This Mediterranean-style grilled shrimp recipe will rock your taste buds! The secret is in the flavor-packed sauce with roasted garlic, fresh cilantro, lime juice and a hint of chili. Ready in 20 minutes or less! You can serve this grilled shrimp for dinner with your favorite past, or as an appetizer to please a hungry crowd. Be sure to check out serving suggestions, step-by-step tutorial and video below! (And if you can’t do cilantro, don’t worry, there is a way.)
I grew up on Egypt’s Mediterranean shores where fish and seafood meals, of any kind, contained two essential ingredients: garlic–lots of it–and citrus. It’s kinda known that if those two are present, you’ve totally hit the right notes!
I’ll venture to say, today’s grilled shrimp recipe hits the right notes on all sorts of levels! There is an abundance of garlic and citrus, but we go a little bit further with fresh herbs and a hint of chili peppers. Flavor explosion of the best kind! Let’s get to the gist of it…
Mediterranean Grilled Shrimp with Roasted Garlic Cilantro Sauce
This grilled shrimp recipe starts with garlic–a whole head, in fact. Don’t worry, first we roast the garlic to tame it’s pungency. When roasted, garlic’s chemical properties change enough so that it is easier to digest, and the flavor mellows quite a bit, turning soft; smoky; and slightly sweet. (I’m such a big fan that I often roast garlic and store it for later use, it adds flavor and depth to almost any meal. Check out this tutorial, if you’re interested.)
From there, we make the secret flavor-bomb sauce, combining roasted garlic, fresh cilantro, lime juice, white wine, chili paste and a generous drizzle of excellent extra virgin olive oil. I’m using our Greek Early Harvest extra virgin olive oil here; I love the rich, earthy finish it adds here.
The last step we have is to prepare the shrimp. You don’t need to fire up the grill or anything fancy, if you have an indoor griddle or even a cast iron skillet, that will work. Remember that all the flavor will come from the sauce, so the shrimp only needs a little salt and pepper before grilling for about 4 to 5 minutes or so.
The Magic…hot off the grill shrimp, tossed in our secret garlic cilantro sauce. Ready to go!
Can’t Do Cilantro? Here’s an Alternative
Not everyone loves cilantro as much as I do. For some, it’s a simple dislike, but for about 10% of folks out there, it’s a genetic thing. To them, cilantro tastes like soap…who wants that?!
No worries, in this sauce, you can totally swap the cilantro for a different herb such as mint or basil. About 15 or so basil leaves, thinly sliced will be perfect here.
Here’s How to Make this Grilled Shrimp Recipe
1. We start by roasting a whole head of garlic for our awesome sauce! Trim the top of the garlic head off to expose a bit of the cloves, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Wrap in foil and roast in oven for about 10 minutes or so (you can skip this part if you already have roasted garlic stored or if you’re using store-bought roasted garlic.)
2. To make the roasted garlic cilantro sauce, peel and chop the roasted garlic. Place in a small bowl and add mix with fresh cilantro, lime, white wine, extra virgin olive oil and chili paste. Mmmm so much flavor!
3. Now we quick grill our shrimp. Heat an indoor griddle or cast iron skillet over high heat. Pat shrimp dry and season with salt and pepper, toss in a little extra virgin olive oil. Grill for about 4 to 5 minutes. TIP: Avoid overcooking shrimp. When it turns pink on one side, go ahead and turn it over to the other side.
4- Remove from heat. Pour roasted garlic cilantro sauce over the cooked shrimp, toss to coat.
Serve this Grilled Shrimp as an Appetizer or For Dinner
This flavor-packed shrimp makes a mean dinner! I highly recommend that you double the sauce and toss the shrimp into your favorite freshly-cooked pasta (no pasta sauce necessary) or serve over Greek lemon rice!
This also makes a great appetizer for a larger crowd. You can toss the toss the shrimp in the sauce and transfer to a serving platter, or place the plain grilled shrimp on a large platter and serve the sauce next to it in a small bowl. Add some warm bread and other appetizers like antipasti skewers; roasted red pepper hummus; Greek keftedes; smokey eggplant dip.
Watch the Video for this Grilled Shrimp Recipe:
More Recipes to Try
Greek Baked Cod with Lemon and Garlic
Greek Baked Meatballs with Red Sauce
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Grilled Shrimp with Roasted Garlic-Cilantro Sauce
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 16 mins
- Total Time: 26 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4 to 10 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Easy Mediterranean style grilled shrimp with roasted garlic cilantro sauce. Perfect as an appetizer, or double the sauce and toss it with your favorite pasta for an easy dinner!
