Meet your new favorite easy weeknight dinner: Baked Coconut Shrimp Recipe with Spicy Apricot Dipping Sauce. A little bit sweet. A little bit spicy. A whole lot of delicious.
Baked Coconut Shrimp Recipe with Spicy Apricot Dipping Sauce
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I don't know why, but for some reason I associate coconut shrimp with summer. So random, right? It's not like this recipe is grilled, or picnic-y or anything. I think it's just that it tastes so light and fresh to me.
When I was creating this recipe, I knew that I wanted it to be a little different from the usual baked coconut shrimp recipes out there. I don't tend to favor sweeter foods, but I wanted these to have a slightly sweeter edge and a very coconut-y flavor. I also wanted a dipping sauce with a nice kick to it. Because sweet and spicy is always a tasty combo.
So while I never really jumped on the Sriracha wagon when it got super popular a few years ago, I still keep it around and use it here and there. And the idea of mixing apricot preserves with Sriracha and a few other flavors seemed like the perfect coconut shrimp sauce.
Tips for how to make coconut shrimp:
- Thawing the shrimp- I always encourage you to get fresh shrimp whenever possible. But if you live in a land-locked place like I do, or don't want to have to use it right away, frozen shrimp is fine (imagine me saying that in my best Ina Garten voice). I usually put it in my fridge the night before, or if you're pressed for time, submerge the shrimp in a bowl of cold water.
- Marinating the shrimp- Seafood doesn't have to marinate for long. I usually cover the shrimp in the coconut milk and Sriracha mixture and then go about prepping the rest of the components for the recipe (shake the coconut milk really well to mix the cream in- worst case, stir it with a fork or whisk first).
- Breading the shrimp- First let me say, you'll want to gently tap the excess coconut marinade off of each piece of shrimp before adding it to the coconut mixture so that it doesn't get clumpy from all the extra marinade that drips off the shrimp. Also, I cover each piece of shrimp with the coconut mixture and very gently sort of press it onto the shrimp to adhere it. Then a pul it up and give it a really light shake to get and excess coconut mixture off before placing it onto the pan. Pressing the mixture onto the shrimp will become more and more necessary as you keep breading it because inevitably, some of the marinade will come off into the coconut mixture. You could potentially combat this by separating the coconut mixture into two bowls, but I was too lazy.
- Line your pan- Although these come out deliciously light and crispy, the coconut coating is delicate. For this reason I strongly encourage you to line your pan with a Silpat or parchment paper to prevent losing any of that delicious coating to sticking.
- Watch the shrimp toward the end of cooking time- I left the cooking time as a range to account for different ovens and their intricacies. I'd keep an eye on the shrimp starting around 15 minutes to keep them from getting too dark. Mine looked great at about 18 minutes but every oven is different.
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Baked Coconut Shrimp Recipe with Spicy Apricot Dipping Sauce
Ingredients
Coconut Shrimp:
- 1 pound large shrimp, peeled, deveined and thawed (I got shrimp with the tails removed but that's optional)
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha
- 1 cup Panko bread crumbs
- 1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
- ¾ teaspoon garlic salt
- ½ teaspoon chili pwoder
Spicy Apricot Dipping Sauce
- ¼ cup apricot preserves
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha
- 1 ½ teaspoons water
- ½ teaspoon rice vinegar
Instructions
Coconut Shrimp:
- In a large bowl stir together coconut milk and Sriracha until well combined. Place submerge shrimp in this mixture and set aside to marinate while you prepare the other components of this recipe.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line couple sheet pans with a silpat or parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium bowl mix together Panko bread crumbs, coconut flakes, garlic salt and chili powder until well combined.
- Take each piece of shrimp one-by-one and lightly tap off the excess. Place it into the bowl with the coconut mixture and cover it with the mixture, pressing gently to help adhere the mixture to the shrimp.
- Very lightly tap off the excess coconut mixture and line the shrimp up in three rows onto your pans so that they aren't touching.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes (start watching around 15 minutes so that they don't get too dark).
- Serve immediately with Spicy Apricot Dipping Sauce.
Spicy Apricot Dipping Sauce:
- Combine apricot preserves, Sriracha, garlic salt, water and rice vinegar in a small, microwave safe bowl.
- Microwave for 30 seconds to heat.
- Mix well until fully combine and serve immediately with coconut shrimp.
Notes
If you tried this recipe please comment and rate it 🙂 I love hearing your feedback and answering your questions!
Looking for some other great shrimp recipes?
- Very Best Shrimp Macaroni Salad
- Sweet and Spicy Shrimp and Snow Peas Stir Fry
- 10 Minute Shrimp Salsa
- Peas and Shrimp Salad
- Shrimp with Pesto and Prosciutto
You can find a full index of my recipes here.
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Baxter@Foodtalko says
Jessy Freimann says
Patricia Gianni says
Jessy Freimann says