Sheet Pan Shrimp Tacos
Sheet pan shrimp tacos are the perfect weeknight meal! Ready in less than 15 minutes, this is one of the easiest and flavorful meals! With just a few ingredients, this recipe is sure to become a family favorite.
Working as healthy and nutrition coach for 10 years, one thing I hear over and over is how hard it can be to get a healthy meal on the table when you are feeling tired or exhausted after a long day. That is why I became an expert in creating quick and easy 20 minute meals!
One of my favorite quick cooking proteins is shrimp. If you love cooking shrimp too, you should try my Air Fryer Shrimp Tacos, Sun dried tomato shrimp or Buffalo Grilled Shrimp recipe.
Why you will love this recipe
- Sheet pan meals are the best! You only dirty one pan and everything cooks together in under 10 minutes!
- Serve with your favorite tortillas or over a bed of rice and beans or even salad greens, these sheet pan shrimp tacos are super versatile and yummy, you are going to love coming up with new ways to eat this simple recipe!
- Keep this as a low carb meal by serving the shrimp tacos in lettuce cups instead of tortillas or serve it with cilantro lime cauliflower rice and shredded lettuce to create shrimp taco bowls instead!
- The fajita spice blend creates smoky, flavorful shrimp and veggies! It’s easy to make and uses ingredients you likely already have on hand!
Ingredients
- Frozen, defrosted shrimp (peeled and deveined)
- Bell peppers (I like using yellow, orange and red)
- Red onion
- Ancho Chili Powder (or whatever chili powder you have on hand)
- Smoked paprika
- Cumin
- Salt
- Garlic Powder
- Avocado oil (or olive oil)
How to make sheet pan shrimp tacos
- Slice the bell peppers and red onion. You will want to slice the vegetables pretty thin so that they cook up in the time it takes the shrimp to cook. Add the veggies to the sheet pan.
- Drain off any excess water from defrosted shrimp and add the shrimp directly to the sheet pan with the veggies.
- Combine the chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, salt and garlic powder in a small bowl. Stir well.
- Drizzle avocado oil (or olive oil) over the veggies and sprinkle the spice blend over the veggies and shrimp. Stir well until all of the shrimp are well coated.
- Bake in a preheated 450F oven for 10 minutes.
- Serve hot with your favorite toppings!
What to serve with simple shrimp tacos
- Cauliflower rice
- Rice
- Black beans or pinto beans
- Guacamole or chopped avocado
- Shredded lettuce
- Chopped tomato
- Lime juice
- Shredded cheese
- Sour cream or greek yogurt
Ways to serve
- In taco shells or tortillas
- In lettuce cups (low carb)
- On top of a bed of rice and beans
- As a shrimp taco bowl with shredded lettuce, rice (or cauliflower rice), beans (optional), guacamole, and salsa.
- Over nachos (tip: chop up the shrimp into bite size pieces to distribute it better over chips)
Common questions
What kind of shrimp should you use?
You will want to buy large shrimp to make sheet pan tacos. Since you are trying to get the veggies and the shrimp to cook at the same time, it’s important that you don’t buy shrimp that are too small or they will over cook in the time it takes to cook the veggies.
Be sure the shrimp you buy is already peeled and deveined. It’s worth the extra cost to buy shrimp already peeled and deveined, as peeling and deveining shrimp yourself will add at least 10-15 minutes to the prep time of this recipe.
Should you remove the tails from the shrimp?
Yes! Make sure you remove the tails from the shrimp before baking. This allows you to serve the shrimp tacos in a tortilla or in a burrito bowl without having to worry about accidentally biting into a tail.
Can you use frozen shrimp?
If you can only find frozen shrimp, that is totally fine! You will want to defrost the shrimp completely before cooking. You can defrost shrimp by:
- Defrost in in the fridge for about 24 hours ahead of time. Whenever you are defrosting a protein in the fridge, be sure to put the bag in a plastic or glass container in case the bag has a hole that you aren’t aware of. You won’t want that liquid all over your fridge.
- Putting the frozen shrimp in a colander and running cold water over the shrimp. This method typically takes about 20-30 minutes to defrost the shrimp. Be sure you don’t use hot water, or it will start to cook the outside of the shrimp, causing it to get rubbery when baking.
Can you use pre-cooked shrimp?
This recipe is written to use raw shrimp. If you can only find pre-cooked frozen shrimp, it will get overcooked if you follow the directions as posted.
To use precooked shrimp: You will want to cook the veggies for 7 minutes, remove them from the oven and then add the shrimp. Coat everything in avocado oil and seasoning and return to the oven for the last 3 minutes to reheat the shrimp and finish cooking the veggies.
Other veggies you could add to this recipe
- Mushrooms
- Sliced zucchini or yellow squash
- Sliced jalapenos or serrano peppers
Storing leftovers
Store in the fridge up to 3 days in a well sealed container.
It is not advised that you freeze this recipe. The veggies will get soggy when defrosted and the shrimp will change texture.
How to reheat:
- To reheat the shrimp and veggies, place them in a 400F oven for 5-6 minutes.
- Cook in the air fryer and cook for 3 minutes at 375F
- Microwave for 1 – 1:30 minutes, covered.
What you need to make this recipe
- Extra Large Sheet Pan
- One of my favorite kitchen essentials is an extra-large sheet pan. This allows you to fit an entire meal on one sheet pan. They still fit in standard ovens, but are almost double the size of regular sheet pans.
- If you don’t have an extra-large sheet pan, you will want to combine all the ingredients on one sheet pan, then divide the mixture between two sheet pans to ensure the pan isn’t over crowded causing the veggies to get water logged.
Sheet Pan Shrimp Fajitas
$15.04 recipe/$3.76 servingIngredients
- 3 large bell peppers ((red, yellow, orange are best)) - $3.87
- 1 medium red onion - $0.33
- 1 pound shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails removed - $9.99
- 1.5 tsp ancho chili powder - $0.15
- 1.5 tsp smoked paprika - $0.15
- 1 tsp ground cumin - $0.10
- 1 tsp sea salt - $0.05
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder - $0.05
- 1 tbsp avocado oil (or olive oil) - $0.35
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450F
- Add a sheet of parchment paper or aluminum foil to an extra large sheet pan. Spray with non-stick spray (optional)
- Thinly slice the bell peppers and red onion. Add sliced veggies to the sheet pan.
- Drain and rinse the shrimp. Add the shrimp to the sheet pan with the veggies.
- Combine the ingredients for the spice blend: ancho chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, salt and garlic powder together in a small bowl. Stir well.
- Pour avocado oil over shrimp and veggies. Add the spice blend and stir well until everything is well coated.
- Bake at 450F for 10 minutes.
- Serve hot with favorite sides/toppings.
Notes
- Mushrooms
- Sliced zucchini or yellow squash
- Sliced jalapenos or serrano peppers
