Cajun Shrimp And Grits Recipe Cheddar Cheese Shrimp Grits

Why this recipe works

What are the ingredients for Shrimp and Grits?

Here are the key ingredients for making the best Shrimp and Grits, and how to pick the right ones, including potential substitutes.

Shrimp Marinade

Olive oil - I like using olive oil for this dish because it adds a nice flavor while being a bit healthier than other oils. Garlic - Garlic cloves make just about everything better, and it goes with shrimp like peanut butter and jelly. The Spanish even have a dish called Garlic Shrimp! Smoked paprika - Speaking of Spain, they produce delicious smoked paprika that gives an awesome smoky flavor to anything you add it to, and I prefer the flavor over cayenne pepper. We’re gonna sauté the shrimp with smoked ham later, but adding some smoked paprika to the marinade backs the ham up. Shrimp - You don’t need fancy shrimp here. I buy smallish shrimp with 26/30 pieces per pound. You can go larger or smaller, but just be aware: the cooking times will change a bit as the size of the shrimp changes.

Cheesy Grits

Chicken stock - Homemade chicken stock is always best, but for cooking grits, canned chicken broth or even bouillon cubes will work. Whole milk - Fat is flavor, so if you want creamy grits, use whole milk. By this logic, you’re probably thinking that heavy cream would work even better. Some people might like this, but using cream is a little over the top of me, especially since there’s a lot of cheese and butter that get added in at the end. Grits - I used your run-of-the-mill stone-ground grits. Old fashioned grits will take longer to cook than the quick cooking variety and have more texture. Just make sure to read the package instructions and adjust the cooking time. I’m not super picky here, and if you’re in an area that doesn’t sell grits, Polenta will work just fine (though the texture and flavor is not exactly the same). Cheddar cheese - I used to be really particular about using aged white cheddar for grits, but my local market hasn’t carried the stuff lately, so I’ve been making cheese grits with sharp red cheddar, and it’s still really good. Honestly, I think you can use just about any cheese that’s got a lot of flavor and will melt here (Sharp cheddar cheese, Gruyere, Comte, Fontina, and Swiss are all good options). Butter - Remember what I said about fat being flavor? A pat of butter added to grits at the end not only keeps them from drying out, but it also adds a nice richness. I use cultured unsalted butter (a.k.a. European butter) because it has more diacetyl (the compound that makes butter taste like butter) than uncultured butter, but use what you have on hand.

Cajun Shrimp

Tasso ham - The ham is here to add salt, smoke, and umami. Ideally, you’ll want to use Cajun Tasso ham, but this works with just about any heavily smoked cured pork, including bacon, and Andouille sausage. Aromatics - Aromatic vegetables, like onions and red bell peppers, caramelize as you sauté the shrimp, adding boatloads of flavor and a mellow sweetness to the dish. The peppers not only add color, but they also work with the paprika to add a sweet pepper flavor. Lemon - I like to finish my shrimp and grits off with a squeeze of lemon juice, which brightens everything up, making it all a little less heavy. Garnish - I usually use chopped parsley to garnish, but chives or green onions are both excellent alternatives.

How to Make Shrimp and Grits

Because you want to give the shrimp a bit of time to marinate, I usually start by getting them in the marinade, and then I move on to cook the grits. The grits require some passive cooking time, so that’s when I go back and finish off the shrimp.

Smoky Cajun Shrimp

The first thing you need to do is clean and devein the shrimp. I’ve posted an article on How to Clean and Devein Shrimp which you can check out for more details, or just watch the video below. Then you just need to mix all the marinade ingredients together and toss them together with the shrimp. While they marinate, you can go ahead and start making the grits, or you can prep this up to a day in advance and keep it in the fridge(but be sure to keep it in a sealed container or your whole fridge will end up smelling like garlic). Once the grits are off the heat and steaming, I start the shrimp by browning the ham. This not only releases some delicious pork fat to fry the other ingredients in, but it also creates a bunch of flavor compounds thanks to the Maillard reaction. The onions and peppers go into the pan with the browned ham and get sautéed until they’re translucent and just starting to get tender. You don’t want to overdo it here, or they’ll burn by the time the shrimp is cooked through. Then the shrimp goes in, along with any marinade left in the bowl. You want to make sure you spread the shrimp out into a single layer so they cook through evenly. When they’re cooked through on one side, just flip them over and cook the shrimp through.

Cheddar Cheese Grits

I don’t want to spend my Sunday mornings stirring a sputtering pot of grits, so I’ve come up with an easy way to make ultra-creamy grits that only requires periodic stirring. This not only makes it easier, but it also frees up some time to work on the shrimp. The first thing I do is bring the chicken stock and milk to a full boil, and then I stir in the grits. The cornmeal absorbs a ton of liquid in the next minute or so; it’s very important to keep stirring the grits at first to keep them from forming hard clumps. Once the mixture starts to thicken, you can turn down the heat, cover the pot with a lid, and let it simmer for ten minutes. You’ll still want to stir it about once every three minutes to keep things from burning, but it’s a lot better than twenty minutes of non-stop stirring. Then, I just keep the pot covered with a lid, and let the grits steam for another ten minutes off the heat to finish cooking it through. This gives you some time to cook the shrimp. I just reheat the grits and melt in the cheese, adding a handful at a time. You don’t want to dump all the cheese in at once or the fat in the cheese might separate. To finish it off, I add a pat of butter and stir it into the grits. To plate it up, just spoon the grits into two serving bowls, and then top the cheesy grits with the shrimp and ham.