How to Cook Shrimp in Air Fryer? – Step-By-Step Guide

Seafood has always been and will always remain a favorite meal for many people. That’s precisely why you should know how to cook it in your home. Apart from enhancing your culinary skills, you also get to impress your family and friends with this new knowledge. The seafood we’ll be focusing on is shrimp. Whether it’s raw shrimp or frozen shrimp, you can transform them into something delicious and memorable.

Perhaps you already know how to cook shrimp using other methods, but what about air frying? Surely, it won’t hurt to learn one more way to produce cooked shrimp. This is the focal point of this article. We’ll be showing you how to air-fry shrimp, the ingredients needed for the cooked shrimp, how to cook frozen shrimp, how to serve it, and some helpful tips you should observe to get the best air fryer shrimp. To learn all these and more, keep reading!

Ingredients For Cooking Shrimp In Air Fryer

Thankfully, you don’t need a lot of ingredients to make this delicious meal. Your air fryer shrimp recipe should include the following:

• Shrimp: This is unarguably your most important ingredient. Without this, there’s no meal. We recommend going for jumbo shrimp because of its large size. However, you can also go for medium shrimp. Also, ensure that you’re going for raw shrimp, not cooked shrimp. Whether you want to go for fresh or frozen shrimp is up to you. There are separate processes for each. If you want to spend less time with the cooking process, go for peeled shrimp or deveined shrimp. If you’re wondering how much you’ll need then check out this handy guide on how much shrimp per person.
• Seasonings: The seasonings you choose to use to enhance the taste of your air-fried shrimp. The seasoning mixture we recommend includes salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, sweet or smoked paprika, and black pepper.
• Cooking Oil: We recommend using either avocado oil or olive oil. You’ll just need to use a little quantity by brushing it on the surface of the raw jumbo shrimp. The oil will help the seasoning stick to it.

Air fryer shrimp recipe:

• 3/4 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil/avocado oil
• 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon of smoked or sweet paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon of onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground lemon pepper
• 32 jumbo shrimp

The Cooking Process

Now, to the main part. Let’s show you how to make crispy air fryer shrimp:

• Switch on your air fryer and preheat it to 204° Celsius. Leave it for 5 minutes.
• Pat dry your fresh shrimp with paper towels before using the seasonings and oil. Drying them before applying the oil and seasonings help them stick.
• Arrange shrimp on a clean surface, preferably inside a large bowl.
• Get a small bowl and put all your seasonings inside. Then mix them together.
• Put your mix of seasonings beside the olive oil and use a small brush to apply half of the olive oil on the sides of the shrimp that’s facing you.
• Now, sprinkle half of the seasonings on the oiled side of the shrimp and use the brush to pat them on the shrimp. This will help the seasonings stick to the shrimp.
• Flip the shrimp to the other side and repeat the 4th and 5th steps.
• It’s time to make air fryer shrimp. Place shrimp in a single layer inside the air fryer basket and let it cook at the preheated temperature for a cook time of about 3 minutes. Set a timer for precision. After 3 minutes, flip the shrimp to the other side and cook for the same duration. This will help the shrimp cook evenly.
• After the cooking time has elapsed, take your cooked shrimp out from the air fryer basket. It should have a light golden color.

Cooking Frozen Shrimp In Air Fryer

The process of cooking frozen shrimp is very similar to air frying the fresh version. The difference here is in the preparation stages and maybe the cooking time. First, thaw frozen shrimp by moving them from the freezer to the refrigerator. Leave them there for 24 hours. The purpose of thawing frozen shrimp is to ensure the seasonings will stick to them. After defrosting the shrimp, follow the same process above. You may need to adjust the cooking time to a minute longer.

Helpful Tips To Pay Attention To When You Want To Air Fry The Shrimp

In your quest to whip up the best-tasting shrimp in an air fryer, there are certain tips you should pay attention to. Ignoring them could give you fried shrimp with a taste you’ll give anything to forget. Let’s take a look at some of them:

Avoid Overloading The Air Fryer Basket

This is very important. If you’re cooking for a crowd, it’s a no-brainer that you’ll be cooking a lot of shrimp. It also means you’ll want to hurry the process. This can tempt you into putting more shrimp than the air fryer basket can hold properly. We don’t advise this.

