Easy Shrimp Tacos Recipe

You’ll love these shrimp tacos with juicy, spiced shrimp and the easiest sour cream cabbage slaw. Low-effort, pantry-friendly, and ready in about 20 minutes!

This quick shrimp taco recipe has become one of our go-to dinners lately. We usually have a bag of frozen shrimp in our freezer, and cabbage and store-bought tacos are usually on our shopping list, which means we are 99% of the way to making this 20-minute shrimp dinner.

We intentionally created it to be fast and a one and done kind of meal. Plus, it turns out fresh, crunchy, perfectly spiced, and makes tacos I’d happily eat every week from here on out. I love shrimp recipes because they come together so quickly. For more like this, see our chile shrimp tacos, which have a richer spice profile.

Key Ingredients

• Shrimp: Use your favorite shrimp here. In our recipe, we’ve offered cooking times for extra-large shrimp, but if yours are a little smaller or bigger, just adjust slightly so that they don’t overcook. A firm white fish (like mahi mahi) that’s cut in to small chunks would be lovely as a substitute.
• Spices: We keep the spices pantry friendly for this recipe. You’ll need chili powder (we especially love those with ancho chili powder or our homemade chili powder blend), garlic powder, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and a tiny bit of sugar (which you use for the slaw).
• Lime: We buy 2 to 3 limes for this recipe and use a little juice in the shrimp marinade, the slaw, and save some lime wedges for serving.
• Cabbage, Red Onion, and Cilantro: These are the base of the slaw. We buy cabbage all the time and usually have a head in our fridge, so we shred it ourselves, but you can always substitute with a bag of coleslaw mix (these usually have carrots, but that’s okay). Red onion is pretty for the color, but feel free to swap other onion varieties in if that’s what you have.
• Sour Cream: This makes the dressing for our slaw (just sour cream and lime). It works really well and is so easy.
• Tortillas: Use whatever you love! Store-bought keeps things easy or try making your own. We have homemade flour tortilla and corn tortilla recipes on the blog.

Find the full recipe with measurements below.

How to Make Our Quick Shrimp Tacos

The trick to these tasty tacos is making our quick cabbage slaw while the shrimp marinates in a simple mix of spices. They only need 10 minutes, and then cook for another 5, so really, you are looking at a 15 to 20 minute meal.

First, you’ll toss your shrimp with spices and oil. Start with thawed and peeled shrimp. (Find our tips for quickly defrosting shrimp in the recipe tips section below.) Add them to a bowl with chili powder, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, smoked paprika, and a bit of fresh lime juice. Set the bowl aside for about 10 minutes. The shrimp don’t need any longer than that.

While the shrimp marinate, make the cabbage slaw. We have a few different cabbage slaws on the blog, but this one is perfect for these tacos. We keep the ingredients super streamlined, so you won’t have too long of a shopping list. To make it, toss shredded cabbage (or a bag of coleslaw mix) with red onion, cilantro, sour cream, lime juice, sugar, salt, and the same chili powder you used for the shrimp spice mix.

Finally, cook the shrimp and assemble. When cooking these shrimp, use a wide skillet so that they sit in the pan without overlapping too much. This way the shrimp sauté instead of steam. Larger shrimp like what’s shown in our photo take 3 to 4 minutes, but adjust based on your shrimp.

To build the tacos, lay down warmed tortillas, add the shrimp, a big scoop of the creamy spiced slaw on top, and then enjoy! If you love avocado, extra lime, or other taco toppings, feel free to add them, too.

What to Serve with Shrimp Tacos

These tacos work well as a one and done kind of meal. Thanks to the cabbage slaw, you have everything you need for a well-rounded meal. That said, if you’re feeling feisty, you can always add more to the plate.

More Low-Effort, Quick Dinner Recipes to Try