Shrimp tacos with sweet and tangy mango salsa and creamy cilantro lime sauce.
If I ask the girls what they want for dinner the answer is always tacos. They are on a major taco kick right now which I don’t mind because it’s a quick and easy meal to make. I too love tacos and I was looking for something a little more grown up than the ground turkey/cheese/hard shell tacos that the kids love. Enter these shrimp tacos with mango salsa – chile seasoned shrimp, crunchy cabbage, sweet and tangy mango salsa and creamy cilantro lime sauce makes for an awesome flavor combination that everyone will love.
The shrimp in these tacos are lightly seasoned with chili powder and seared for a few minutes in a blazing hot pan until they’re cooked through. I used a larger shrimp here (size 21-25 per pound), but smaller shrimp will work just as well.
The mango salsa can be made in advance and includes a little bit of fresh jalapeno for a kick – if you’re sensitive to spicy foods, make sure to take the ribs and seeds out of the pepper to considerably tone the spice level down.
The purple cabbage adds color and crunch, I love a little texture in my tacos to keep things interesting. The tacos get finished off with a drizzle of cilantro lime sauce, which comes together in about 5 minutes with the help of a food processor. The whole meal can be made in about 25 minutes, not too bad for such a delicious end result. The next time the girls ask for tacos, I’m making them their usual favorite and throwing together these shrimp tacos with mango salsa for the adults in the house. Don’t forget to make my mexican rice and cantina beans to serve on the side!
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Shrimp Tacos with Mango Salsa
Ingredients
- For the shrimp:
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 1/4 pounds of shrimp , peeled, deveined and tails removed
- chili powder and salt to taste
- For the mango salsa:
- 1 cup of mango , finely diced
- ½ cup red bell pepper , finely diced
- 1/2 of a jalapeno pepper , minced (remove seeds and ribs to make it milder)
- juice of 1 lime
- ½ cup loosely packed cilantro leaves , finely chopped
- For the creamy cilantro lime sauce:
- 1 cup sour cream (can use light)
- ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves , roughly chopped
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons honey
- ¼ cup prepared green salsa
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup shredded purple cabbage
- 8 corn or flour tortillas
Instructions
- For the shrimp: Heat the olive oil over high heat in a large pan. Season both sides of the shrimp with chili powder and salt to taste. Place the shrimp in a single layer in the pan and sear for 2-3 minutes per side, until shrimp are pink and cooked through.
- For the mango salsa: Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, add salt to taste. Cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes, up to 4 hours.
- For the creamy cilantro sauce: Place all ingredients in the food processor; process until sauce is smooth and creamy. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- To serve: Warm the tortillas. Add a spoonful of sauce, a handful of cabbage and place the shrimp on top of the cabbage. Top with mango salsa and serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
Make Ahead: The mango salsa and cilantro sauce can be made up to 4 hours in advance.
Things You’ll Need (or Want!)
My mouth is watering just looking at this! This is easy enough to make but a little more “fancy” then a regular taco! Love it & all tha flavours incorporated!
These look incredible – I couldn’t pin this fast enough!
These look so good! Certainly a huge step-up from taco kids. I love the looks of the cilantro lime sauce drizzled over the shrimp and mango salsa. Yummy!
These were delicious but I thought just a little t[o much cilandra
These are some of the most gorgeous shrimp tacos I’ve ever seen! I just love shrimp and mangoes together. Yum!
I could eat these every.single.day.
These look delicious! Bursting with flavor! I love the combination of mango salad with shrimp!! gorgeous pictures!
Great flavor combination! Absolutely gorgeous photos, too!
Your shrimp tacos look amazing. I am especially admiring your photos and the symmetry of cut in the mango pieces. Nice job!
I love tacos and we just about have them every week. Usually it’s chicken, pork or beef, but I definitely want to put shrimp into the rotation. They are absolutely gorgeous and I love the purple cabbage – such great crunch!
Absolutely gorgeous! I need that salsa stat!
OMG…the mango with the shrimp…PERFECTION!
Loved this recipe!! I always ask for shrimp tacos on restaurants and now I feel all fancy because with this I can make them at home!
Ana | Carmela Pop
http://carmelapop.com
These photos are seriously stunning, Sara! So vibrant!
Your tacos are absolutely gorgeous! Almost too pretty to eat! Shrimp and fish tacos are one of my favorite meals…I need to try this!
Hands down the best shrimp tacos I have seen. They look SO flavoursome.
just wondering ..do you eat the tails of the shrimp?
Nope, you don’t eat the tails – I just left them on for photo styling purposes :). I’ll update the recipe right now to reflect that, thanks!
I just ate and this is making me hungry again! I go crazy when I see Shrimps and Mangoes so this is a heavenly recipe for me, I can’t wait to try this out this weekend! 🙂
“The shrimp in these tacos are lightly seasoned with chili powder and seared for a few minutes in a blazing hot pan …” <— made my mouth water…. What time is din din?!?
I am making these taco tomorrow for dinner. Can’t wait!
I hope you enjoy them!
It would be such a pain to bite down into the taco and actually bite on one of the shrimp tails….
The recipe says to remove the tails, leaving them on was a photography styling decision on my part.
What is green salsa??
Green salsa is salsa made with tomatillos instead of tomatoes, it’s sometimes also called salsa verde. If you go into the salsa section at the grocery store you should see jars of green salsa alongside the red salsa. Hope that helps!
Just had to come back and give my review- these were amazzzzzing! My husband loved them so much he made them again the next night. Thanks so much for the recipe!
Thanks so much for reporting back, glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Excellent recipe, turned out terrific. I used serranos instead of jalapenos, had some on hand and we like things spicy anyway. I had made some red salsa which I used instead of green and I didn’t bother with the food processor for the creamy sauce. Will definitely make again.
If I’m not to big on mangos what else can I use instead … I was thinking maybe corn ????
Corn would work, or avocado or pineapple too!
Omg yes … pineapple why didn’t I think of that it’ll still give it that sweetness from like the mango … yes thank you so much I’ll let u know how it turns out lol … again thank you
Thanks for the variations hence, I don’t get to do my own shopping and may need to use what I have on hand at the time. Can’t wait for my husband and I to try these! He’s the shrimp lover while I love anything spicy!
If using pineapple instead of mangos,do you mean canned pineapples,+ if so how much do I put in? Thank you for this recipe,I can’t wait to make.
You could use canned or fresh pineapple, I would chop it into small pieces, and use the same amount as you would the mango! I also have a similar pineapple salsa recipe here: https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/pulled-chicken-tacos/
Turned out great! I added avacado to the mango salsa, and also added some julienned jicama to the sour cream sauce for a little baja flair.
Absolutely delicious! I made these tonight and we could not get enough of them. Definitely making these tacos again! Thanks for sharing!
Looks great. Would it make a difference if I didn’t use the food processor ?
The sauce gets smoother if you use a food processor, but will still taste great without it!
Thank u! I made this tonight and OMG SOOOOO GOOD! me and my bf ate every bit of it. Will def be making this again! Thanks so much for the recipe!!!
So glad you liked it!
Can’t wait to make these tonight! I’m probably the only person to say this.. But I HATE cilantro. It’s a huge bummer, I wish I liked it, but I can’t do it! What could I use in it’s place for the sauce? I am going to use parsley with the salsa, that’s what I usually do.
Parsley or green onions will work!