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Anytime I can fire up the grill instead of dirtying a pan or turning on the oven, I will. There are so many benefits to making shrimp fajitas on the grill. For starters, the clean up is nearly nothing. But more importantly, you can cook them over high heat—as fajitas should be—to develop color and flavor quickly. These grilled shrimp fajitas are served with charred peppers, scallions, and pineapple (some of which gets turned into a pineapple salsa).
This recipe was developed by Jenni Lata, a Charleston-based recipe developer with years of experience developing fish and seafood recipes. I then back-tested the recipe a few times to ensure everything was streamlined and written with clarity.
This has quickly become a staple summer dinner for me, especially because it can be scaled up for larger groups.
Shrimp Fajita Seasoning
The seasoning for the shrimp is a simple combination of coriander, smoked paprika, cayenne, salt, and black pepper. It’s a simple combination that delivers on all fronts—earthy, smoky, spicy, and salty.
And while you could use this seasoning as-is, Jenni recommends mixing it all with some lime juice and vegetable oil. Lime adds vibrant acidity and the oil helps to keep the shrimp from sticking to the grill grate during cooking.
How Easy It Is To Make Shrimp Fajitas
The process is really straight forward. Basically season the shrimp, skewer, and grill everything until charred. Here’s a more detailed outline with step-by-step photos (I’ve also included a video in the recipe card).
- Toss the shrimp with the spices, lime juice and oil. Thread onto skewers (as many as you want).
- Prep the vegetables then drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Grill the pineapple and vegetables until charred.
- For the pineapple salsa, combine red onion, serrano, lime juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, the diced grilled pineapple and cilantro.
- Grill the shrimp until charred and cooked through and grill the tortillas until light charred and pliable.
- Slice vegetable and arrange on a platter.
Tips From Recipe Testing
- For these fajitas with shrimp, you can use any size shrimp as long as it can be threaded onto a skewer. So use what you like or have on hand.
- You will likely have extra grilled pineapple. It’s great served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or dice it up and serve over my juicy brined pork chops with some whole grain mustard.
Grilled Shrimp Fajitas with Pineapple Salsa
Description
Video
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Ingredients
- 3 limes
- 1½ pounds colossal (16/20) or jumbo (21/25) shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 5 tablespoons vegetable or avocado oil, divided
- 1 teaspoon toasted ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
- 1 red onion
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 serrano pepper, minced
- 1 small clove garlic, grated
- 1 bunch scallions
- 2 red or orange bell peppers, seeded and cut into quarters
- 2 poblano peppers, seeded and cut into quarters
- 1 pineapple, outer skin removed, sliced into ¾-inch thick round slabs
- 12 small flour tortillas
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro leaves + more for serving
- 2 avocados, seeded, peeled, thinly sliced
- Hot sauce, for serving
Instructions
- Prepare a charcoal or gas grill to medium-high heat. Juice 1–2 limes to get ¼ cup juice; cut remaining limes into wedges for serving.
- Add shrimp to a medium bowl with 2 tablespoons lime juice, 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon coriander, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, a few turns black pepper, and ¼ teaspoon cayenne. Toss to coat then thread shrimp onto skewers; refrigerate until ready to grill.
- Cut red onion crosswise into rounds. Finely dice ¼ cup of red onion and transfer to a small bowl. To diced onion, add remaining 2 tablespoons lime juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 minced serrano, 1 small grated clove garlic, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt; stir to combine and set aside.
- Place remaining red onion rounds on a sheet pan or platter and add scallions, quartered peppers, and sliced pineapple. Drizzle with remaining 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and season with 1 teaspoon kosher salt and a few turns black pepper.
- Place scallions, red onion, peppers, and pineapple on grill grate (in that order). By the time the last piece of pineapple has been added to grill, you’ll want to flip the scallions. Cook for another minute until charred then remove and transfer back to sheet pan (2–3 minutes total for scallions). Continue grilling red onion, peppers, and pineapple until charred and tender, turning occasionally, 10–15 minutes total. Transfer to sheet pan.
- Add shrimp skewers to grill and cook until shrimp is lightly charred and just cooked through, turning once, 4–5 minutes depending on size. Meanwhile, add tortillas to a cooler section (usually outside edge) of grill and cook until puffed up and lightly brown, 1–2 minutes. Wrap tortillas in a towel to keep warm and pliable.
- Finely dice ¾ cup of charred pineapple and add to bowl with diced red onion and serrano. Add ¼ cup cilantro and stir to combine.
- Thinly slice remaining pineapple and peppers and cut scallions into 1-inch pieces.
- Remove shrimp from skewers and arrange on a large platter with charred vegetables, pineapple, tortillas, avocado, and pineapple salsa.
- Serve family-style with lime wedges and hot sauce.
