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Make Crispy, Cheesy Shrimp Tacos with This Easy Technique

With our clever method and an unexpected ingredient, you can have a dozen of these irresistible tacos on the table in no time.  
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Published May 4, 2022.

Make Crispy, Cheesy Shrimp Tacos with This Easy Technique

THIS is the recipe for when you can’t decide whether you want tacos or quesadillas. Why? Because these crunchy, cheesy shrimp tacos have the best attributes of both—stretchy melted cheese plus crisp corn tortillas cradling a tasty filling. They’re inspired by tacos gobernador, shrimp and cheese tacos that are popular along Mexico’s west coast. 

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10 ingredients. 45 minutes. Quick, easy, and fresh weeknight recipes.

To make them, start by cooking the saucy filling: fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic, jalapeño, and shrimp. Some recipes add tomato paste for its concentrated savory tomato flavor, but there is another ingredient in your fridge that we liked better here: ketchup. 

Ketchup in a shrimp taco? Yes, unapologetically.

Ketchup in a shrimp taco? Yes, unapologetically. Just a few tablespoons brings deep tomato flavor plus sweetness, salt, and tang. It’s a complementary seasoning here, and you don’t taste ketchup in the tacos but you do notice that they are well balanced and perfectly seasoned. 

Here’s where the recipe becomes ultraclever. Oil a baking sheet, lay down 6 corn tortillas, brush them with oil, and top them with fistfuls of grated cheese and then the shrimp filling. Bake them in a hot oven until the cheese goes gooey and the tortillas are crisp and then pull them out, layer on fresh toppings (lettuce, avocado, hot sauce), and fold the still-warm tortillas over into a taco shape. Brilliant! Delicious!

Shrimp Tacos

These melty, crispy, shrimp-and-salsa-filled bundles might be the best tacos you've never had. (Yet.)
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