Shrimp in foil packets on the grill is a great way of How to Cook Frozen Raw Shrimp with butter and lemon on your charcoal or Traeger until tender to taste amazing for dinner.
If you cook outside once the weather turns nice, you should try grilling shrimp in foil packets. Buttery with some fresh lemon juice it is an easy high protein meal you can enjoy over a campfire or make as a Traeger recipe too.
How to Grill Frozen Shrimp
This started when I was trying to figure out the best way to cook frozen shrimp on the grill. Unable to use a skewer since they were rock hard, it occurred to me that it would probably make a good foil packet meal and it did. Using just 4 ingredients wrapped inside aluminum foil, this turned out to be better than I could have imagined.
If you were camping this would work out quite well over a fire too. Set on a grate you could prepare them beforehand or just bring the items with you in a cooler. You could pack them in a bag frozen and in the event that they defrost overnight it wouldn’t make a huge difference, just a minute or two less over the heat.
Ingredient Notes
I buy several bags of large or jumbo frozen shrimp often. There are so many recipes we can make with them so I could make something different every single week with them and makes my family think I am a hero (I’ll take that). Between this and my air fryer frozen shrimp I can have two nights set.
It doesn’t really matter though whether they start out rock hard or defrosted, it only takes a few minutes to get them perfectly pink. Wrapped tightly in foil allows the meat to soak in the butter or olive oil and garlic to get all those flavors you love.
For spicy you could add some of our cajun garlic butter sauce on top and then wrap it all up. Serve as is, with a lemon wedge or topped with parsley with a side of white rice. As for the seasonings you can add as many as you would like, Old Bay is a great one to add.
You’ll need aluminum foil sheets too of course, one per person is ideal so you can just transfer on to a plate, open and enjoy. A great healthy and gluten free meal everyone will love.
Variations
There are a few other things you could add inside too if you wanted. We love air fryer bell peppers so I added thick slices into these and those worked great. Small chunks of potatoes would get tender but you need to make sure they’re bite size so they cook thru.
You could do this same thing in the oven as well if you were home and loved how these tasted. Similar to our baked teriyaki salmon it turns out just as tender and wonderful either way it’s cooked. We just added these simple ingredients this go around.
Shrimp Foil Packets Recipe
Equipment
- 1 grill
- aluminum foil
Ingredients
- 12 oz shrimp, fresh or frozen
- 1 tbsp olive oil, or butter
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 slice lemon, wedge, juiced
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, combine shrimp, oil, minced garlic and salt. Mix well to evenly coat shrimp. Using a piece of foil folded in half, place half of the shrimp onto the foil in the center.
- Pull opposite ends to the center to join and roll down to seal. Tuck the ends up to seal as well. Leave a pocket inside to steam the shrimp. Repeat with the remaining shrimp so you have 2 foil packets.
- Heat grill to about 400 F. Place packets onto the grill and cook for 15-20 minutes or until shrimp is pink and no longer frozen.
- Open packets and season with ground black pepper and red pepper flakes if desired for a bit of heat. Serve topped with chopped fresh parsley and fresh lemon wedges
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
FAQ
We have several photos here so you can see how it’s done. Basically you want to sit the food in the center. Add seasonings you like and lift sides up to the top and roll down to seal. Then roll the sides up as well so nothing can leak out and liquid stays tight so it can steam the food under high heat.
No, that would make a mess. Yes the ends and top should be tightly sealed but with all the weight on the top it is very likely that some of the moisture from within will start to leak out if you flip the sealed end on to the bottom. Just leave as is and no rotation is necessary.
Whether you use an electric or gas grill it will take you about 15-20 minutes wrapped tightly in foil so they can steam to tender. If you skewered them on kabobs over a indirect heat it would take just a few minutes though.
You can if you cook them in foil or inside a dish with butter, garlic and seasonings to tender. Other than that a bit will stick if you toss them in a bowl with olive oil so salt and pepper would stick but that isn’t as effective.
Cooked Over a Fire
If you’re on a camping trip I would bring these prepared in your cooler. You could add small pieces of sausage and corn kernels into the packets for more of a complete meal. Wait until the coals or wood flames have died down before setting on a grate above, you do not want direct heat.
What is great about this is that you can use the foil as a plate almost, just be careful of the drippings. Seafood is high in protein and quite healthy so it is a great dinner overall that even my kids absolutely love. You could make as is with grilled corn on the cob and/or smoked brats on the side.
Other ways to cook frozen shrimp you’ll love
If you want to use a pressure cooker I would recommend our Instant Pot frozen shrimp timing. Those literally take 1 minute, I am not kidding. Air fryer frozen shrimp no breading is amazing too. Those don’t have the amount of flavor you’ll find while soaking up the butter inside this foil though.
