Saucy shrimp simmered in creamy coconut milk sauce with fresh garlic, ginger, pepper flakes, and lime juice. It’s perfect over cooked rice and ready in only 30 minutes!
Just like our popular Coconut Milk Chicken with Cilantro Lime, this recipe will leave you craving more.
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Coconut Milk Shrimp
Super easy, made all in one pan, and packs tons of flavor! This coconut milk shrimp is so delicious and quick to make, you could literally have this on your dinner table in no time at all.
The shrimp are quickly marinated in honey, garlic, ginger, and red chili flakes and then simmered in creamy coconut milk that’s flavored with delicious aromatics such as shallots, scallions, and fresh lime juice.
This one-pan meal is creamy and rich with the best spicy-sweet coconut flavor.
What Goes with Coconut Shrimp?
Coconut milk shrimp serves amazing over Pineapple Rice or Cilantro Lime Coconut Rice. You can make it a complete meal with these side dishes:
- Creamy light Cucumber Salad
- Try switching up the rice for Cauliflower Mash
- These Roasted Garlic Green Beans
- Something to dip into the sauce, such as Cheese Bread or naan bread
Ingredients for Coconut Milk Shrimp
Here’s what you’ll need to make coconut milk shrimp recipe:
- Shrimp: large, raw, deshelled, and deveined. If using frozen shrimp, thaw out completely and drain really well. Also, pat dry with a few sheets of paper towel to remove excess moisture.
- Olive oil: or avocado oil for the marinade.
- Honey: to balance out the spiciness. Do not omit.
- Aromatics: garlic, fresh ginger, shallot, and scallions.
- Spices: red chili flakes and kosher salt.
- Butter: for cooking the shrimp and aromatics. Just a little needed to add tons of flavor.
- Coconut milk: unsweetened canned milk is what you want. For best results, use full-fat coconut milk. See this post for more tips on buying coconut milk.
- Fish sauce: Another must ingredient. Fish sauce adds an earthy, savory flavor to the sauce. And the sauce does not taste fishy at all.
- Lime zest and juice: use fresh lime juice for best results.
- Cilantro: not a fan of cilantro? Try fresh basil instead.
How to Make Coconut Milk Shrimp Recipe
Cooking shrimp in coconut milk is really easy. All you need is time for the coconut milk to reduce. It thickens naturally so you don’t need any additional thickening agents. Make sure to use full-fat coconut milk and not coconut cream.
- Step 1: Marinate the shrimp – toss the shrimp with olive oil, honey, garlic, ginger, chili flakes, and salt. Set aside to marinate for 15 minutes at room temperature.
- Step 2: Cook the shrimp – melt butter over medium-high heat in a large non-stick skillet. Add shrimp with a pair of tongs to the hot skillet. Leave the liquid from shrimp inside the bowl.
Cook the shrimp for 1-2 minutes per side or until pink on the outside (shrimp will be raw on the inside). Remove immediately to a clean bowl.
Katya’s TIP: When cooking shrimp, make sure the pan is hot before adding the shrimp. You should hear a sizzle the second the shrimp touches the pan. Also, layer the shrimp in a single layer. You don’t want any shrimp overlapping. Cook in batches if need to.
- Step 3: Make the sauce – reduce the heat to medium and melt remaining butter in the skillet. Add shallots, white parts of scallions, and chili flakes. Cook for a few minutes until soft and fragrant.
Stir in coconut milk and fish sauce. Season with salt to taste. Simmer until reduced and thickened, about 3-5 minutes.
- Step 4: Stir in shrimp – stir in lime zest, juice, and shrimp. Simmer for few minutes until the shrimp is cooked through. Add green parts of scallions and cilantro.
Storing Leftovers
Leftover coconut lime shrimp will last in the refrigerator for up to 3 days in an airtight container. Reheat over medium-low heat on the stove-top, stirring frequently.
I do not recommend reheating in the microwave as it can reheat the shrimp unevenly, resulting in rubbery shrimp.
More Shrimp Recipes to Try:
- Creamy Corn Pasta with Shrimp
- Cilantro Basil Shrimp with Mango Salsa
- Spicy Coconut Shrimp Lettuce Wraps
- Shrimp Salad with Mango and Avocado
If you try Coconut Milk Shrimp, don’t forget to leave feedback and a rating.
Print
Coconut Milk Shrimp
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 30 min
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 1x
- Category: Main
- Method: Simmer
- Cuisine: Thai
Description
Saucy shrimp simmered in creamy coconut milk sauce with fresh garlic, ginger, pepper flakes, and lime juice. It’s perfect over cooked rice and ready in only 30 minutes!
