If you’re looking for a delicious appetizer, bacon-wrapped shrimp skewers will quickly become your favorite go-to meal, taking less than 15 minutes to prepare. It’s one of my favorite shrimp recipes to cook for special occasions or bring to a BBQ. Whether grilled, seared, or roasted in the oven, their flavor is immaculate, no matter which method of preparation you choose.
For this bacon-wrapped shrimp skewers recipe, I opted to sear them in a frying pan since I don’t have a grill. But feel free to choose your preferred cooking method or try them all.
For the recipe, you’ll only need shrimp, bacon, salt, pepper, olive oil, garlic, and some chili flakes.
Let’s start!
Go straight to the recipe:
How to make bacon-wrapped shrimp skewers
Step 1: Prepare your ingredients
The longest part of this recipe, at least for me, was cleaning the shrimp. Make sure you not only peel off the shell but also devein the shrimp. You can simply pull out the vein with a fork or a toothpick. See how I did it in the picture.
It’s important to take out the vein because it contains the shrimp’s digestive and waste tract. And trust me, you don’t want to eat that. At this step, also chop some garlic.
Step 2: Wrap the shrimp
Take a cleaned shrimp and wrap it in a piece of bacon. If your shrimp is small, you can cut the bacon strip in half to make it easier to sear it later. I used the whole piece and I realized it was a bit too big for the shrimp, but I love bacon, so in the end the result was still great.
Thinner bacon slices work better when using raw shrimp because raw shrimp takes longer to cook, while bacon crisps quickly.
Step 3: Cooking
Now comes the easiest step. Heat a frying pan over high heat and place your skewers. Make sure to leave space between them to let the shrimp cook evenly. Then add sliced or crushed garlic. If you, like me, prefer crunchy and well-browned garlic, you can add it first since garlic takes only a minute or two to brown.
Sear the bacon-wrapped shrimp skewers on both sides for a few minutes. Season them with freshly ground black pepper and chili flakes. If you’re using raw shrimp, you can add a tiny bit of salt. Otherwise, I would suggest skipping the salt, because bacon and the shrimp itself are naturally pretty salty.
Step 4: Enjoy
When the bacon and shrimp have browned, remove the pan from the heat and serve. I like to eat my bacon-wrapped shrimp skewers with cocktail sauce and freshly toasted bread. Eat them quickly because shrimp skewers cool down very fast and as the fat in the bacon solidifies, it loses its moist and savory texture.
The recipe
Bacon Wrapped Shrimp Skewers
Ingredients
- 12 pcs Shrimp
- 6-12 pcs Bacon
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 tsp Chili Flakes
- Pepper and Salt to taste
Instructions
- Prepare ingredients & clean shrimp (peel, devein, and chop garlic)
- Wrap the shrimp in bacon
- Cook skewers (heat pan, arrange skewers, add garlic, sear both sides, season) for 1-2 minutes on both sides
- Serve & enjoy
Questions about bacon-wrapped shrimp skewers
How to skewer shrimp?
I bought larger precooked shrimp, which made it easier to skewer without tearing the flesh apart. If your shrimp are smaller, opt for thinner skewers to prevent the shrimp from breaking and falling off the skewer. Make sure to pierce the shrimp and bacon together so they don’t unwrap during cooking. Although I skewered the shrimp wrap through the side, you might want to pierce the shrimp through the back and sideways, as it allows you to sear it more evenly.
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