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined
- Salt and pepper
- Extra virgin olive oil (I used Early Harvest Greek extra virgin olive oil)
For Roasted garlic cilantro sauce:
- 1 small head garlic, top trimmed off
- 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 lime, juice of
- 1 tbsp dry white wine
- 3 to 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (I used Early Harvest Greek extra virgin olive oil)
- 2 tbsp chili paste like this one
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
- Trim the top of the garlic head to expose a bit of the cloves, but keep intact. Drizzle generously with olive oil and wrap in foil. Roast garlic head in heated oven for about 10-15 minutes or until slightly tender and fragrant. When ready, remove from the oven. Let cool briefly. Peel and crush or chop the roasted garlic as finely as possible. (See cook’s tip #1)
- Now prepare the roasted garlic-cilantro sauce. In a small bowl, combine the roasted garlic with the remaining sauce ingredients of fresh cilantro, lime juice, white wine, extra virgin olive oil and chili sauce. Whisk together and set aside.
- To grill shrimp. Heat an indoor griddle or cast iron skillet over high heat. Pat shrimp dry and season with salt and pepper, drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil and toss. Arrange shrimp on heated griddle or skillet and grill on both sides for a total of 4 to 5 minutes. (Avoid overcooking shrimp, when it starts to turn pink on one side, turn it over and cook on the other side.)
- Transfer cooked shrimp to a bowl, pour the roasted garlic cilantro sauce on top. Toss to coat. Transfer to a serving platter and enjoy! (See Cook’s Tip #2 for serving ideas)
Notes
- Cook’s Tip #1: I often roast lots of garlic and keep it for later use. See this tutorial for how to roast garlic. You can also use store-bought roasted garlic in this recipe, if you like.
- Cook’s Tip #2: This recipe will serve 4 to 6 for dinner. I highly recommend that you double the amount of sauce and toss the shrimp into your favorite freshly cooked pasta for dinner (no pasta sauce needed.) As an appetizer, this shrimp will serve up to 10. There are two ways to serve it as an appetizer. Toss the shrimp in the sauce and arrange on a platter, or you can serve the cooked shrimp plain and add the roasted garlic cilantro sauce next to it.
- Cook’s Tip #3 for Leftovers: Store leftover shrimp in a tight-lid container and refrigerate for 2 to 3 days.
- Recommended for this Recipe: Our Early Harvest Greek extra virgin olive oil (from organically grown and processed Koroneiki olives!)
- Visit our store to browse our spices, olive oils and bundles!
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Grilled
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
Keywords: Grilled Shrimp, Garlic Shrimp, Easy Shrimp Recipe
*This post first appeared on The Mediterranean Dish in 2015 and has been recently updated with new information and media for readers’ benefit.
This was really filled with flavor. Family loved it.
★★★★
Awesome, Sara! Thank you!!
Quick and easy
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks for giving it a try!
Wow…
I just finished plating this – we ate like ravenous wolves…
Three artistic allowances. 🙂
– I marinated the shrimp in salsa verde prior to cooking.
– Shrimp kebabs over the grill.
– Tossed with your absolutely incredible cilantro garlic sauce – definitely 5 stars – and served over quick-sauteed zoodles.
Thanks!!!
Thanks so much for sharing, Scott! Love these ideas!
I made this fabulous dish. It was AMAZINGLY easy abd delishous. I’m going for round two for the Scandal finale . With a glass of wine of course
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing!
Ahh! The best recipe I’ve ever had. Just loved the dish with a small amount of salsa and some fresh tomatoes. Thanks a lot for sharing the wonderful recipe with us.
★★★★★
I made this for my husband and I tonight and it was so delicious! It’s also simple to make!
Awesome, Benita! This is one of my favorites !
Made this last night and it was delish! I doubled the sauce but kept the chili at the same amount (thank goodness because it was spicy), used 4 heads of roasted garlic and tossed it with some spaghetti. Make sure to add a little pasta water to help create a sauce like consistency. It was amazing!
★★★★★
Awesome, Jen! I am so glad you enjoyed it!
I made this recipe and it was fantastic!!! My husband and I were licking our fingers! So flavorful and addicting! I made babaganush with garlic naan and a tomato cucumber salad. We had a crisp Bolla Soave and that was our Saturday date night at home! Thank you for such a delicious recipe?
