Firecracker Grilled Shrimp

5 from 3 votes

Firecracker Grilled Shrimp are spicy, garlicky and a little zesty from the lime. Perfect as an appetizer or a less than 30-minute dinner or on top of a crisp salad.

Prep Time15

Cook Time5

Total Time20

Course: Appetizers/ Snacks

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 181kcal

Author: HWC Magazine

Ingredients

Bamboo grilling sticks
1 pound shrimp
large (16 to 20 count) peeled and deveined
2 tablespoon Sriracha Sauce
hot chili sauce (adjust amount to your liking- this version is HOT so adjust as needed)
2 tablespoon olive oil
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoon sugar
or low glycemic sugar alternative
4 cloves garlic
chopped
Lime slices sliced - optional
cilantro chopped - optional

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Place bamboo grilling sticks in water and soak submerged for at least 30 minutes (This step helps prevent the wood from burning) If you have a grilling basket, you can skip this step.
Prepare your grill. Preheat to 350 -450 degrees F.
Get the grilling chef a nice cold drink for one hand and get the tongs ready for the other.
Peel and devein shrimp. You can leave the tail on or off, depending on your preference.
Add shrimp, sriracha sauce, olive oil, salt, pepper, sugar or sugar alternative and garlic in a bowl. Toss well. Marinate for at least 15 minutes or up to 1 hour. We marinated at room temperature so that the shrimp were ready for grill and will heat evenly. (If you need to hold the shrimp longer than 30 minutes, pop them in the refrigerator)
Skewer shrimp onto bamboo stick and place approximately 3-5 shrimp on each stick depending on size of shrimp and bamboo stick. (Pierce head and bottom of shrimp on stick so the shrimp lays flat for grilling)
Prepare the grill for cooking and set grill to 350 to 450 degrees F (176 C to 232 C). (If you do not have a grill you can use an indoor grill pan to get those nice little grill marks on the shrimp)
Lay the firecracker shrimp skewers on the grill and cook for about 2- 3 minutes on each side until shrimp are opaque, slightly white inside and have nice grill marks. They should no longer be translucent.
Garnish with a fresh squeeze of lime juice, lime slices and chopped cilantro, if desired. Invite your guests and family to join you to watch the sunset or to enjoy the last half of the football game. Firecracker Grilled Shrimp are delicious served with a chilled glass of Riesling or a Sauvignon Blanc.

Notes

If you plan to skewer your shrimp, soak your bamboo sticks in water for water for at least 30 minutes. This prevents the bamboo sticks from burning while grilling. If you have one of those cool grilling baskets that keep small food items from falling in the grill, you can just clean and prep your grill and grilling basket and skip using the bamboo sticks. You are good to go.

Do not use precooked shrimp for this recipe or otherwise it will be tough and rubbery and no wants a tough and rubbery shrimp. The effect you are going for is crunchy and juicy. Allow your shrimp to marinate for about 15 minutes in the delicious spicy sriracha garlic sauce. Maximum up to one hour. Feel free to use another chili sauce of choice if you do not have sriracha sauce.

You will have to adjust to your heat level. If you like things mildly spicy use only 1 tablespoon sriracha sauce. We used 2 tablespoons of sriracha, and it was quite spicy. Our fresh garlic cloves were huge, so we used only 2 cloves. You can adjust between 2-4 cloves depending on how large your garlic cloves are. We used coconut sugar as our sweetener, or you can use a sugar free alternative if diabetic. You can decrease down to 1 teaspoon, if you wish but this is a nice balance between the spicy, sweet, savory and sour, if using 2 tablespoons of sriracha sauce.

Do not overcook your shrimp. If you overcook your shrimp, they will be super white on the inside and no longer crunchy but rubbery. Perfectly cooked shrimp with look like the letter “C”. Whereas, over cooked shrimp will look the letter “O”. C = Cooked O = Overcooked.

Nutrition