Enjoy the weather with some crispy and delicious, panko-crusted sweet coconut shrimp dipped in a chilled pineapple sauce.
Today we’re making some tropical, restaurant-style coconut shrimp. It’s a crowd-favorite appetizer with jumbo-sized shrimp coated in sweet and crunchy coconut-panko breadcrumbs and fried until crispy and golden.
I paired it with a chilled homemade pineapple sauce but you can use other dipping sauces like store-bought sweet chili sauce. It’s incredibly delicious and addictive. The contrast of hot and crispy coconut shrimp with the chilled pineapple sauce works so well.
Pair it with some fun sides like coconut rice and grab a Pina Colada while you’re at it. For more shrimp recipes, try out honey garlic shrimp, cilantro lime honey garlic shrimp, or some Sriracha shrimp. In the meantime, let’s start cooking!
COCONUT SHRIMP RECIPE TIPS
You will need to set up three breading stations. Flour dusting is station number one, egg dipping is station number two and coconut-panko breadcrumbs are station number three. One of the reasons I suggested shrimp with tails on is because the tails make it so much easier to bread. Use the tails as your handles and you’re less likely to have clumpy flour fingers, where you end up breading them more than the food. So rest easy knowing you can swish that shrimp in the egg and not get messy!
Also, you’ll want to shake off any excess flour before dipping it into the egg and likewise, let the egg drip off fully before rolling it in the panko-coconut mixture. I like to use a spoon to heap on flour in the first stage so I don’t get my fingers messy.
As for the cooking, one thing I will have to point out here is shrimp cooks fast. Panko and coconut burn even faster. So don’t blast your kitchen with super high heat and wonder why you have blackened charcoal shrimp. Heat up the oil nice and slow and wait for it to be ready. If you’re wondering what ready is, ready is when you dip a shrimp end in it and the oil gets all excited. Or toss a coconut flake in there and see if it bubbles.
Then watch the shrimp cook, it shouldn’t take too long. Once my oil was nice and hot, it took 30 seconds per side. I pan-fried this in a regular skillet and flipped them to fry them on both sides.
If oil makes your arteries scream for mercy, you can probably bake these too. Just like I had success baking my tuna and cheese croquettes, these are bake-friendly as well. I did the croquettes with cornflakes breadcrumbs at 450°F for 15 minutes. I suggest 450°F for about 5-10 minutes, check to see how long it takes to get a light golden brown. If you do bake it, let me know what settings you used!
And now it’s time to eat. I spent about an hour taking pics of these. By the time I was ready to eat, it had cooled down but was still crispy. Oh and that pineapple sauce. Just a little bit of heat to it and with it being chilled and all, it was great! The first thing I thought when I took my first bite was ‘How do I tell them how awesome this is without using hyperboles?’. Well, I hope I just did. Enjoy!
MORE SHRIMP RECIPES TO TRY
- Honey Garlic Shrimp
- Easy Shrimp Scampi
- Cilantro Lime Honey Garlic Shrimp
- Lemon Garlic Butter Baked Shrimp
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Coconut Shrimp with Spicy Pineapple Sauce
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Yield: 2-4 1x
Ingredients
Shrimp:
- 1 lb. jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined with tail on
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
Sauce:
- 1 can (8 oz.) pineapple chunks, with juice
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
- A dash of cayenne (optional)
Instructions
- Blend all the sauce ingredients and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Pat the shrimp dry and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Combine the panko with coconut flakes and mix well.
- Dust the shrimp in the flour, dip it in the egg and coat fully with the coconut-panko mixture.
- Repeat with remaining shrimp.
- Over medium heat, heat up the oil until hot and fry the shrimp in batches until a light golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
- Let it rest for 10 minutes then dish and serve with chilled pineapple sauce.
- Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
Comments & Reviews
Is it possible to air fry these?
I don’t see why not. This is an older recipe of mine, so it was tested before air fryers were easily available. So while I technically have not tested this recipe in the air fryer myself, I would try it at 350°F for 10-12 minutes, and adjust the timing as needed. Just make sure to space them out as best as you can and not stack them so they don’t end up steaming instead.
