I was inspired to make Baja shrimp tacos this weekend and scoured Pinterest for ideas and inspiration. Since I grew up in California, shrimp tacos with a delicious sauce were something available at most Mexican (or Texmex) restaurants. They are easy to make, although in this instance I put in a little extra time and effort to pickle the vegetables, but even that is pretty easy and quick! These tacos also can be made with fish instead of shrimp and will be equally delicious.
This recipe makes 6 tacos.
Ingredients:
6 flour tortillas (I used low-carb tortillas), warmed
1 lb raw shrimp, defrosted (My shrimp were not labeled with a count, but I’d guess there were 35-45 per pound.)
1 tsp. chili powder (I like Gebhardts)
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
Handful of Cilantro, chopped
1 tomato, diced
1 avocado, sliced
1 lime, quartered
Pickled Onions (see recipe below)
Pickled Cabbage (see recipe below)
Baja Sauce (see recipe below)
Step 1:
Make the pickled onions and pickled cabbage (see recipes below) a few hours ahead at a minimum. It would be even better to make the day prior. Alternately, you could choose not to pickle them and instead serve diced onions and sliced raw cabbage.
Pickled Onions:
1/2 of a red onion, thinly sliced
1/3 C. Apple cider vinegar (alternately could used white vinager)
2/3 C. Water
1 tsp. Sugar
1 tsp. Kosher Salt (do not use table salt for pickling process)
Add vinegar, water, sugar and salt to a sauce pan and heat over medium heat. Stir to dissolve sugar and salt. Once those are dissolved, add onion to vinegar mixture in sauce pan and let it cook for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, turn off heat and pour mixture into a glass bowl or glass jars, e.g. mason jars. Cover, then place in fridge to marinate (minimum of an hour, but preferably overnight).
Pickled Cabbage
1/2 head of green cabbage, sliced or shredded
1/4 onion, thinly sliced
2 C. white vinegar
3 C. water
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 tsp. salt – use kosher or sea salt; do not use table salt when pickling
Place the cabbage and onion into glass jars, e.g. mason jars, or into a glass bowl. Mix the vinegar and other ingredients in a glass bowl. Then pour vinegar mixture over the cabbage. Cover and place in fridge to marinate for a least a few hours, preferably overnight.
I used the Spicy Curtido recipe here for inspiration, but chose not to include carrots or jalapenos, and used less onion. Also, I found that I needed to increase the amounts of vinegar and water to cover the cabbage and onion, but that likely could be because I used a glass bowl versus using mason jars.
Step 2:
Make the baja sauce (see recipe below).
I used the Chipotle Crema recipe here for inspiration, and I used sour cream instead of mayonaise. I also used a hand-held blender so that I have less equipment to clean!
Step 3:
Rinse and dry the defrosted shrimp. Mix together the chili powder, garlic salt, cayenne pepper, and black pepper in a small bowl. Sprinkle the chili powder mixture over the shrimp. Heat 2 tbp. of oil in a saute pan. Once the oil is heated, add half of the shrimp to the pan. Cook 1-2 minutes per side until shrimp is cooked through. Place cooked shrimp on a plate and then cook the remaining shrimp.
Step 4:
Make tacos! My husband’s favorite trick is to put the Baja sauce on the tortilla before adding shrimp, cilantro, tomatoes, pickled onions, pickled cabbage, sliced avocado, and a squirt of lime. I do that plus add more sauce on top!
Step 5:
Enjoy! Feel free to use paper plates (like we did) for easy clean-up! 🙂
