Our favorite shrimp ceviche recipe combines lightly poached shrimp with lime juice, lemon juice, and avocado. It’s fresh, healthy, and delicious.
The moment I learned how to successfully make incredible shrimp ceviche at home, I was hooked. Ceviche is a dish popular throughout the coastal areas of Mexico, Central, and South America. It’s made with raw seafood “cooked” in citrus juices.
This shrimp turns out incredibly fresh and delicious. It’s happy food! We both love it served with homemade tortilla chips or plantain chips. If you love this, don’t miss our pickled shrimp, which takes a similar approach, but calls for more of a tangy, herb, and lemon flavor profile.
Key Ingredients
- Shrimp: Fresh-caught shrimp is best, but since it isn’t always accessible, we’ve adapted this recipe to gently poach store-bought or previously frozen shrimp for safety. Your ceviche will still be excellent! (If you do have access to trustworthy fresh-caught or sashimi-grade shrimp, see the tips section below for how to use them raw.)
- Citrus: I use a mix of freshly squeezed lime and lemon juice. Bottled juice just doesn’t compare here. Fresh really is best!
- Red Onion: You can use any onion, but red onion adds beautiful color. If you are sensitive to raw onion, don’t worry, the citrus juice “pickles” the onion slightly, toning down the sharpness.
- Cucumber: This adds a nice fresh crunch. I recommend peeling it and removing any seeds before dicing so your ceviche doesn’t get watered down. Or use a seedless variety, such as Hot House or Persian cucumbers.
- Chile Peppers: These add heat. Use as much or as little as you like. In our photos, we used a mix of Jalapeño and Fresno peppers. (Tip: For less heat, remove the seeds and white membrane before mincing.)
- Cilantro: This adds color and fresh flavor. If you aren’t a fan, feel free to substitute with fresh parsley or just leave it out.
- Avocado: Optional, but delicious! We stir diced avocado in right before serving so it stays creamy and bright green.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Shrimp Ceviche
Tip 1: Poach the shrimp. It may seem odd, but we lightly poach the shrimp before mixing it with the citrus juices. Authentic ceviche often skips this step, but recipes usually assume you are starting with fresh-caught raw shrimp. Since most of us buy shrimp from the store, we include this extra step for safety (poaching eliminates potential bacteria).
To do it, bring salted water to a boil, add your shrimp, remove the pot from the heat immediately, and let the shrimp poach until just cooked (2 to 3 minutes, tops). Then, spread the shrimp into one layer on a plate to cool.
Tip 2: Use a non-reactive bowl. Since there is so much citrus juice in this recipe, use a glass, stainless steel, or ceramic bowl (avoid aluminum or copper).
Whisk the lime juice, lemon juice, and salt together first so the salt dissolves. Then, add the cucumber, onion, chile peppers, cilantro, and poached shrimp. Since the shrimp is already cooked, you only need to marinate them long enough to pick up that fresh, citrusy flavor.
For best results, marinate the shrimp in citrus juices for at least 30 minutes, but no more than 4 hours to prevent the acidic citrus juices from toughening the shrimp. Taste the dish and add salt if needed.