★★★★★
Denise, that’s wonderful! I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe as part of date night! 🙂
Made this shrimp dish….delicious!!! The dipping sauce was excellent. put it on a bed of zucchini noodles! I also made the fatooush salad.Thank you for a great salad!
★★★★★
Maureen, thank you so much for trying this and the fattoush! Two of my favorites! Love the idea of zucchini noodles.
HI Suzy,
Yes I made this too on Father’s day. Served it as an appetizer. THey loved it. Our eldest son left with copies of your recipes. Yes I’ll be making it again. It was easy!
Awesome, Michele! Thank you thank you for the kind feedback!
Hi Suzy,
Great recipe. Made it last night and served it with a salad. Healthy and tasty.
Thanks
★★★★★
Awesome, Arron! This is always a hit at my house too.
what can you add in replace of wine
Hi Lindsey, so the dry white wine is a very small amount here. You can substitute with a white wine vinegar. Or you can omit the white wine adding more lemon juice and olive oil. Enjoy!
Hello Suzy,
We had some leftover savory mushroom steel cut oats risotto and were looking for a prawn recipe to compliment it. It didn’t take long to find your recipe; we typed ‘prawn recipe’ into the search engine and then looked at the photos… yours was the clear favourite.
We made the dish last night and absolutely loved it. We’re going to have the leftovers on pasta tonight and think it would be perfect on homemade pizza too. Thanks so much for posting.
★★★★★
My family loved this. I served it with rice that I seasoned with lemon and terregon and made it a meal. We will be roasting garlic more often in our home. 🙂
Awesome, Anne! Thanks so much for sharing. I am glad to hear you all enjoyed this. XOXO
Hi Suzy, I really wanna try my hands at this recipe! It looks so easy and yum! But where I stay, I cannot find dry white wine, cud u please suggest an alternative for it!!:) Thank u;)
★★★★
Hello, Zahra! Thank you so much for your question. I have been away from my office and just now am able to connect my laptop, sorry for the delay. Yes, you can eliminate the wine here, and I would simply adjust the lime juice and olive oil to your liking to compensate for the missing 1 tbsp wine. Or, you can use 1/2 tsp mild vinegar such as white wine vinegar and adjust from there. Enjoy!
Hola, mi sugerencia para sustituir el vino blanco, sería agregar una cucharada adicional de jugo fresco de limón y una cucharada de miel de abejas
Hello, my suggestion to replace the white wine, would add a spoonful of additional fresh lemon juice and a tablespoon of honey bee
Hello David! Yes, your idea to sub the white wine for more lemon juice and a little honey would completely work here! thanks for sharing!
This was SO good. My husband couldn’t stop commenting on it. And thank you for posting a link to the chili sauce you used. I was thinking of using a Cajun hot sauce but the quantity had me concerned. Clicked on the link and realized that I had the same sauce you recommended in the fridge. My husband also suggested that I use your sauce recipe with scallops. We served this tonight with barley (cooked with Rotel tomatoes and cheddar cheese) and a caesar salad.
★★★★★
Carol, thank you so much for taking the time to share! The sauce would be great on scallops as well…Good idea!
It looks so good!!!
The recipe looks simple enough, but there are so many types of hot sauce, what do you recommend???
Hi Sylvia, you really can’t go too wrong with hot sauce. Just be sure it’s a chili sauce that is not sweet like this one for example http://amzn.to/1V7yMoO
This was really flavorful, easy to make, and light (so you don’t feel terrible after eating it!) I added chicken with the shrimp and almost liked the chicken better since is soaked up more flavor. I love anything with cilantro!
★★★★★
Wonderful to hear! I like that you added chicken…I’ll have to try that sometime! Hope you find more recipes to try.
Love baking with little foil packets and especially with salmon. Copper River Salmon goes pretty quick as it’s season is gone before you can blink, but Costco usually carries it. This looks sensational. Thanks!
Jacquline, thanks for stopping in! Isn’t cooking salmon in foil so easy. If you try my salmon baked in foil, let me know how you like it!
Our new favorite dish!! The sauce is amazing and so easy!! Do you happen to post the nutiritional information anywhere?
★★★★★
Jennifer, so glad to hear you liked this shrimp recipe! It’s a favorite of mine as well. At this point, I do not list the nutritional information, but there are some great apps out there to help you with that. This is a fairly light recipe though 🙂