Tender, saucy, buttery New Orleans BBQ Shrimp have a barbecue style of their very own. Enjoy these special shrimp with crusty, garlicky French bread or over Baked Cheese Grits for a wonderfully indulgent taste of the Crescent City at home!
There are nothing quite like New Orleans BBQ Shrimp. There’s no grilling, no smoking, or traditional sauce. But, oh, is there flavor! Loads upon loads of heavenly flavor. Succulent, tender and bathed in a rich, spicy butter sauce, this is barbecue like you’ve never had it before!
Now, I am from Louisiana but live outside of Memphis and am married to a Texan. So I completely get how barbecue can get confusing. But when you hear barbeque shrimp, think spicy dry rub & buttery sauce that you will want to sop up with soft bread and lick from your fingers and chin instead of sweet, sticky or smoky.
Ingredients for New Orleans BBQ Shrimp
- 2lbs large gulf shrimp, shells on
- minced garlic
- bay leaves
- lemon juice
- Worcestershire sauce
- chardonnay
- half & half
- butter
- salt & pepper
- all purpose creole seasoning
How to Make New Orleans BBQ Shrimp
Now this little recipe for BBQ Shrimp is a true act of culinary love. It’s heart and soul. It takes pots and pans. It’s worth it.
There’s nothing hard about this recipe. It just takes time. The soulfully married rich flavors of first the sauce and then shrimp don’t happen all at once. They need a little courting. A little simmering. And above all, a few shells and tails.
Prep the shrimp. Peel your shrimp, setting aside the shells and tails for making the sauce. Shrimp shells have loads of rich locked-away flavor and are excellent for making a seafood stock, or in our case, a sauce base.
Place shrimp in a large bowl and toss with 1 Tablespoon of all purpose creole seasoning, making sure all of the shrimp are coated. Cover and refrigerate while the sauce is being prepared.
Make the Sauce. Melt some butter in a skillet and lightly brown the garlic. Stir in a little Chardonnay, Worcestershire, lemon juice, water, more creole seasoning, salt and pepper, bay leaves. Things get serious when the shrimp shells get mixed in and all that gorgeousness cooks down for 20-30 minutes.
Drain off that wonderful stock you’ve been cooking by just sitting a colander right on top of a small sauce pan. Make sure you get all that good stock out of the skillet and shells. I even use a wooden spoon to press down a little on the shells to get every last bit of this rich base for our sauce. Now that sauce base simmers again on low for about 10 minutes to reduce it further.
Add the Shrimp. In your original skillet, melt more butter and lightly sauté shrimp. Don’t overcook here because they will continue to cook as the sauce is added! Add the reduced sauce base and toss the shrimp, mixing base and butter and coating all the shrimp. Stir in half and half, blending into the sauce. Garnish and serve warm.
How To Serve New Orleans BBQ Shrimp
BBQ Shrimp makes a terrific appetizer! Serve warm in the skillet with toasted French Bread. Use the bread for dipping up the sauce while you enjoy the spicy, buttery shrimp!
We also love to spoon these BBQ Shrimp and their heavenly sauce over cheese grits for an amazing meal that literally melts in your mouth. This recipe for Baked Gouda Cheese Grits + these shrimp = some 5 star dining that you can have right at home! Simply make your shrimp while your grits bake so that it will all come together at once.
Loaded up with creamy, cheesy goodness, smoked gouda cheese grits and bbq shrimp can be found all across the South on holiday tables, Sunday dinner tables, and (my personal favorite) brunch tables! Yep. So popular in fact, that sometimes it’s called “breakfast shrimp.” Now who can resist that!
Other Shrimp Recipes You’ll Love
- Louisiana Pickled Shrimp in a Jar
- Spicy Creole Shrimp Foil Packets
- Easy Shrimp Cocktail Platter & Homemade Cocktail Sauce
- Million Dollar Shrimp & Crab Dip
- Southern Shrimp Salad Roll with Lemon Dill Mayo
If You Make This Recipe, I Can’t Wait To Hear About It!
Leave A Comment & Rating Below Or Snap A Photo To Share.
New Orleans BBQ Shrimp
Ingredients
- 2 pounds large Gulf shrimp, in their shells
- 3 Tablespoons Creole Seasoning, divided 1+2
- 4 Tablespoons butter, divided 1+3
- 1.5 Tablespoons minced garlic
- 2 cups water
- ½ Cup Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ Cup lemon juice
- ¼ Cup Chardonnay
- 3 bay leaves
- ¼ teaspoons black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups half & half
- chopped chives for garnish optional
Instructions
- Peel the shrimp, setting shells and tails aside. Toss shrimp with 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning, cover & refrigerate while making the sauce.
- Heat 1 Tablespoon butter in cast iron skillet. Sauté garlic just until lightly browned. Stir in Chardonnay, Worcestershire and lemon juice. Add water, rest of Creole seasoning, bay leaves, salt, and black pepper. Stir in shrimp shells and tails and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.
- Using a colander, strain sauce from shells into a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer and reduce the sauce base for 8-10 minutes.
- Heat 3 Tablespoon butter in a large skillet over high heat. Sauté chilled shrimp. Stir in reduced sauce base, coating all shrimp. Stir in half & half.
- Garnish with chopped chives or parsely if desired.
https://www.pinterest.com/SouthernDiscourse/all-the-best-from-southern-discourse/
This looks AMAZING!! I’ve only made shrimp one time in my life (neither Jeremy nor I are big into seafood but do enjoy it every so often) but I need to make this!! My grandmother made garlic cheese grits and it was a family favorite. I bet our whole family would LOVE this!!
Oh, Kristen. YES! You need to make these grits (and the shrimp too if you get the itch). If your family loved the garlic cheese grits, this will be right. up. their. alley!! So much flavor!
There is nothing like a great plate of shrimp and grits. Your recipe is fantastic and I can’t wait to try it! Thanks so much for sharing your awesome post with us at Full Plate Thursday and come back to see us soon!
Miz Helen
You are singing my song, Miz Helen! There is absolutely nothing like a great plate (or bowl) of shrimp and grits! Let me know if you try it! Much love!
Hi! What step is the butter added to the grits? It’s in the ingredients but not the steps.
Hi, Ashley! The butter is added when the salt, pepper, egg and cheese is added. Let me know when you make this recipe! I am in the process of updating this post so there are updated photos and a printable recipe card. I am excited about it, and it will be so much easier to use/make this recipe then. Thank you for taking the time to make this recipe even before it’s updated!
Fabulous, my husband and I ate this for 2 days loved the sauce over our grits. We had just returned from Destin and wanted to make smoked gouda grits and these were easy and great tasting.
Hi, Rebecca! You made my day! This is one of my very favorite dishes. I am so glad you made it and enjoyed it. Thank you so much!
I am enjoying your website. I, too, am from New Orleans and appreciate your culinary skills.
God bless.
Lynda
Hi, Lynda! Thank you so very, very much! Love meeting another Louisiana girl, and am so glad you’re here! I miss my home in Webster Parish (which is quite a bit north of you) and enjoy cooking and sharing my family’s food every chance I get. Nothing beats a taste of home!
This is as close to the Broadway Oyster Bar’s ( in St Louis) NOLA shrimp as I’ve found. It’s delicious.
Hi, Cay!
Such a wonderful compliment!! Thank you so much!
Can this be made in advance?
Hi, Suzy! Usually reheated shrimp become tough. To make this recipe ahead of time, I would make the sauce (steps 1-3) a day or two before since that is the most time intensive part of the recipe, store it in the fridge, then complete the recipe the day of your dinner before you plan to serve it. I hope this helps!