Before switching over to a real food lifestyle, I used to love coconut shrimp. I figured there had to be a delicious healthy version I could make at home. Luckily, this one worked out within the first couple tries and couldn’t be easier!
So here it is… straight from what I like to call “The Mess Kitchen.” (Test Kitchen seemed too official, and mess more accurately describes it most days!)
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How to Make Baked Coconut Shrimp
Although it sounds fancy, making coconut shrimp really just takes a few easy steps. First, dip the shrimp in seasoned cassava flour, then in beaten egg. Roll in a mixture of almond flour and shredded coconut. (I prefer to use unsweetened shredded coconut and then dip the finished shrimp in a sweet dipping sauce… recipe below!)
I like to use large shrimp for this recipe, but you can use whatever size you’d like. Just make sure that they are peeled, deveined, and cleaned with the tail left on (it’s the perfect handle when eating).
Late afternoon is a really busy time of day around here so I like to bread the shrimp ahead of time and refrigerate them for a few hours until I’m ready to cook. Then it’s easy to just toss them in the oven while I prepare the sides.
Note: Some people like to butterfly their shrimp prior to breading and cooking. This means that they are slit part of the way through along the back to open them up a little bit. Check out this tutorial for detailed instructions on cleaning and butterflying shrimp.
Piña Colada Dipping Sauce
Since I use unsweetened coconut to bread the shrimp, we like a little sweetness with the dipping sauce. Since tropical fruits pair really well with the coconut, we usually serve this dish with a mango chili sauce or our favorite, piña colada sauce. You can make these sauces ahead of time and use the leftovers to jazz up other meals during the week.
To make piña colada sauce, pureé fresh or canned pineapple, add the cream from the top of a can of coconut milk, and sweeten with a little honey.
To make the mango chili sauce, pureé fresh (or frozen and thawed) mango, a little homemade sriracha sauce, honey, a squeeze of lime juice, and enough olive oil to make the sauce the right consistency for dipping.
What to Serve With It
These shrimp can be served in a variety of ways. They make a great appetizer or snack for a party but are also filling enough to be served as the protein for a meal.
I often serve coconut shrimp on a bed of salad greens with sliced cucumber and tomatoes. Add a drizzle of one of the dipping sauces for a dressing or my sweet and tangy Asian ginger vinaigrette and it’s a meal!
Baked Coconut Shrimp Recipe
Servings
Nutrition
Notes
- Blend the sauce with an immersion blender if you like a smoother sauce.
- OR Blend fresh mango with a splash of sriracha, lime juice, honey, and some olive oil for a mango sauce.
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Ever made a healthy version of an unhealthy recipe? How’d it go? Let me know below (and share the recipe!)
These are awesome!
Like you, I was a big fan of coconut shrimp before beginning my healthy eating journey. My husband used to ask on date night, “so, which coconut shrimpery are we going to tonight?” ?
Three of the four of us love it. My littlest one prefers hers only dredged in the coconut flour, not the “breading” mixture. But, that’s an easy accommodation. And I’m sure that she’ll eventually see the light! Haha.
I do make slightly more of the breading mixture as I found I ran out before all the shrimp were covered the first two times I made the recipe. Everything else has worked for me exactly as written.
Thank you, Katie, for a winning recipe! This has earned a spot in our monthly rotation, for sure.
Delicious! My whole family happily gobbled these up… even the 6 yo. The coconut-pineapple dipping sauce was the real star for us.
Can’t wait to make it again. Thanks so much for the recipe!
How long and what temperature would I use if I made them in the oven?
You say that peanuts are not nuts so what are they and are they good for you! Are beans good for you like red beans or black beans?
Peanuts are technically legumes but they are very high allergen and some people react very negatively to them. Same with beans. They can be very healthy for some people, but others don’t tolerate the specific lectins in beans very well.
I’d really love to know if I can bake this instead of fry it. I’m just not a fan of frying anything, it never seems to work right for me.
It should work baked as well.
Any substitute for the almond flour? Allergic to almonds.
I made this last night and it was amazing!!! I also made the pina colada sauce in my vitamix and it was delicious….definitely added to the shrimp!!!!
Katie, I have learned that the way shrimp are processed, we should never consume it, especially farm raised. Do you have a good source?
Would baking instead of frying work with this recipe?
Hi there,
Did you (or anyone else seeing this!) try baking them? I would like to try as well – any thoughts on this Wellness Mama? Thanks!
I skipped the flour entirely and it worked just fine! Thanks for the delish recipe! Everybody loved it!
Could the almond flour be subbed for oat flour ?
Haven’t tried it but maybe?
I made this today and can’t stop eating it….quick and tasty…Will try to substiute chix for the kids…thanks for posting this.
Is there any tallow left after the shrimp are fried? If there is should I re-use it? I just got grassfed beef tallow today and can’t wait to try this recipe!
This looks delicious…I have been making almond popcorn shrimp for my girls for a while now, but who knew it would be so easy to turn it into coconut shrimp?! Can’t wait to try it out this weekend when family comes to visit.
we don’t et shrimp but will eat other types of fish or chicken. Any ideas?
Can easily work for bite size pieces of chicken or white fish.
We made this twice this week. The first time we only had small shrimp on hand, and it didn’t work so well.
The second time we made sure to have the Jumbo Shrimp and it was amazing! Will definitely be making this again.
Thank you for this recipe. I also love coconut shrimp and order it every time I see it on a restaurant menu. I know I’m just fooling myself when I tell myself it’s ok to order it because they really only use coconut in the batter 😉 Been on and off paleo for going on a year now, and ready to get back on track.
Any vegan alternative for the eggs?
You can just use coconut milk with arrowroot powder in it…
Should you use full fat coconut milk, or any? And can you use tapioca flour instead of arrowroot? Just wondering if other combinations have been tried for egg substitute. Thanks! I am looking forward to making this for my kids!
Delicious! I love coconut shrimp. This recipe was truly easy. Thank you!
I substituted 1/4 cup of coconut flour for the 1 cup white flour in my apple crisp recipe. It turned out great. Even my very picky father-in-law liked it. The coconut flavor really added to it. Just make sure your oatmeal is gluten free if you are trying to go that route. I will make it for him again on Fathers day.