If you were paying attention to the instructions we laid out, there’s a part that says you should put the fresh or thawed shrimp in a single layer. If you have a lot of shrimp, don’t rush the cooking process. Air-fry them in batches. By doing this, you’ll have properly cooked and perfectly juicy shrimp to serve your customer.

Always Flip The Shrimp Halfway Thorough The Cooking Duration

After placing the shrimp in the air fryer, don’t just leave it till the cooking time is over. Yeah, it may cook well. However, to guarantee that it cooks evenly, you need to flip the shrimp in the air fryer to the other side. Regardless of the shrimp recipes you use, one side may taste properly done and the other half-done.

The Use of Shrimp Determines Whether You Keep The Tails Or Remove Them

It largely depends on how you like eating or serving shrimp. However, if you want to serve it as shrimp pasta, salad, or shrimp tacos, removing the tails will be ideal. On the other hand, if you want to serve shrimp in your favorite dipping sauce, keeping the tails on will be better.

The Size Of Shrimp Determines Cooking Duration

The size of the shrimp you buy will determine the cooking time. If it’s medium shrimp, it should take 1 min and 30 seconds for each side. If you’re using extra jumbo shrimp, target 5 minutes or thereabouts for each side.

How To Serve?

This is our favorite part. Knowing how to serve your air-fried shrimp is just as important as knowing how to cook them. There are several ways you can serve shrimp. Heck, with the overwhelming number of serving options available, you can get creative with it. You can serve it in melted garlic butter or cocktail sauce. Alternative suggestions include wrapping it in tortillas, serving with rice, roasted vegetables, or quinoa. How you want to serve your shrimp is up to you. You can even try a shrimp sandwich if that’s your preference. Limitless options!

You deserve to know what you’re eating. A serving of crispy shrimp contains:

• 1g of sodium
• 1g of polyunsaturated fat
• 201mg of potassium
• 154 calories
• 6g of fat
• 1g of saturated fat
• 1g of sugar
• 1mg of iron
• 92mg of calcium
• 4g of monounsaturated fat
• 1mg of vitamin C
• 191mg of cholesterol
• 1g of trans fat
• 21g of protein
• 3g of carbohydrates
• 1g of fiber

Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs

Can You Thaw Frozen Shrimp In The Air Fryer?

You can, but we don’t recommend it. The best course of action is to thaw it before air frying it. You can either use the refrigerator like we described earlier or use water. For the latter, put the frozen shrimp in an airtight container, fill a large bowl with water, and submerge it inside.

How Do I Store The Remaining Shrimp?

A lot of meals have leftovers. So, if this is the case with your shrimp, you have nothing to worry about. You can store what’s left of your easy air fryer shrimp inside a shallow airtight container in the fridge. It should be good for three days. On the other hand, shrimp, in its raw state, can last for months in the freezer.

How Long Does The Air Fryer Take To Cook The Shrimp?

At the recommended temperature (which we indicated in the cooking process), it should take about 10 minutes max. This is good news because you don’t need to wait long for your juicy shrimp.

How Will I Know When The Shrimp Is Ready?

The appearance of the shrimp will tell you all you need to know. Undercooked or raw shrimp is always translucent and gray. Cooked shrimp, on the flip side, appears opaque and orange or pink (depending on the type of shrimp).

Is There A Need To Flip The Shrimp Halfway Through The Cooking Time?

Yes, there is. As we said earlier, it helps the shrimp cook evenly.

Conclusion

It’s time to enter your kitchen and make magic. We’ve armed you with the knowledge you need to know to make world-class shrimp in the air fryer. Don’t forget the tips we listed for you, and skip no steps in the process. The only part where you have free rein is deciding how to serve your shrimp. That’s a case of “whatever works for you.” Every other thing should be adhered to for your own good. You’ll want to leave your kitchen holding your delicious-looking shrimp with smiles. We’re simply making sure of that. The result will be entirely worth it. You can thank us later. Bon appetit!