With St. Patrick’s Day around the corner, I decided to make something beer-inspired (of course!). When I cook with beer, I usually add beef or chicken, but this time I wanted to mix it up and use shrimp. Beer brings wonderful depth to a meal so if you have never cooked with it before, try this easy drunken shrimp recipe.
This recipe has a nice kick to it, so alter the heat to your taste. As for the beer, I used an IPA from Pennsylvania brewery Sly Fox, which is extra hoppy and bold, perfect for the sauce in my opinion. For a mild tasting sauce, use a pilsner, lager or wheat beer.
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Add shallot, garlic, bay leaves and red pepper flakes to a pan and pour in can of beer.
Reduce beer sauce, then add shrimp to the pan and cook until pink.
Mix in some fresh chopped parsley.
Spicy Drunken Shrimp Recipe
- 1/2 pound shrimp
- 1 can of beer
- 1 shallot, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
- 1-2 bay leaves
- fresh chopped parsley
- salt and pepper, to taste
Add shallot, garlic, red pepper flakes, bay leaves and beer in a large saucepan and turn heat on high. Bring to a boil and reduce beer sauce by half, stirring occasionally.
Add shrimp and cook until pink, about 3-4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, if needed. Serve with crusty bread or on top of rice.
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: makes 2 servings
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This looks beautiful and so easy, trying it soon!
Awesome đ Thank you, Lauren!
These shrimp look so tasty and easy to make! I can’t wait to try out this recipe myself!
Thanks Amber, very easy indeed!
This recipe looks so delicious & seems so easy to make. Great meal idea for St. Pat’s or any meatless meal. Thanks for sharing, Barb!
Thanks Betty! Definitely an easy dish to make
If shrimp is not meat.
Then what is it?
My hubby would just love this, thanks.
I can’t wait to try this recipe. Looks delicious, simple, quick and most importantly, healthy.
Thanks Betty! Let me know how it turns out.
I have done this recipe changing only the beer, I used a wheat beer and tasted so bitter that was disgusting, do you know why? I will like to do it again if I can correct that bitterness problem…Thanks!
Hi Danny – Sorry yours didn’t turn out well! Mine didn’t taste bitter, hmm.. The problem could be in the bay leaves. Either you used too many or cooked it too long? And the beer could also be the culprit, maybe the combination of the two made the sauce bitter.
Tried this and experienced the same gross bitterness (I even used an IPA). Luckily I tasted the sauce before I added the shrimp. I tried to correct for the bitterness but couldn’t save it; ended up tossing the sauce and doing a simple garlic, butter, and lemon saute with the shrimp – fool proof.
So sorry you didn’t enjoy this Brittany đ I will have to test this recipe out again and see if I have to adjust ingredient amounts. Perhaps more shrimp and garlic and less beer…
can you use any type of tequila to givve it a twist??
Hi Gaby – I never made this with tequila but it doesn’t hurt to try! Let me know how it turns out.
I’ve tried this recipe twice. The 1st time the sauce came out really good using Michelob beer. The 2nd time I used Sam Adams beer and the sauce came out really bitter.