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Guys!! Honey. Garlic. Butter. Shrimp. YESSSS!
All done with Belizean inspired flavors…which yes, is just as good as at sounds. Or at least I think it sounds good…. cause IT IS.
So let me explain this recipe, as it has a bit of a story. My brother and his girlfriend Lyndsie were just in Central America traveling through Guatemala, Belize and those areas. These two do a lot of traveling, I like to call them the “wanderers”. Basically they’ve figured out the key to life….travel, eat really good food and be happy. I could never be them because it’s just not my personality type, but sounds pretty awesome, and to each their own!
Technically they went on this trip for “work”, but let’s be real, chillin on the beach and drinking tequila sounds a lot more like vacay. They were on the hunt for textiles, furniture, antiques and that sort of thing for Lyndsie’s sister, who is an interior designer in LA. A little work and lot of relax is how they like to do things. Like I said, they’ve got things figured out.
Speaking of the fam, some of them went to Cincinnati and then up to Cleveland over the weekend to celebrate my cousin Matt’s graduation. Matt is one month younger than me, and guys, we could not be in more different places in our lives. Matt is SO excited to be done with school and have a little time off before he starts his new job at the Cleveland Clinic and steps out into the real world. Sometimes I wonder what I would be doing right now if I took a more traditional path. Like would I be writing this blog? Writing a cookbook? Would I have fallen in love with food photography? Or would I be a stylist in LA drinking kombuchas out the yazoo?? Like what? I wonder about this sometimes, but I’m super happy with where I’m at, so that has me pretty pumped!! That said, I am so happy for Matt! Graduating is such a huge deal…like HUGE. It takes a lot of freaking work to get through four years of school.
Congrats Mathew! 🙂
PS. all weekend long I was watching everyone’s snapchats back in Ohio, and man, they sure know how to have a good time…whoa.
ANYWAY, back to this KILLER Belizean Honey Garlic Butter Shrimp.
Brendan’s and Lyndsie’s trip through Central America, and all the delicious food they ate, inspired this shrimp. I’m sure it’s not super traditional or anything, but all the flavors are spot on. Coconut, garlic, shrimp, cilantro, plantains, jalapeño, ginger, rice and black beans.
All the good things in the world. 🙂
I’m actually not a huge shrimp person, I mean, I like it, but it’s got to be seasoned perfectly and just super flavorful. Plain shrimp I just can’t do, it’s too fishy or something for me.
SO, this shrimp is PACKED full of, but don’t worry, it’s still simple, fast and easy!! I’m all about these three elements now a days.
Here’s how this goes.
Start out by tossing your shrimp with olive oil, ginger, garlic, cilantro, honey, jalapeños, cumin and cayenne. This is the marinade/sauce, but the shrimp really only needs to sit in the marinade for about ten minutes or so because you also cook it in the same marinade, which in turn creates a yummy sauce! Once you’ve cooked the shrimp a bit, you then add the butter and sort of caramelize that garlic…YUM.
Then just finish up with the coconut milk and a generous handful of fresh basil.
Serve with a side of rice, avocado, black beans and fried plantains.
Done and DONE. It’s a super quick, no fuss meal, which I love on a Monday.
BUT, and this is SUPER important, you gotta, gotta, gotta make those fried plantains and a side of steamed rice. One, because the plantains are everything, and two, you need the rice for soaking up all the delicious honey garlic butter sauce. Obviously.
For real though, this sauce is EVERYTHING. You should probably put it on everything…thinking chicken, salmon, maybe even cook some chickpeas in it and get them all crispy…that would be YUM.
Either way though, the rice, the avocado and the plantains are a MUST. Just saying.
Honey Garlic Butter Shrimp In Coconut Milk with Fried Plantains.
Servings: 4 Servings
Calories Per Serving: 490 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 pound raw tail on shrimp
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 4-6 cloves garlic finely minced or grated (I like using around 4)
- 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
- 2 jalapenos seeded + chopped
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (use less for less heat maybe 1/4-1/2 teaspoon)
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro chopped
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup canned coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil chopped + more fore serving
- kosher salt + pepper
- steamed white rice + black beans + sliced avocado for serving
Fried Plantains
- 4 inch yellow plantains sliced into 1/2 rounds
- oil for frying
- flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Add the shrimp to a gallon size ziplock bag or medium size bowl. Add the olive oil, honey, garlic, ginger, jalapeños, cayenne, cumin and cilantro. Toss well to combine, seal the bag or cover the bowl and place in the fridge for 15-30 minutes or up 24 hours.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot use a slotted spoon to scoop the shrimp out of the marinade, reserving the marinade, and into the hot skillet, season with salt and pepper. Cook the shrimp until pink, about 2-3 minutes per side. Add the reserved marinade, the butter and 1 teaspoon pepper (or more or less to your taste) to the skillet. Continue to cook the shrimp in the butter until the garlic begins to caramelize and turn LIGHT golden brown, about another minute or two. Be careful not to burn the garlic. Remove from the heat and stir in the coconut milk and basil.
