The absolute best shrimp marinade made with garlic, herbs, spices and lemon. You can cook your marinated shrimp on the grill, stove top or in the oven for perfect results every time.
I love a good shrimp dish, I often whip up some shrimp salad or garlic butter shrimp for a quick and easy meal. This marinated shrimp is so full of flavor; my family requests it every week, it’s just that delicious!
There’s nothing like a bold and zesty marinade to infuse your food with plenty of flavor. This shrimp marinade contains a variety of savory ingredients that blend together to make the perfect seasoning for fresh shrimp.
How do you make shrimp marinade?
This recipe is a blend of olive oil, soy sauce, lemon zest, honey, herbs, garlic and seasonings. Everything gets whisked together in either a large bowl or a resealable plastic bag. Add your shrimp, then refrigerate them until it’s time to make dinner.
How long do you marinate shrimp?
I recommend marinating your shrimp for at least one hour, or up to 8 hours. This particular marinade does not contain any citrus juice, only lemon zest. If you’re working with a different marinade that does contain citrus juice, you’ll want to marinate your shrimp for no more than 2 hours, as the acid in the juice can actually cook the shrimp.
Tips for shrimp marinade
- This marinade can be made in advance and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days before you plan to use it.
- You can leave the tails on your shrimp, or remove them, it’s totally up to you. The tails make for a nicer presentation but it’s a little more work to remove the tails right before eating.
- You can make this marinade gluten free by substituting tamari sauce for the soy sauce.
- I recommend using the largest shrimp you can afford for the best flavor and presentation.
- For an extra special meal, you can also put some steak in my skirt steak marinade for a surf and turf dinner!
How do you cook marinated shrimp?
These shrimp can be baked, broiled, grilled or sauteed. Regardless of the cooking method, you’ll want to cook your shrimp for about 2-3 minutes per side, or until they’re pink and opaque. Larger shrimp will take a little longer to cook.
How to peel and devein shrimp
I typically buy my raw shrimp with just the tail attached, but many shrimp also come still in the shell. If your shrimp have shells on them, you can easily remove them by pulling the main part of the shell off with your fingers, then removing the tail end of the shell. You may also need to devein your shrimp. If you see a dark line running across the top of the the shrimp, you can remove it by using a paring knife to cut a slit along the top of the shrimp, then use a knife or wooden skewer to remove the vein.
This shrimp marinade can be used on other types of seafood such as scallops, salmon, swordfish or halibut. It’s one of the very best ways to enhance the flavor of fresh seafood.
More great shrimp recipes
Shrimp Marinade
Ingredients
- 1 pound shrimp peeled and deveined, leave tails on for a nicer presentation
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
- 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 teaspoons fresh parsley leaves chopped
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 3/4 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1/4 teaspoon chili flakes optional
Instructions
- Place the olive oil, honey, soy sauce, lemon zest, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper in a bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Reserve 1 tablespoon of the marinade for later use. Add the garlic and chili flakes to the bowl.
- Add the shrimp and marinade to a resealable freezer bag and seal. Shake to coat the shrimp with the marinade.
- Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, or up to 8 hours.
- At this point you can broil, grill or saute the shrimp for 2-3 minutes per side or until pink and opaque.
- Drizzle the reserved marinade over the cooked shrimp, then serve.
This is the best shrimp marinade I’ve ever had. I make this for parties and even non shrimp lovers think it’s delicious. 10vstars if I could.
Can I marinate the shrimp overnight, then freeze them in the bag flat until ready to use?
I think that should work fine!
Absolutely delicious! I only substituted crushed red pepper for chili flakes because I didn’t have chili flakes. The dish was a hit!!
Can I serve these marinated shrimp room temperature?
Yes that’s fine!
Made this today for a Father’s Day lunch. Doubled the marinade, put the shrimp in half and assorted veggies (zucchini, broccoli, red and yellow peppers, mushrooms and purple onion) in the other half. Treated it like a stir fry. It was excellent. Best of all, my husband said I could definitely make it again!
This is by far our favorite shrimp dish marinade hands down! Each time I serve it to my friends they go nuts over it, and it’s just so easy to follow and execute. Sarah I wonder what are your thoughts and opinion to incorporate this dish with spaghetti or Japanese thin egg noodles?
I think that sounds like it would great!
Nothing I would change about the recipe at all. I made it as part of a salad for the family and was a total hit.
Yes! did not marinade, brought everthing to a boil (added a bit more evo). then added the shrimp, cooked till done.. A real keeper!
Was super! Marinated for 6 hours & then skewered & broiled, 2 mins. each side… Delish! Thank YOU!
Making this now, a little worried the salt and the soy sauce will be too salty??
Can i use this marinade for scallops?
Yes that will work!
In the oven now 👍. Broiler didn’t end up working & marinade is so dark I can’t gauge pink readiness color. Chose to switch to bake setting but now it’s on preheat 🙃 Adventures in split decision cooking! Any idea how 2-3 minutes broiler time converts to pre-heating oven time? It happens!
It should be about 5-6 minutes!
SUCH a great marinade. Made this for a party where one of the people does not like shrimp. However, when she saw these out she thought they looked so good she wanted to try them. Now she is hooked on shrimp! We let it sit in the marinade for about 2 and 1/2 – 3 hours. Will absolutely make this again!
I just made this for the 5th or 6th time. It’s now a solid go to in my fav file. I was surprised that the soy and sweetness did not overwhelm the lovely flavor of the fish. Skewered on the grill is our first choice but oven roasted or sautéed is great too!
Tried something new and this was a hit! I added some red chili flakes and gave it just a little kick that made it perfect. Making it again tonight.
Thanks for keeping it simple.
This recipe is amazing! Thank you!
Is there a recipe for the cous cous underneath the shrimp in the picture?
It’s a boxed mix, Near East pearled coucous!
10 outta 10. Best shrimp I’ve ever consumed
The recipe was quick and easy to follow. It was also amazing tasting.. I’ve recommended this to a friend.
Thanks
This marinade is fabulous, but, what makes the shrimp so much more than just good is using the reserved marinade over the shrimp before serving. It elevates the flavor from good to amazing. Thank you foor sharing this wonderful recipe with us.
Hands down best shrimp I’ve ever made. I sliced up some pineapple/bacon sausages and marinated them along with 2 pounds of shrimp for about 3 hours. Placed on skewers with sausage slices perfectly in the middle of the shrimp all fancy like. Cooked in a traeger at 450 for about 3-4 minutes per side. Served with rice, salad, and grilled squash. Dopest dope I’ve ever smoked(grilled)