The Easiest Prawn Tacos (Shrimp)

These spicy prawn tacos are served with avocados, lots of lime juice and the plumpest tender prawns tossed in a spicy cajun spice blend. Drizzle it all with cooling Greek yoghurt lime sauce and a sweet and spicy pineapple salsa.

As a big fan of prawns, you can check out this 30-minute prawn rice or quick and easy prawn curry.

What makes these prawn tacos so great...

1. No marinating the prawn. Just toss with the spice blend
2. The prawns are medium size so really quick cooking. They only take about 60 seconds
3. There are only 11 ingredients needed to get this recipe on the table.

Easy Prawn Tacos
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Ingredients needed

1. Prawns- I use these raw jumbo king prawns and defrost them before cooking, but you can use fresh prawns instead if that's what you have.
2. Chilli powder and Cajun seasoning- just mix these together and they form the spice rub for the prawns. 
3. Cabbage- sliced into thin ribbons for serving. You can use red cabbage here, or a mix of both.
4. Flour tortillas
5. Pineapple, red onion, lime juice and coriander for making the pineapple salsa.
6. Avocado- you can't have tacos without avocados!

Step by step directions

Step 1 & 2

For the pineapple salsa

Dice the pineapple and red onion into small chunks (they don't need to be perfect) and place in a bowl with chopped coriander and very finely chopped red chilli pepper. Squeeze the lime juice over the top and mix well. Season with salt and pepper.

Step 3 & 4

Place the defrosted prawns in a medium bowl and sprinkle with the Cajun seasoning and chilli powder. Toss well to make sure that all the prawns are coated in the spice seasoning. Set the prawns aside while you heat a non-stick frying pan with some olive or vegetable oil.

Once the oil in the pan is hot (it will shimmer) add in the prawns and cook for about 60 seconds on each side until the prawns are starting to blacken slightly on the edges. *Cajun spice will naturally start to blacken and give a lovely charred smoky flavour. 

Grilling the tortillas

Step 4 & 5

The tortillas can be used either soft or place under the grill for a couple of minutes to get them charred and crispy. I went with the crispy method. To do that just preheat the grill and place the tortillas straight on a rack just below the grill. *You will need to watch them because they will burn very quickly if left too long. Tortillas only take about 45 seconds per side to char. 

Or, you can use a clean dry non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat to char the tortillas. 

Variations

Storage

Let's face it, once they're made, tacos really don't survive very well as leftovers. These cajun spiced prawn tacos are better off eaten hot and fresh and devoured in one sitting. The pineapple salsa, however, can be kept for a couple of days to serve with chicken or even a BBQ steak the following day or 2!

Related recipes

• Tomato spinach prawn pasta
• Cajun chicken pasta

Tools used

1. Nonstick frying pan
2. Mixing bowls

The Easiest Prawn Tacos (Shrimp)

Crispy prawn tacos with pineapple salsa!!! Spicy prawns charred to perfection served with a creamy lime sauce and a juicy pineapple salsa!

5 from 6 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Easy Dinners

Cuisine: Mexican

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 Servings

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Author: Deborah Rainford

Ingredients

1x2x3x

• 400 g (1 ⅗ cups) king prawns
• 2 tablespoons (2 tablespoons) Cajun spice
• 2 teaspoons (2 teaspoons) chilli powder *see notes
• 2 tablespoons (2 tablespoons) olive oil
• For the pineapple salsa
• 1 (1) pineapple, diced into small chunks
• ½ (½) lime juice only
• 3 tablespoons (3 tablespoons) coriander, chopped
• ½ (½) red chilli, very finely diced
• ½ (½) bunch coriander, chopped
• For the yogurt sauce
• 100 ml (3 ⅜ floz) Greek yoghurt
• ½ teaspoon (½ teaspoon) chilli powder
• juice of ½ lime
• For the slaw
• ½ (½) green cabbage, shredded
• salt and pepper to taste
• For serving
• 1 (1) avocado, diced
• 8 (8) flour tortillas, grilled *see notes

Instructions

• For the prawns
• Mix spice rub and coat prawns.
• Heat the olive oil in a skillet and fry the prawns until they’re golden and slightly charred.
• To make the pineapple salsa
• Dice the pineapple and red onion into small chunks (they don't need to be perfect) and place in a bowl with chopped coriander and very finely chopped red chilli pepper. Squeeze the lime juice over the top and mix well. Season with salt and pepper.
• For the sauce and slaw
• Mix the sauce ingredients together and whisk well to combine. 
• For the slaw, toss the shredded cabbage with ½ a quantity for the slaw and place in the crispy tortillas. 
• Top with the charred prawns, avocado, and pineapple salsa. Drizzle with more of the yoghurt sauce.

Notes

*Note 1- if you are sensitive to spice, then reduce the amount of chilli powder in the spice mix. 

*Note 2- the tortillas can be grilled or they can be left soft and wrapped as a soft shell taco.

*Note 3- this recipe takes into account that 8 tacos will make 4 servings.

Nutrition

Calories: 578kcal | Carbohydrates: 75g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 12g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 162mg | Sodium: 573mg | Potassium: 1180mg | Fiber: 12g | Sugar: 30g | Vitamin A: 2215IU | Vitamin C: 163mg | Calcium: 246mg | Iron: 5mg

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