Roasted Cocktail Shrimp

I’m sure we all know the easy way to cook a pile of raw shrimp. First you fill a big pot with water, salt, and crab boil and throw in a cut up lemon or two. Bring that to a boil and add a whole bunch of shrimp. Put a big colander in the sink. Watch the shrimp like a hawk so that the second it’s all pink, you can snatch it off the heat, haul it over to the sink, hoping not to hurt your back or trip over a dog, cat, or child. Pour the boiling water and shrimp into the colander without burning yourself or letting any shrimp fall down the garbage disposal. Get a shrimp steam facial in the process.

Okay, maybe it’s not quite that bad, but believe it or not, I have an even easier way. I roast the shrimp. I learned how to roast shrimp watching the Barefoot Contessa on TV years ago, and I’ve never looked back. It’s fast, and I think the shrimp tastes better. The flavor is concentrated, the texture is great, and there’s no steam to frizz your hair.

Roasting shrimp is super easy, especially if you buy peeled shrimp with the tails on. I usually buy wild-caught, flash frozen or ice-glazed jumbo shrimp, and I look for gulf shrimp. Shrimp sizes differ by seller, but jumbos will likely be 21-25 count per pound or thereabouts, which is just perfect for picking up and dragging through sauce on the way to your mouth. Roasted shrimp are delicious made a day ahead and chilled, but you won’t believe how good they are just out of the oven and cooled to room temperature.

Other than shrimp, all you need is a rimmed sheet pan or two, olive oil, salt, pepper, and an oven. The shrimp cook fast so you’ll have to watch them. Depending on your oven, how many shrimp you have on the pan, and how large they are, cooking can take anywhere from 8 to 13 minutes. Set a timer and don’t wander off. The photos here show five pounds of jumbo shrimp on two standard sheet pans, and they took the full 13 minutes. If I’m roasting a pound and they’re more spread out on the pan, they may take closer to 8 minutes.

My favorite sauce for Roasted Cocktail Shrimp is homemade cocktail sauce–recipe below–but I’ve served them with bacon horseradish dip, remoulade, Louis sauce, curried mayonnaise, and chimichurri. They all work. Roasted Cocktail Shrimp are even tasty without a sauce. I often roast just a few shrimp to use in recipes. They’re fantastic on Caesar salad, chef salad, shrimp tacos, or on a grazing board.

Roasted Shrimp are very nice tossed with a vinaigrette or mayo dressing and served as shrimp salad. I sometimes chop them up and make shrimp salsa with them. They make great pickled shrimp. These versatile roasted shrimp are good for a few days if you refrigerate them as soon as they’ve cooled. I almost always make extra.

When I serve Roasted Cocktail Shrimp to a crowd, I like to pile the roasted shrimp on a platter and add sauce in small bowls or ramekins. The shrimp always go fast enough that I don’t bother putting them on ice. Cocktail shrimp are equally at home on a silver platter or a dollar store chip and dip plate, at a fancy soirée or a football watch party, with beer or champagne.

I took the pictured 5 pounds of Roasted Shrimp Cocktail to a big birthday party last night, and made a bunch of new friends. The birthday girl liked them so much that I explained to her how I made them. She told me I shouldn’t tell anybody how easy they were.

So y’all don’t tell her I just did, okay?

Enjoy!