Air Fryer Blackened Shrimp Recipe (2024)

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Air Fryer Blackened Shrimp Recipe – delicious tender juicy blackened shrimp air fried to perfection!

Peel and eat blackened shrimp is perfect any time of year – it is delicious, low calorie, low carb, great for keto dieters – and super versatile.

This blackened shrimp is bursting with flavor, tender, and has an amazing texture thanks to an air fryer – which quicky circulates hot air around shrimp to mimic a fried texture, without excess oil!

We hope you love this recipe as much as we do.

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Air Fryer Blackened Shrimp

This recipe for air fryer blackened shrimp is a knockout classic – it is super simple, literally anybody can prepare and make it.

It is loaded with flavor and super simple, plus it is practically no-fail – your air fryer does all the hard work for you, and is super easy to clean up!

We know you’re going to love this recipe for so many reasons, including:

• Air frying shrimp mimics a fried texture, without any breading, or excess oil – so you can get that amazing tender, juicy inside and crispy outside without added calories!
• Blackened shrimp is incredibly low carb and low calorie – and is delicious on it’s own, or in tacos, burritos, salads, wraps, and sandwiches.
• Blackened shrimp is also delicious with creole sauce or over mofongo!
• Cooking shrimp in the air fryer cuts down on smoke and cooking smells, so your kitchen cleanup is minimal.
• Any model air fryer can be used – even pressure cookers like Ninja Foodi and Instant Pot with dual air fry functions!

Tips to Perfect Air Fried Shrimp

This blackened shrimp is quick to prepare and easy to cook, making it one of our favorite simple shrimp dinners. There are a couple of tips we’re sharing to get perfect blackened shrimp, every time:

• Don’t overcook shrimp – shrimp should turn opaque, dark white and pink – but not cook beyond that – as overcooked shrimp tends to get tough, gummy, and chewy.
• Open air fryer to stir shrimp a few times as it cooks for the most even cooking.
• We’re shelling our shrimp so you can get a TON of blackened flavor – but if you find this too strong and just want a little flavor, you can go ahead and leave the shells on, and peel shrimp as you eat them.
• You can leave the shrimp tails on if you like or remove them – we leave them on for pictures, but often just remove them when making them to serve to the family so we don’t need to mess with removing shrimp tails. Sometimes for dinner parties I leave shrimp tails on since I have some friends and family who like to eat the tail (including my mom!)

How Long To Air Fry Shrimp

1 pound of shrimp takes about 8-10 minutes to air fry at 375-400 degrees in a regular sized air fryer.

Stir shrimp 2-3 times as it cooks to promote even air frying for best results.

What Temperature To Air Fry Shrimp

We like to air fry shrimp at 375-400 degrees – hot and fast.

I do find it is best to air fry shrimp in an air fryer that has been preheated to help prevent sticking – simply run your air fryer for five minutes before placing shrimp in the air fryer basket and you should be good to go.

When Is Shrimp Cooked

Shrimp is cooked at 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

Shrimp will be firm instead of jiggly, opaque (it wont be translucent anymore), and will go from grey to white, reddish to pink when fully cooked.

Shrimp does not need to be cooked past 120 degrees – this will lead to your shrimp to become dry and tough.

What to Serve With Air Fryer Blackened Shrimp

Blackened shrimp is incredibly versatile – it goes with so many amazing dishes. We love to serve it with creole sauce, mofongo, air fried asparagus, air fried broccoli, salsa, dragon fruit salad, shish*to peppers, frozen gin and tonics, peach margaritas, and so much more!

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Air Fryer Blackened Shrimp Recipe

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