Shrimp Tacos

This is how to make shrimp tacos with frozen shrimp and homemade taco shells! You can make air fryer tacos, cooked on the grill, baked in the oven or made in your pressure cooker.

Shrimp Tacos Ingredients

Traditionally you’d find shrimp, cabbage or cole slaw, avocado and salsa. Then you’re going to need a holder of sorts. You can buy a package or make your own taco shells in air fryer with small corn tortillas too!

Shrimp Taco Sauce

Many times I will just whip together our fresh cilantro lime sauce. It packs a punch and doesn’t require a lot of ingredients. Of course you can buy already made bottles at the store but fresh is always best right?? Anything creamy will work really.

If you wanted to save calories I suppose you could omit it entirely but for me it is a real must for sure. My kids shared how to make fry sauce here because that is their favorite choice on these.

Cole Slaw for Shrimp Tacos

If you want a bit of sweetness I would go for our Hawaii coleslaw with pineapple in it. We made a blue cheese coleslaw recently that was pretty awesome too. There are tons of variations out there if made homemade, stores always have premade tubs as well if you want super easy.

You can use green and/or purple cabbage if making yourself or leave off. I recommend adding it though because it gave it the crunch it needed.

If you are looking for low calorie you can just read up on how to cut cabbage and leave the sauce off entirely.

Shrimp Tacos with Frozen Shrimp

You can certainly do this same thing over medium high heat in a skillet on your stovetop, or this is How to Cook Frozen Shrimp in the oven. I don’t think it turns out as well as the meat will sweat and create a liquid to accumulate which means the outsides won’t be as crispy as air fryer shrimp no breading.

With the shell still on use our recipe for frozen shrimp in air fryer. If you have your own favorite way of cooking these babies go right ahead with that. I’ll say that a little crisp on the meat is sure good. If you add a little breading with seasonings mixed in they turn out even better.

How to Cook Shrimp for Shrimp Tacos

For healthier versions you can try plain Instant Pot shrimp here. This is a great option for a low carb keto friendly version that is still packed with lots of flavor. Grilled shrimp in foil packets would work well if you wanted to be outside the whole time, and not cook inside.

Shrimp Tacos in Air Fryer

Personally my favorite is making air fryer fried shrimp with Old Bay! If you wanted something with no prep you could even cook popcorn shrimp in air fryer right out of the box too.

Toppings

Favorite toppings is somewhat subjective for sure! If you’re going to go Mexican shrimp tacos authentic then yours would look similar to the picture below. Like avocado is a must, or made into guacamole.

You can even make a quick and easy taco Tuesday bar when friends come over too. You just set everything out so everyone can make their own. Cook the meat to order so it is always warm or if everyone is eating all at once you can just make a larger batch.

What should be included in a taco bar?

1. Our copycat Qdoba salsa verde is amazing
2. A creamy sauce
3. Diced onions or pico de gallo mix
4. Chopped cilantro
5. Hot sauce if you wanted them spicy
6. A lime wedge to squeeze fresh lime juice on at the end
7. Shredded cabbage or your favorite coleslaw mix
8. A dollop of sour cream
9. And warm tortillas

Below is an easy step by step to make quite a bit that is naked but with a ton of flavor. Perfect for a taco bar with kiddos.