There’s nothing better than the taste of sweet juicy shrimp! These grilled shrimp skewers have been soaked in a citrus and olive oil mixture and then cooked quickly on the grill.
The weather is definitely changing here in California and I’m not sad about it at all! Along with the good weather comes many other benefits like brighter nights, outdoor bike rides and more grilling! Last summer I cooked lots of thing’s on the grill using skewers like this grilled chicken, and these grilled scallops with a cilantro yogurt dip are also amazing!
Using a skewer helps keep everything in a an orderly fashion. There’s nothing falling between the grates and you can make a complete meal just by adding some vegetables to your skewers. It’s a one-and-done meal.
BEST SHRIMP FOR GRILLED SHRIMP SKEWERS?
Shrimp are sized according to how many make up a pound. That’s why you’ll see them in the store being sold as 8-10 or 26-30 which means 8-10 per pound. The larger the shrimp, the more expensive they are which makes sense because some of the super and extra colossal size shrimp are huge. For grilling try and source the biggest you can. I love shrimp and used colossal for my grilled shrimp skewers.
MAKING THE MARINADE FOR THE SHRIMP
This marinade is really simple and almost like a ceviche style because of the citrus flavors. It contains lime and lemon juice, but because the bulk of the marinade is orange juice which is far less acidic than lemons or limes, the marinade won’t start to cook the shrimp like it would in a traditional ceviche recipe.
Make sure your shrimp are peeled and deveined, meaning the black digestional tract has been taken out. Many people think the black line running through the shrimp is poop but it’s just grit and dirt. I like to leave the tail on my shrimp just for presentation.
HOW LONG SHOULD I MARINADE MY SHRIMP?
There’s no real answer to this question except that the longer you let them soak in the marinade, the more flavor they’ll absorb. I’d recommend at least an hour and no longer than a day.
ARE WOODEN OR METAL SKEWERS BETTER?
I have both but definetly use my metal skewers more. There’s nothing wrong with using wooden ones, but they require some extra prep like pre-soaking in water or they’ll just dissolve when over the heat. I can reuse my metal skewers over and over which is also a huge plus.