Ingredients
Shrimp
- 1 pound peeled and deveined large shrimp, pat dried with a paper towel
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil or avocado oil
- 2 Tbsp. honey
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 Tbsp. freshly grated ginger
- ¼ tsp. red chili flakes
- ¼ tsp. kosher salt
- 2 Tbsp. butter for cooking shrimp
Sauce
- 2 Tbsp. butter
- 1 medium shallot, finely chopped
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated
- ¼ tsp. red chili flakes
- 1 (14 oz.) can unsweetened coconut milk (not lite)
- 1 Tbsp. fish sauce
- Zest 1 lime
- 1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice, about 1/2 lime
- Fresh chopped cilantro
- Kosher salt, to taste
Instructions
Shrimp
- In a bowl, toss the shrimp with olive oil, honey, garlic, ginger, red chili flakes, and salt. Set aside to marinate for 15 minutes at room temperature.
- Melt butter over medium-high heat in a large non-stick skillet. When the butter is hot, add the shrimp with a pair of tongs. Leave the liquid from shrimp inside the bowl. Cook the shrimp for 1-2 minutes per side or until pink on the outside. Remove immediately to a clean bowl. Shrimp will be raw on the inside. If you have leftover liquid in the pan from the shrimp, drain it before adding butter in the next step.
Sauce
- Reduce the heat to medium and add butter to the skillet. Add shallots, white parts of scallions, and chili flakes. Cook for a few minutes until soft and fragrant. Stir in coconut milk and fish sauce. Season with salt to taste. Simmer until thickened, about 3-5 minutes.
- Stir in lime zest, juice, and shrimp. Simmer for few minutes until the shrimp is cooked through. Do not overcook the shrimp. Add green parts of scallions and cilantro.
Keywords: coconut shrimp, quick shrimp, shrimp in sauce
Sandra says
Made this for a NYE gathering. What a hit! Absolutely delicious. A question, referencing the instructions to discard liquid from par cook of shrimp, are the garlic and ginger included in the discard?
★★★★★
Mike says
I made this last night and it was delicious. It was a very simple yet elevated dish that has great seasoning and worked with jasmine rice very well. Thanks for this.
★★★★★
ashok says
Thanks For Sharing this amazing recipe. My family loved it. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends. Hope the will like it.
★★★★★
Hannah Pulliam says
Amazing recipe. I add some sesame oil, mirin, extra ginger, and extra garlic in the sauce. My mom and dad go insane for this dish
★★★★★
Katya says
I’m so happy to hear that!
Donna Z says
Made it this morning as i always like to let things sit that have lots of flavor! Making it with a salmon and putting the shrimp and coconut milk over rice! Cant wait for dinner!
Katya says
That sounds wonderful! I hope you enjoy it.
Susan says
Made this for dinner tonight and it was very good. My only comment was that the sauce was a little bit too thin for us. When I make it again, and I will, I will either leave the sauce a little longer before adding back the shrimp or perhaps add some starch to thicken it up a bit. Such a simple recipe to prepare and the flavour is great.
Elle says
Amazing recipe! I will definitely be making it again.
★★★★★
Laurue says
Absolutely scrumptious! I used ground ginger since I didn’t have fresh, maybe milder but great.
Katya says
Thank you for the feedback.
Mary says
This was so easy and delicious! Saving this in my favorites.
★★★★★
Katya says
Thank you Mary! So glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Jennifer says
Made this for lunch when I had some extra coconut milk on hand and it was both tasty and easy! I halved the sauce and this recipe still made a TON of extra sauce, so I added some frozen veggies to the dish along with the shrimp. Would definitely make again, but just noting for others that the sauce-to-shrimp ratio in the recipe is really high.
★★★★★
Katya says
Thank you!
pamela Morgan roder says
Great recipe. It’s going in a favorites file. Yum!!
Thank you very much.
★★★★★
Corrine says
Really tasty, flavorful sauce that’s light but still creamy. Single pan as well which I always appreciate and relatively easy to whip up. We didn’t have fish sauce so I subbed some oyster sauce. Probably not at all the same thing, haha, but it still tasted fantastic. Definitely adding to the regular rotation for weeknight meals.
★★★★★
Katya says
Thank you!
Kat says
This tastes great and I feel so much better compared to after a heavy meal with a cream-based sauce.
★★★★★
Stephanie says
Five stars…excellent recipe!! Thank you
★★★★★
Katya says
Thank you! So happy to hear you loved it.
Rohtak says
Loved the recipe! The taste is amazing!
★★★★★