Easy Shrimp Ceviche

Today we’re making a vibrant and tropical shrimp ceviche that is simply to die for. It’s perfect for warm weather and an anytime snack. Okay, let’s get started.

Preparing the Citrus Juice

First off, we have some juicing to do. This recipe calls for about six limes, two lemons, and an orange. In case you didn’t know, a ceviche is cooked through acid. Here’s the deal: I have to be a science teacher for just like one second. When you cook a protein—be it eggs or turkey bacon, whatever—you’re denaturing the proteins. The proteins have a very specific shape which lets them do a special job. Our body is run by proteins, but when you heat the protein or expose it to an acid, you’re going to change the shape of the protein. It’s called a conformation change, and it affects the texture and everything else. Denaturing the protein cooks it, but it doesn’t kill off all of the bacteria or parasites or whatever that could be in the meat. So what we’re gonna do is give our shrimp a really quick parboil just to flash-expose it to heat, get that surface nice and clean, and then we’re gonna give it a bath of these beautiful fruit juices to finish the cooking process and change the texture to be really nice and palatable.

I want to end up with one and three-quarter cups of fruit juices, so if we don’t have enough after juicing these guys we can add in a few more limes. Always use fresh fruit juices; never ever try and use those plastic-container lemons or limes—they don’t work. If you don’t have access to them, just wait until you do; it’ll be worth it.

I have one and three-quarter cups of juice. Let’s get rid of these shells, peels, and on to the rest of the prep.

Toasting Pepitas and Dicing Mango

I’m adding a quarter cup of pepitas (pumpkin seeds) onto a baking sheet carefully, and we’re going to toast them for just like maybe 10 minutes at 350 °F to bring the flavor out and make them nice and toasty.

For this recipe we’re going to use a cup of diced mangoes. To get the flesh from the mango, cut along the side where you know the pit is going to be, then use a spoon and slide it along the pit. Score the mango carefully—don’t go through the skin—then invert it and you have your little sections all ready to pop out. Continue the process until you have one full cup; this is gonna be about two mangoes. If you want to save on time or if you don’t feel confident about this process, you could also just buy the pre-cut mango pieces at most markets.

Parboiling the Shrimp

Before we continue our prep, let’s deal with the shrimp. I have one pound of deveined, clean shrimp from the market—very fresh. Use fresh shrimp for this. We’re gonna boil the shrimp and then dump them in ice water to stop the cooking. Pop the shrimp into boiling water carefully; give it a quick parboil—maybe like 40 seconds—then transfer them to an ice bath. They’ll hang out there for five minutes.

Slicing Radish and Mincing Jalapeño

While the shrimp chill, let’s get to chopping. I have some beautiful watermelon radishes. Slice them thinly after you wash them; you want about half a cup of radishes.

Next, mince up a nice jalapeño pepper. You can use any spicy chili that you like, by the way. Remove the pith on the inside and the seeds. When you’re cutting a chili, have the skin facing upwards; that way you’ll get a cleaner cut.

Acid Bath for Shrimp

Take your juice and reserve a quarter cup of it for later. Transfer the parboiled shrimp into their fruit bath and arrange them so they’re hopefully all submerged. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes.

You don’t have to parboil your shrimp, by the way; that’s really a food-safety issue. If you’re worried about parasites, give it a quick parboil. If you’re not worried, just give them the fruit bath and you’ll have a different texture.

Prepping the Vegetables and Herbs

I want a quarter cup of minced red onion. Slice and dice until you have a quarter of a cup.

We’re gonna have half a cup of fresh cilantro in here. Give it a nice rough chop, trying not to get too many of the stems. If you love cilantro, feel free to add more.

Dicing Avocado

We want one avocado diced; I’m actually gonna use two because I love avocado. Peel the skin off, then dice. Remove the tails from the shrimp because we’re eating this with chips, so you can chop the shrimp into smaller pieces or halves depending on how you’re serving it.

Final Assembly

Once your shrimp have chilled in the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes, drain them. I’m gonna assemble this in a big bowl. Add the shrimp, watermelon radishes, avocado, cilantro, jalapeño, diced onion, and mango. Sprinkle on about a teaspoon of flaked sea salt; you can add more later depending on how you’re serving it. Add some of the toasted pepitas. If you want a beautiful presentation, reserve some avocado, mango, and radishes and sprinkle them on top. Add in some of that reserved citrus juice to help the flavors along.

That looks amazing. It is the perfect combination of crunchy, creamy, spicy, citrusy, and a little bit of sweet. It’s amazing on chips and is the perfect appetizer, especially for warm weather when you don’t really want to do any baking.