe.
Oh I love this. What a lovely delicious looking bites. And flavors are amazing. SO easy to make too. I must make this for my family. Definitely saving.
These tostadas are actually very refreshing to eat while it’s warm out. Can’t wait to share this with my family!
I’m seriously drooling! That spicy mayo and crispy tostada are selling this dish! Never made ceviche myself, so excited to try it! Thanks!
Refreshing recipe with amazing combination of ingredients. I would love to try this soon. Yum!
These look like a great thing to pass out while laying around the pool this summer! Keeping this one!
Great weeknight dinner, super flavorful. I am going to try her bang bang shrimp skewers next!
I like this Shrimp Ceviche Tostadas it’s a wonderful and a winner recipe for me but since I have allergy with shrimps I let my husband eat this with shrimps and I’ll make mine without a shrimps on it. Thank you!
OMG what a brilliant recipe! I can never get enough Ceviche. Can’t wait to try!
Yum! This Shrimp Ceviche Tostadas looks really scrumptious and it makes me crave right now. I really love that you used citrus vinaigrette on this one.
Can’t wait to try this recipe, it sounds so refreshing and looks delicious! I’m sure my husband and kids will enjoy this!
I tasted a wonderful ceviche at a meeting one time and loved it ever since. Now, I can make my own. Thanks – this looks awesome.
First time making and eating shrimp ceviche. It’s so delicious and quite easy to prepare. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Absolutely delicious dish. All the amazing flavors combine for a burst of goodness in every single bite. This will be a repeat in our house for sure.
Tostadas have a fabulous topping. Great for parties !
I love ceviche, and this idea to put it on tostadas is genius! I can’t wait to try this recipe!
This is the perfect tostada recipe! Fresh and tasty with the shrimp 🙂
This looks tasty. My kids will love it since they are all about shrimp.
This recipe is easy and looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it at home!
I’ve never tried shrimp ceviche before but my husband LOVES it! I bet he would love these too.