This easy Mexican Shrimp Skillet will be your new favorite weeknight dinner. With seasoned shrimp, black beans, corn, and tomatoes - this recipe is filling, hearty, and healthy. It's a favorite shrimp recipe around here along with these Blackened Shrimp and Shrimp Fajitas.
With summer on the horizon, I have simple and easy meals on the brain and this Mexican Shrimp dish fits the bill perfectly. From start to finish, it's ready in just 15 minutes and it's a meal that everyone loves. Plus with so many different ways to serve it and delicious leftovers, it's a meal you can repurpose all week.
To really pack in the flavor in this dish, I love to start with sauteed onions, poblano peppers, and garlic. This creates a super flavorful base with just the right amount of spice from the poblano peppers. Next comes the shrimp. Cooking it with the onions and peppers ensures it will have tons of flavor as well.
Then to keep things really easy, I used taco seasoning as the next layer of flavor. You can use a store-bought option or make your own. Taco seasoning has spices like cumin, paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, and oregano so it's an easy way to add tons of flavor in one step. Look for a version that is low sodium and doesn't have a lot of additives.
Finally, to finish off the dish, I added black beans, corn, cherry tomatoes, cilantro, and lime juice. So easy and so good. Serve it on its own, over rice, stuffed into tortillas for tacos, in lettuce wraps, or over a big bed of greens for a shrimp taco salad. There are so many yummy options.
Recipe Ideas for this Mexican Shrimp Skillet
This is one of those recipes that you can easily adapt and make work for almost any preferences or just based on what you have in your pantry,
- Any canned beans will work in this recipe. Make it with black beans, pinto beans, white beans, or even chickpeas.
- If you can't find fresh cherry tomatoes that look good, use a can of drained diced tomatoes instead. Add extra heat with some diced tomatoes with green chilies.
- For extra heat, use a couple of jalapeno peppers in place of the poblano pepper. For less heat, you use green bell pepper instead.
- Add some extra veggies! We love adding diced zucchini, cauliflower, spinach, and summer squash.
- If you don't eat shrimp, you can use chicken breast or fish instead. Just adjust the cooking time as needed.
- If you want to make this dish with rice, you have two options. For the easiest prep, just grab some frozen rice. Pop it in the microwave to defrost it and then just fold into the dish with the beans and corn. You can also cook rice on the side and then stir it into the dish.
- Toppings! This Mexican Shrimp Skillet is calling out for toppings. Add shredded cheese, diced avocado, sour cream or Greek yogurt, diced onions, and anything else you would be on tacos.
Ways to Serve Mexican Shrimp
Once you make this recipe, you will realize how many different ways you can serve it. There are so many different options. Here are some favorites:
- Most often, I serve this over a bed of brown rice, quinoa, or cauliflower rice. Then I top everything with diced avocado and diced fresh jalapenos.
- Tacos are another delicious option. Heat up some corn or flour tortillas and scoop this right inside. Add some shredded cheese.
- For a lighter meal, serve this wrapped up in butter lettuce leaves. Cabbage leaves also work for some extra crunch.
- Make a delicious taco salad. Start with a bed of coleslaw mix or crunchy Romaine. The shrimp has so much flavor, you likely won't need any extra dressing.
- Believe it or not, this is really delicious tossed with pasta for a Southwestern shrimp inspired pasta. Cook your pasta, add this on top, and stir together. For a creamy version, add some reduced fat cream cheese as well. It's so good.
- Add some cheese and turn this into a healthy and filling quesadilla.
- Wrap this up in a tortilla with some cooked rice to make a really yummy shrimp burrito.
Should I use fresh or frozen shrimp?
Unless you are buying shrimp right off a boat, then frozen shrimp is your best bet. In fact, almost all shrimp we buy in the grocery store is previously frozen. The "fresh" shrimp in the seafood case, it's probably just defrosted frozen shrimp. Therefore, I usually buy frozen shrimp since it is the most affordable option. Look for one that is already deveined with shells removed for the easiest prep.
How to defrost frozen shrimp quickly?
My preferred way to defrost shrimp is to simply place it in a bowl overnight in the fridge so it defrosts naturally. However, sometimes we don't have time or forget to do that. In those instances, add your shrimp to a bowl in the sink. Fill the bowl with cold water and let the water continue to run into the bowl very slowly. Let the shrimp sit like this for 10-15 minutes and then drain. Dry with a towel to remove the excess water.
How to make homemade taco seasoning?
This recipe uses taco seasoning to add lots of flavor, fast. You can use a store-bought option or make your own at home. Here is an easy recipe to make your own. You can store it in your pantry for up to 6 months.
- 3 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp kosher salt
- 1.5 tsp black pepper
- Optional: Oregano, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper
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