Name: Refreshing Shrimp Ceviche
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 pound fresh shrimp, (chopped into small pieces); 3/4 cup lime juice, (fresh squeezed); 1/4 cup orange juice, (fresh squeezed); 1/4 cup red onion, (finely chopped); 1 clove fresh garlic, (finely minced); 2 tbsp chopped cilantro; 1/2 tsp table salt; 1/2 cup mango, (cubed in small pieces); 1/2 cup avocado, (cubed in small pieces)

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Shrimp ceviche in a black bowl with mango and avocado

Have you ever had shrimp ceviche? If you haven’t, you are missing out. When the summer sun heats up, I want any and all cold food. Except gazpacho. Hard pass. To me, there is no better refreshing food than fresh shrimp ceviche. Growing up just 60 miles from the Alabama gulf coast, I thought I had tried every kind of shrimp. But, moving to Nicaragua I was introduced to what may be my favorite way to eat shrimp. It is sold on street corners, baseball games, at the beach and even drive through stands. Although, I don’t recommend buying it everywhere it is sold. Ceviche is a very popular dish once you head south of the US boarder, with many cultures having their own spin on the dish. Depending on where you are located, you might find ingredients like ketchup or even popcorn in your ceviche. No matter where you are, here are the absolute essentials – super fresh seafood, something acidic and something to dip. This is my version and definitely the style most often served in Nicaragua. I’m a little biased, but my husband agrees that this is the best refreshing shrimp ceviche.

What is ceviche?

So you might have heard that ceviche is raw fish or shrimp. Well, that is sort of true. A little cooking lesson for you. There are three primary ways to cook food. One is with heat, one is curing with salt and the last is with acid. Ceviche is cooked using acid, specifically citrus juice. By sitting for a while in citrus juice, the shrimp begin to cook, changing both in appearance and texture. This goes for fish, too, should you decide to get experimental and sub fish for shrimp. It should be noted though that there are certain *things* that only heat or flash freezing can kill, so while this is cooked, it is not as safe as food cooked with heat. For this reason, it is very important that you use very fresh and high quality seafood in your ceviche. We are also going to make sure our ceviche is properly refrigerated, sits in the citrus juice long enough before consuming and that we clean and devein our shrimp. One thing you should note is that for this shrimp dish, bigger is not better. Save your money and opt for the smaller shrimp, because we are going to chop them up anyway.

chopped cilantro and red onion on a cutting board

Ingredients for shrimp ceviche

If you didn’t already know, the key to making simple recipes delicious is… drumroll please…. quality ingredients. We have already talked about using fresh shrimp. Please, no frozen. Now let’s give some flavor. The ingredient list is super simple. All you will need is red onion, cilantro, garlic, lime juice and orange juice. I love a good kitchen shortcut and most of the time, I’ll even give you some suggestions to make your cooking a little simpler. Not this time. No bottled citrus juice or jarred garlic, agreed? I promise, the result will be worth it. For ease of dipping, I like all my ingredients to be a similar size. If using small shrimp, cut each shrimp in 2-3 pieces. For medium shrimp, 3-4 pieces and large, 4-5 pieces. Finely chop your red onion, garlic and cilantro, juice the limes and orange juice and toss it all in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

shrimp ceviche in a black bowl with lemons, orange, red onion, garlic clove and plantain chips in the background

Serving your ceviche

When it comes to serving your ceviche, you’ve got a few options. First, how to top. You can leave the ceviche exactly as it is and it will be delicious. But, if you want to make it something special, you can add some chopped mango and chopped avocado to the shrimp ceviche. You could also add a little jalepeno if you want some spice. Next is how to dip. In my opinion, there are really two valid options. First is club crackers. I stock them in my pantry ONLY for ceviche and they are my husbands dipper of choice. Second is plantain chips. This is my personal favorite. You can find them in most grocery stores. If neither one of those options seem interesting to you, you could also opt for some sturdy corn chips.

a hand dipping shrimp ceviche out of a black bowl with a plantain chip

Final tips and storage

There is one last thing we need to discuss with ceviche. That is that it is not really great leftover. Shrimp ceviche does hold up better than fish ceviche for a longer time, but for best quality, I would suggest eating 15-30 minutes after baking the ceviche. Wanting to make this ahead of time? Just mix up everything except for the shrimp and cilantro and keep in an airtight container up to 24 hours ahead of time. You can also chop your shrimp and store them in an airtight container up to 8 hours. Just mix up right before serving. That’s it. This recipe for refreshing shrimp ceviche requires no heating an oven, minimal ingredients and about 15 minutes of chopping. Make it for yourself or share with friends, but this summer, make this ceviche.

Want the details for this simple and refreshing shrimp ceviche? Here is what you need to know…