Air Fryer Frozen Shrimp

This is how to cook frozen shrimp in air fryer with shell on without defrosting them? It’s easy to do in your Cosori or in Ninja Foodi seasoned perfectly with the shell on for a high protein low calorie meal or appetizer.

I took on the challenge one afternoon to get these tender but crispy on the outside right out of the freezer. With the shell on but seasoned well they turned out so well I had to share and added this to our easy air fryer recipes post too.

How Long to Cook Frozen Shrimp (Shell on) in Air Fryer

We’ve got the perfect temperature and time so your meal comes out fork tender yet a bit crispy on the outside in about 12 minutes. Any brand will work and come out perfectly, I have 3 different brands we’ve used them all.

I have shared How to Cook Frozen Shrimp all different ways in the past but this is my fave. Why have I experimented with so many ways? Um because I’m forgetful but somehow my people still expect to eat every single night. I know, go figure right? You’ll be amazed at how well these turn out.

Ninja Foodi Frozen Shrimp

Ingredient Notes

Where can you find these? Every grocery store has a section with frozen seafood in it. You’ll find them there. They will likely have a few different varieties. You can get cocktail which are teeny tiny, not those, you want large or jumbo frozen raw shrimp sizes. You get fewer of them in the bag but they are easier to peel and they should be raw (not precooked).

Can you use frozen cooked shrimp?

You do NOT want to choose the pre-cooked variety. If you do they will seem way overcooked to you since, um they were already cooked so you’d be doing it twice almost like they were leftovers. Not good. Instead choose raw with tail on, even shell on is just fine.

Olive oil will allow seasonings to stick well. You will do this AFTER you make sure the ice crystals are removed and outside is blotted dry with paper towels. Avocado oil is a good substitute to this.

How to Season

Seasonings of your choice should be added to the outside, salt and pepper are basics and minced garlic is a bonus. You really don’t need a lot of coating for them to be delicious. Just simple seasonings or a bit of Old Bay seasoning are fantastic too. Try them! If you’re a seafood lover I bet you have a bag of these in your freezer right now and wondering

Can you add parmesan?

Yes and that is what we did to add even more flavor and make the outsides beyond delicious. Even though you peel the outsides off you still get some to stick when you pop them into your mouth.

Is it better to cook frozen shrimp with shell on or off?

I prefer on because prevents the meat from overcooking and getting dry. Since they’re frozen you wouldn’t be able to take the shells off in this case and it actually works better with them on. When cooking shrimp in the air fryer basket you want the outsides to cook but more time to heat the insides so they don’t remain raw.

How do you know when frozen shrimp is done?

When properly cooked, the exterior should be pink with red tails. The flesh should look slightly opaque and a little white in color. If it is bright white in color, there’s a good chance the shrimp were overcooked.

There’s a fine line between perfect and too well done so you need to watch them carefully. Allow to cool enough to remove shells and enjoy immediately for best results.

Breaded Option

Now you could not bread these in their current state, it wouldn’t stick. Instead you would need to buy a bag of ready made frozen popcorn shrimp in air fryer and we have instructions for those right here. Homemade breaded would need to be done with thawed meat, dried, tossed with olive oil and then pressed into breadcrumbs.

We have done this to make air fryer fried shrimp in the past which are really popular. To thaw and follow this method just sit the bag into a cold bowl of water, change it every 30 minutes until tender to the touch and then follow those directions.

Serving Suggestions 

These are a fun hands on, messy appetizer for a casual dinner parties or weeknight meal. If you want to make this a main dish for your family, just peel the shrimp when done and serve over white rice or with vegetables and some garlic bread. Find more Ninja air fryer recipes to serve with this here like; Air fryer corn on the cob or air fryer cabbage steaks are a great side dish to this

Other Frozen Meat Recipes You’ll Love

Like I said, we’ve cooked a lot of frozen foods in our air fryer and Instant Pot. If you too are as forgetful as me, I have tips like how to cook frozen salmon and frozen chicken wings in air fryer too. Perfect if I haven’t defrosted them ahead of time and you can make them all if you have a Foodi. It happens, I can’t be the only one here.

We have a bunch of other air fryer fish recipes here like frozen salmon in air fryer too. If you do happen to remember you can make Instant Pot shrimp in just one minute. Seriously. Bookmark that post so you can come back to it another night.