This air fryer fried shrimp recipe is amazing! With a light breading & tons of flavor they’re crispy to perfection in just a few minutes with NO frying required.
We are kinda’ obsessed with seafood so air fryer fried shrimp was on our list to try this week. It came out more amazing than I had imagined! If you love air fryer recipes we have a lot on The Typical Mom site to try beyond this one. (originally published 8/19, affiliate links present)
I know you are going to love these as much as we have! You can make them as an easy Ninja Foodi recipe, Cosori recipe or any brand you have.
With a “secret ingredient” that takes this breading over the top from great to absolutely delicious, get ready for YUM.
If you love air fryer recipes too, here are some resources to start with:
- THIS is my Favorite Air Fryer!
- You can find more Air fryer recipes here, we have Ninja Foodi recipes as well; bookmark them both!
- This is the best air fryer cookbook. Remember to always preheat air fryer for best results.
- Here’s a printable air fryer cook times chart here for your fridge.
- It has temp. and times for making the best frozen foods for air fryer too.
- Then join our Facebook page where you can share and find more ideas you’ll love. We have a Foodi social media group as well.
Fried shrimp in air fryer
Like I said, we LOVE anything that comes out of the sea.
- We made Instant Pot shrimp many times and they are great for making shrimp alfredo and other dishes.
BUT crispy battered shrimp are just so much better.
Here are a few questions you might have in mind before you get started on this like:
YES! We will show you how here. I started with this boxed fish fry mix which turned out okay, but bread crumbs with seasonings I threw in turned out much better.
The only thing I didn’t like about this one was it tasted a bit grainy. Even after being sprayed with olive oil the Italian bread crumbs were crispy and so flavorful. Lesson learned.
You won’t be able to coat it like you see here but yes you can. Add to air fryer basket and cook at 400 F for 5 minutes, or 10 minutes if it’s frozen RAW shrimp. Shake basket after half the time.
Like our air fryer wings and air fryer zucchini chips, this air fryer shrimp recipe is quite healthy as it isn’t deep fried. BUT it sure does taste like they have been!
The outside comes out super crispy, yet the meat inside is still tender.
Air fryer shrimp
- Shrimp – We used Jumbo so timing is appropriate for that size. Shrimp were defrosted, shells removed, and deveined before being battered.
- Italian bread crumbs
- Taco seasoning – seriously!
- Garlic salt
- Butter
- Olive oil cooking spray
- Salt and pepper to taste
I know, sounds kinda’ funny to put taco anything on shrimp but wow did it ever give it a wonderful flavor.
I asked my husband (who says he doesn’t like taco seasoning period, even for tacos) after he finished an entire plate of these what he thought.
He said “they were so good!”, then I told him what I used to make them. Yep, had to admit he may be wrong about that spice. 😉
As you can see above I bought a bag of frozen jumbo shelled shrimp. They sat in the freezer for quite some time and really needed to be cooked. That is when I thought of creating some sort of air fried shrimp recipe.
- Keep in mind that shrimp shrink quite a bit when they’re cooked. Jumbo really becomes a medium size so they’re ideal.
A perfect bite size for everyone in our family. I wouldn’t use a smaller size.
How do you know when fried shrimp is done?
The exterior should be pink with red tails. Flesh will be slightly opaque and white in color.
How do you cook pre cooked shrimp in an air fryer?
- Place a single layer of frozen popcorn shrimp into your air fryer basket.
- Cook at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes, flipping halfway through the cook cycle
- Eat immediately for best results
Can you cook air fryer frozen shrimp? <—— YES we show you how here.
Cooking any sort of breaded frozen shrimp in a hot air machine would follow this same timing with slight variations depending on the size of them.
If you’re trying to figure out how long to cook a variety of foods in your air fryer, use this printable air fryer cook times sheet.
It helped determine how long to cook air fryer frozen chicken nuggets and more.
What goes with fried shrimp?
- Air fryer pickles are an out of this world combo
- This is how to cook fresh corn to go with this
- Our easy roll recipe is great if you want some bread with this
- We have a bunch of other fish recipes here too.
The best side dish we love is air fryer cauliflower you see here. I use both my Foodi and my Cosori so I can make all of it at the same time.
Here are quick step by step directions but I also have a printable recipe card at the bottom as well.
Ninja Foodi Shrimp
Time needed: 5 minutes.
Fried shrimp in air fryer
- Rinse shrimp
Defrost shrimp if they’re frozen. Lay on paper towels to remove water on the outside. This is important so outside gets crispy and breading sticks well. I prefer leaving the tails on
- Prepare coating
Melt butter in a bowl and mix dry ingredients in another shallow bowl or plate.
- Preheat air fryer
Preheat air fryer to 400 degrees F for 5 minutes.
- Coat air fryer shrimp
Dip shrimp in the butter, then dredge in bread crumb mixture so it’s nicely coated. Allow excess to fall off.
- Cook
Add shrimp into air fryer basket in one layer. Overlapping will cause shrimp to cook not as crispy. Spray with olive oil and cook for 5 minutes or until as crispy as you’d like.
Enjoy as is or with this killer sauce to make air fryer bang bang shrimp!
Now enjoy, and try our air fryer scallops next!!
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Air fryer breaded shrimp
Air Fryer Fried Shrimp
Ingredients
- 17-20 shrimp defrosted, we used jumbo, shells removed, deveined, tails attached
- 1 c bread crumbs Italian
- 1 tbsp taco seasoning
- 1 tbsp garlic salt
- 4 tbsp butter melted
- olive oil spray
Instructions
- Melt butter in a small bowl in microwave for about 30 seconds. Take shells off shrimp, devein them and pat each one down WELL with paper towels to remove water from outside (this will make them crispy).
- In a bowl mix bread crumbs and seasonings. Preheat air fryer now for 5 minutes at 400 degrees.
- One at a time dip your shelled deveined jumbo shrimp into the butter, then into the bread crumb mixture. Use a spoon to completely cover the shrimp (keep tails out of mix). Carefully shake off excess crumbs and put into preheated air fryer.
- Fill basket with as many as possible without overlapping them. Spray all of them with olive oil spray.
- Close lid or push in basket and cook at 400 degrees for 5 minutes (for jumbo, smaller would not take as long). I did a round flipping them and one where I didn't. I think not flipping came out better as breading stayed in tact better.
- Enjoy immediately for best taste.
Ross
Saturday 2nd of January 2021
I dont know what happrned. But we have a N foodie air xl pro and these would not crisp up. The coating stayed kind of sandy. Flavour was good but couldnt get past the non crisp texture. Ended up tossing them in deepfryer for 2 min and then they were fine.
Ama
Friday 25th of December 2020
The flavor is yummy, but I couldn’t get the coating crispy. Any idea what I’m doing wrong? New to air frying....
The Typical Mom
Saturday 26th of December 2020
Big thing is to make sure they aren't overlapping at all
Cynthia
Tuesday 22nd of December 2020
Why do you have McCormick's Fish Fry posted in your photo as one of your ingredients used if you said it did not turn out as well by using Italian crumb seasoning instead? What brand of Italian bread crumb seasoning did you use?
Patty
Sunday 29th of November 2020
My Husband and I loved this recipe! We just had the shrimp over a big salad. Have you ever tried that breading on other things like zucchini? I'm just curious. I'm new to the air fryer. Thanks for the great recipe!
The Typical Mom
Monday 30th of November 2020
Yes you can search air fryer _______ on my site in the search bar and I have done many other things
Laura
Sunday 29th of November 2020
No need t be ignorant about it potty mouth!