With Jumbo shrimp on sale I knew I had to try this recipe. Glad I did. The shrimp and sauce were so good. I did add a little rum to my sauce when I blended it. Thanks so much for the recipe.
Oh thanks for trying this one out! Not a lot of people do which is a pity because it tastes so good! I made this years ago but the flavor was so good, I can practically taste it in my mouth again replying to your comment today 😛 That rum addition is a GREAT idea!
Hello! I just found this recipe on Yummly and I can’t wait to try it. May I ask how are calculate the calories per serving?
I would suggest using a calorie calculator like this and dividing the servings into 4 portions, depending how much you eat. The portion assumes that much fried shrimp would be enough for 4 people with sides.
Willing to try this recipe but can i use grated coconut instead of the store brought coconut?
As long as the grated coconut is not the super fine, you should be okay. You’ll want flake-like consistency to add texture along with the panko bread crumbs. Good luck, Janine! We gobbled up this one super fast.
I use organic, unrefined coconut oil to cook with, Its a healthier oil and no worries about your arteries screaming. LOL
You know, I’ve been hearing a lot about how healthy coconut oil is for cooking. I should do more research about it! I think the thing that turned me off what how it is solid. Wasn’t used to that! Did a quick Googling last night and found out this is completely normal and it liquefies after heating up.
What would be a good gluten sub. for the panko?
I’m not well versed in GF stuff but you could blitz some gluten free bread in the food processor and use those bread crumbs to substitute panko?
What temp for a deep fryer? Thanks looks great.
Honestly, I don’t have a deep fryer machine that sets a temp so I wouldn’t know. And I’m not sure how to gauge the temperature of the oil on the stove. I just toss a little something in the oil to see if it crackles and I know it’s ready and so breading doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Just not too hot that the oil is smoking. If you’re used to frying stuff, then I would guess whatever temperature you’ve used for things like fried chicken or fries. Good luck, Billy!
These look awesome, but I GF, what flour would you suggest in place of wheat? I have some GF panko.
Hmm, you could try dusting it lightly with cornstarch. I regularly use cornstarch + egg as a batter for crispy stuff.
I love coconut shrimp! It sounds amazing with the spicy pineapple sauce!
Thanks, Kelly! It WAS amazing! I was happily surprised with the outcome 🙂
This recipe is what I was looking for =) Nice job!
Thank you, Anna! I hope you like it if you make it 🙂
Looks so crispy from the outside, I love this dish, but unfortunately I can’t have shrimps anymore, so I’ll use fish fingers to make it. That second pic with sauce dripping, oh my, I really have to make it 🙂
It goes great with chicken tenders or fish! Not sure why I picked shrimp to feature the breading but it plays well with all kinds of protein!
This recipe is the complete package – great post (tick), brilliant photo (tick) and a truly GREAT recipe (tick tick tick!). Can’t wait to try it! This is seriously amazing looking. And that sauce……
You’re such a sweetheart, Nagi! I will bury you in a mountain of these when you pass, as requested 😉
Just told hubby I’m making this when my boyz come back from their travels. They love coconut shrimp! I concur with you both on the passing up certain foods when you can make it yourself. Guilty as charged. Except of course for Indian
food. I am still in my honeymoon phase with Indian food though it’s been 4 years since it made its way into my life. I made Dal Fry just now and my house smells great. I’ll let you know how the Coconut Shrimp goes 🙂
D~
Make a big batch if they like it, I used a whole packet of frozen jumbo shrimp for just the two of us and boy did we nom! But we’re gluttons. And Indian food never gets old. That dal fry sounds great! I usually make vegetable dal to eat with roti. 🙂
I know what you mean about not wanting to order something you can make yourself…especially when you know you can cook it for much less–guilty, haha!
I LOVE coconut shrimp and this recipe looks so yummy! Do you think it would work to use pure maple syrup instead of the brown sugar? I normally don’t eat sugar. And once again, I am putting another one of your recipes on my to-do list!
I think you can use maple syrup, agave, palm sugar, white sugar. It’s just there to balance out the lime juice really. It’ll just be a slightly different sorta sweet!