- Serve shrimp alongside rice, black beans, fried plantains, avocado and lime wedges. Garnish with freshly chopped basil.
Fried Plantains
- Heat an inch or so of oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is hot add the plantains and fry for 2-3 minutes per side or until just lightly golden. Remove and drain on paper towels. Now transfer the plantains to a cutting board and, using the back of a wooden spoon, smash them down into round flat disks.
- Return the plantains to the hot oil and fry another 2-3 minutes on each side or until they are golden and crispy. Remove to a paper towel lined plate and sprinkle with salt. Chips are best eaten right after frying, but any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
Sooo, Monday night dinner??!! FOR SURE. K, bye. ?
This was incredible! So much flavor and so unique. Originally I was going to skip the plantains because I thought it’d be too much work, but I’m so glad I didn’t. They were pretty quick and easy to make. I don’t care for the flavor of honey (I know, I’m crazy), so I used agave instead and it was still delicious. That sauce!!! Anyway, thanks for another winner!
Thank you for trying this Ryan! I am so glad you loved it! xTieghan
Made this tonight and it was awesome! I threw some leftover coconut milk in with the rice while it was cooking too.
Thank you so much Meredith! xTieghan
This recipe was SO GOOD. I made it exactly as written, served it with black beans and slice avocado. The sauce was unbelievably flavorful. And this was my first time making fried plantains, loved them and they were so easy!
Thank you so much Emilie! xTieghan
This was delicious! The heat in the shrimp was perfect. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Michelle!
This was incredibly delicious and satisfying! Thank you for the recipe, it’s definitely a keeper in our house!
Thank you so much Noemi!
Wow! I pinned this year’s ago and finally got over my fear of carbs and decided to make this. It is so delicious and right up my alley! I only did half the butter and I used black rice. This was very satisfying, I’d definitely make it again and maybe add some green bell pepper!
I am so happy to hear that!! And I am so glad you loved this Seneca! Thank you for trying it!
So good!!! Even my non-shrimpers (including me) liked this. I had shrimp I needed out of the freezer, so I made this recipe tonight. The marinade is one I’ll use with chicken and other fish. Loved it!
Thank you so much Marie!
Ooooooh I am loving all your recipes. I made this sauce tonight to put on my salmon. The only thing I added was a couple of splashes of lime juice. OMG it is so delicious. I want to put it on everything.
I love that! Thank you so much Kara, I am so glad you loved this!
Love this. So Much. I’ve read through all the comments and would love for you to have the last word on this: does the marinade get added to the skillet or not? I hope the answer is yes because the sauce makes the dish and discarding it doesn’t feel right. But the recipe remains confusing! Also, can you suggest how this would work with salmon? Again: I Love This Recipe!
HI Diane! Yes, the marinade does get added to the skillet! So so sorry if that was confusing. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe. Thanks so much! xTieghan
Holy Moly this was absolutely amazing! I also cooked the rice in half coconut milk/half water and some basil!
Thank you so much! I am so happy to hear that!
Sounds delicious! I am confused with one part. In the write up you say that you cook the shrimp in the marinade but in the recipe it says that you use a slotted spoon to take the shrimp out of the marinade to cook. It doesn’t mention added the marinade to the pan. Do you ever add the extra marinade into the pan or do you discard?
Thanks!
So sorry for the confusion, after removing the shrimp and garlic, I discard the remaining marinade. Please let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Thanks! 🙂
I am confused…in your introduction you say not to worry because the shrimp will cook also in the marinade, bUT in the instructions it doesn’t. Can you tell me the right way? I would love to add that marinade sauce while cooking
Hi Monica, sorry I am not sure exactly what you are asking. The shrimp will cook in the pan and yes, you can add the shrimp marinade to the pan as well. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Thanks! 🙂
Normally, I am not one to comment online but after trying and testing this recipe I had to as it was amazingly simple and delicious.
I substituted the jalapeno with normal chilies as that was all I had and just upped the basil a little as I am one of those avid coriander haters.
As I prefer a lot of sauce to be soaked up by the rice, I shared this recipe between two to make it extra soupy.
I served it solely with turmeric rice and it was devine.
The rice is very simple, make as normal but with a teaspoon of turmeric, slice of lemon and 3-4 cloves to make a beautiful, yellow addition to this tasty dish 🙂
Hi Lisa! I am so happy you love this recipe so much & the substitutions sound great! Thank you!
I love this recipe. I used chicken breast, cut up in strips, instead of the shrimp. It was delicious. I also served it with the plantains or tostones, as we (I am Cuban) call it.
Sounds so yummmy! Thanks for making it Vicky!
This looks awesome and I’d love to make for Monday night dinner….but I am confused about something. In your text above the recipe, you write this: “This is the marinade/sauce, but the shrimp really only needs to sit in the marinade for about ten minutes or so because you also cook it in the same marinade, which in turn creates a yummy sauce!” But in the actual recipe there is no mention at all of adding the marinade into the pan. You instruct us to scoop out the shrimp and garlic (remove both from marinade), cook the shrimp and garlic and then add coconut milk and basil and serve. So the marinade gets thrown away?