These delicious Grilled Shrimp Tacos with Avocado Crema are the perfect meal for a backyard summer date night! The grilled shrimp are layered inside fresh corn tortillas along with shredded cabbage and a homemade avocado crema and then topped with cotija cheese and freshly chopped cilantro.
Grilled Shrimp Tacos with Avocado Crema Recipe
I mean, just look at these colorful tacos! The freshly made yellow corn tortillas are slightly charred and then stuffed with both shredded red and green cabbage. Add a zig-zag of light green, homemade avocado crema before adding the perfectly pink grilled shrimp and then a sprinkling of cotija cheese and freshly chopped cilantro.
Served with a lime wedge and cold beer or glass of wine these tacos are the perfect summer meal as a date night or with friends!
The full, printable recipe is below, but here are the needed ingredients. It may seem like a lot when glancing at the list, but most are spices or condiments that you likely already have in your pantry or refrigerator.
For assembling the tacos:
- Yellow corn tortillas – I like to char them on the stovetop or grill
- large shrimp – fresh or frozen, thawed if frozen, peeled, and deveined
- red cabbage – if you can get bagged shredded cabbage, save yourself some time!
- green cabbage – if you can get bagged shredded cabbage, save yourself some time!
- cotija cheese
- cilantro
For the shrimp marinade:
- olive oil
- lime juice – from 2 limes
- onion powder
- garlic – fresh cloves or frozen minced cubes
- red pepper flakes
- cayenne pepper
- salt – kosher or sea salt
For the avocado crema:
- avocados
- sour cream – or you can use plain greek yogurt
- mayonnaise
- lime juice – from one lime, can also add some lime zest for additional color/flavor
- garlic – fresh cloves or frozen minced cubes
- salt – kosher or sea salt
- freshly cracked black pepper
Here’s the full, printable recipe:
Grilled Shrimp Tacos with Avocado Crema
Ingredients
- Tacos:
- 6-12 yellow corn tortillas, toasted or charred
- 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 cup purple cabbage, shredded
- 1 cup green cabbage, shredded
- 2 limes
- 3 TB Cotija cheese
- Optional: ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
- Shrimp marinade:
- 4 TB olive oil
- 1/2 tsp kosher or coarse sea salt
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 limes, juiced
- Avocado crema:
- 1 avocado, peeled and pitted
- 1/2 cup sour cream or plain greek yogurt
- 2 TB mayo
- 2 TB lime juice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- Optional: cilantro garnish
Instructions
- Rinse and pat dry the shrimp. Gather ingredients for the shrimp marinade and combine in a bowl. Allow the shrimp to marinate for 15-30 minutes.
- Gather ingredients for avocado crema and place into blender. Blend until smooth, stopping to scrape the sides and blending until combined.
- Preheat grill to medium-high.
- Char tortillas.
- Prep taco ingredients for assembling.
- Assemble shrimp onto skewers for grilling.
- Grill shrimp for 5 minutes on medium-high, flipping halfway through, until shrimp are pink on the outside, opaque on the inside.
- Remove shrimp from grill and from skewers. If grilled with the tails, remove the tails.
- Fill two charred tortillas with both shredded red and green cabbage.
- Drizzle a layer of avocado crema.
- Top with 4-5 grilled shrimp, a sprinkle of cotija cheese, and chopped cilantro.
- Enjoy!
