Store sold ready to use cooked shrimps can be used for recipes which call for boiled shrimps (salads, soups, stir fries, etc). Or you can boil raw shrimps and get more tender, tasty and less expensive version of store sold cooked shrimps.

Shrimps cooked this way also work great as a meal on its own, snack for beer or an appetizer.

Use fresh or frozen shrimps, shell-on or fully cleaned ones, or even whole shrimps (these will require more cleaning after though). You can also use this recipe to “unfreeze” cooked shrimps and infuse them with spices (just reduce cooking time to not overcook them).

Usually package instructions say to thaw frozen shrimps before cooking, but I don’t do it. Cooking frozen raw shrimps this way works for me just as good not frozen ones and it also saves time.

Cooking time will depend on size of shrimps: the smaller shrimps are, the less time for cooking they require – turn heat off as soon as shrimps float to the surface (this means they are cooked enough).

Ingredients:

  • 1lb of raw shrimps
  • 1/2 of lemon
  • 5 garlic cloves
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 10 cloves
  • 10 black pepper corns
  • 4 all space cloves
  • 1 tbs of paprika
  • Salt to taste
  • Water

How to prepare, step-by-step:

  1. Prepare ingredients:
    Boiled Shrimps Recipe: Step 1
  2. Fill a pot of appropriate size with water (enough water to fully cover all shrimps), put it on moderate heat burner; add bay leaves, black peppercorns, allspice peppercorns, cloves and garlic cloves sliced in half:
    Boiled Shrimps Recipe: Step 2
  3. Slice half of lemon in half and add it to the pot as well:
    Boiled Shrimps Recipe: Step 3
  4. Salt to taste:
    Boiled Shrimps Recipe: Step 4
  5. And add ground paprika:
    Boiled Shrimps Recipe: Step 5
  6. After pot starts to boil, pour shrimps in:
    Boiled Shrimps Recipe: Step 6
  7. Let everything cook until shrimps float to the surface, then turn heat off and move pot away from the burner, leave shrimps to soak in spices for 10 mins or so:
    Boiled Shrimps Recipe: Step 7
  8. Pour shrimps to colander (you can also rinse them slightly with cold water – this will remove a bit of spice and will make it easier to remove shell) and serve (or use for another recipe):
    Boiled Shrimps Recipe: Step 8
Enjoy!