Coconut Shrimp with Orange Dipping Sauce
Servings: 8
This coconut shrimp recipe is hands down one of my favorite appetizers to make when I host a party at home. My recipe uses fresh shrimp, sweet shredded coconut, and a tempura-style batter to create a crispy and golden crust. I serve it with a zesty orange marmalade dipping sauce that I make from scratch, and the whole dish is ready in under 45 minutes.
Ingredients
For the Sauce:
- 1 cup orange marmalade
- 1/3 cup sweet chili sauce
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
For the Shrimp:
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup club soda
- ¾ cup corn starch
- 3 cups sweet coconut shreds
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 pound peeled and deveined tail on 16/20 shrimp
- oil for frying
- salt and ground white pepper to taste
Instructions
For the Sauce:
- Add all the ingredients to a medium-size bowl and whisk until combined. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- Heat some oil in a medium-size pot over medium heat and keep at 350°.
For the Shrimp:
- In a shallow bowl or cake tin, whisk together 1 cup of flour, salt, and pepper until combined. Set aside.
- Next, whisk together the 2 eggs with club soda, ¾ cup of flour, corn starch, salt, and pepper in a separate shallow bowl or cake tin until combined. Set aside.
- Mix the coconut shreds and panko in a separate shallow bowl or cake tin until combined. Set aside.
- Add a few shrimps at a time into the seasoned flour to coat. Dust off any excess then dredge in the egg wash, and finally coat completely in the coconut breading. Place on a cookie sheet tray lined with parchment paper until all the shrimp have been breaded.
- Fry the shrimp in the oil for 2 to 4 minutes or until browned and cooked throughout. Drain on paper towels. Cook in batches for 3-5.
- Serve the shrimp alongside the dipping sauce.
Notes
There really isn't anything difficult about making this coconut shrimp recipe if you follow my step-by-step instructions, so if you're a beginner cook, don't sweat it! The one thing I always recommend paying close attention to is the oil temperature when the shrimp goes in. Keep the oil at 350 F using a thermometer. If it drops below 340 F, the shrimp will absorb too much oil and turn greasy. If it rises above 365 F, the coconut will burn before the shrimp is cooked through.
Work the standard breading procedure with one wet hand, one dry hand. I keep the flour hand dry and the egg-wash hand wet. Cross-contaminate them and the flour bowl goes to paste in 5 shrimp.
Press the coconut on with real pressure: A gentle sprinkle falls off in the oil. Press coconut into the top, flip, press coconut into the bottom, and pinch the sides. A fully coated shrimp fries golden all the way around.
Freeze breaded, uncooked shrimp for later: Breaded raw shrimp go on a parchment-lined tray in the freezer, then into a labeled bag once fully frozen. They fry straight from the freezer with no thawing, and they hold for up to 6 months.
Use sweetened coconut only, trust me, unsweetened will not give the crust its color or the sweet-salty balance the sauce plays off. The sweetness in the coconut is the whole point.
The batter feeds 2 pounds of shrimp: The tempura egg wash in this recipe stretches to 2 pounds if a bigger crowd is coming. Scale the flour dust and the coconut breading proportionally.
Make-Ahead: While these are meant to be eaten immediately, you can keep them warm on a sheet tray with a rack in the oven at low temperatures (165° to 200°).
How to Store: I cover and keep the shrimp in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. They will freeze covered after being cooked for up to 3 months. See chef notes on freezing raw. The dipping sauce will store in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 2 weeks. It will not freeze.
How to Reheat: Add the desired amount of coconut shrimp to a cookie sheet tray lined with parchment paper and heat at 350° for 4-5 minutes or until hot. If reheating frozen and cooked, place them on a cookie sheet tray lined with parchment paper and heat at 350° for 13-15 minutes or until hot.
Nutrition
Calories: 615kcal, Carbohydrates: 88g, Protein: 19g, Fat: 23g, Saturated Fat: 19g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 132mg, Sodium: 344mg, Potassium: 412mg, Fiber: 7g, Sugar: 44g, Vitamin A: 88IU, Vitamin C: 3mg, Calcium: 89mg, Iron: 3mg