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This was SO good! Could not get over how crispy the shrimp came out. The sweetened coconut flakes are definitely the way to go. For the rice I used about a tablespoon of chopped parsley for the herbs and half of a lemon’s zest and juice. Can’t wait to make again!
Julia
This post is sponsored by ALDI
This beautiful and perfectly springy shrimp and rice combo has us feeling that sunshine on our faces. The slightly sweet crunch of the coconut shrimp (with a nice & simple bake method, so a lot of the crisp with none of the fry-smells), the bright, sweet, green peas popping up here there and everywhere in the light, lemony, herby rice. And then there’s the honey butter sauce for sweet dips and drizzles that taste like vacation (inspired by this springy quinoa salad from long ago!).
For those of you who also experience a change of seasons, maybe you are also so ready for spring that you get all teary-eyed just thinking about it. Here in Minnesota, we’re in infamous “fake spring” where the weather is like, “Oh man, would you like a 50 degree day today? Okay, here you go. You deserve it!” And then turns right around and is like, “LOL, JUST KIDDING GET READY FOR SUBZERO TEMPS AND A SNOW EMERGENCY TOMORROW.” Right to our faces, like we’re not even friends.
Our hearts collectively break and we ache for the warm and the bright and the green.
And this springy coconut shrimp piled high on a mountain of steamy pea-speckled, lemony rice with drizzles on drizzles of honey butter sauce? Yeah, that’s what we’re here for and it won’t turn on us. It keeps being A+ over and over again.
Ingredients For This Delicious Springy Coconut Shrimp
When we want a little spring in our step and also in our grocery bags, we always round up our favorites from our favorite, ALDI! A definite go-to for affordable and high quality seafood options (the Fremont Fish Market Jumbo EZ Peel Raw Shrimp is a top-notch choice for this), beautiful fresh and frozen veggies, and lots of other seasonal delights. But we also – like always – are hitting up the pantry items too, like the panko, coconut flakes, and rice. ALDI always has so many options to brighten up our days.
Here are the major hitters that you’ll need for this spring fling:
For the golden crunchy shrimp:
- Fremont Fish Market Jumbo EZ Peel Raw Shrimp
- Chef’s Cupboard Panko Breadcrumbs
- Baker’s Corner Coconut Flakes (sweetened or unsweetened, but sweetened sure ups the yum factor! )
For the springy rice:
- Specially Selected Jasmine Rice
- peas (we used frozen Simply Nature Organic Sweet Peas, but you could use fresh or any other green veg favorite)
- lemon juice and zest
- herbs or greens
- garlic
For the delicious honey butter drizzles and dips:
- butter
- honey
- Dijon mustard
How To Make Baked Coconut Shrimp
In addition to the fresh and ready ingredients comin’ atcha ALDI-style, it’s also relatively simple to bring it all together. Like we said, we love this baking method for the shrimp in order to minimize clean up but maximize perfect shrimp cooks and crunch factors.
- Panko & Coconut. You’ll give the panko & coconut flakes a little pre-toast in the oven first to guarantee that golden brown goodness. Yum!
- Shrimp. Coat the shrimp in flour, then egg, then panko/coconut mixture and spread out on pan. Give them a little drizzle of oil before heading into the oven to bake.
- Rice. Whatever rice cook method you prefer (we used our pressure cooker!) and then toss in the butter, lemon zest and juice, and stir in the frozen peas.
- Sauce. Whisk all your sauce ingredients together and try not to drink it right then and there.
Serve those crisp beachy shrimp on a pile of bright sunny rice, drizzled with that sweet, zippy honey butter sauce and, yep yep yep, it already feels warmer here.
Our Love Keeps Going and Going and Going For This One
The tender juiciness of the shrimp under the solid crunch of the coconut coating, plus a pile of steamy green-flecked garlicky lemon rice and a drizzle of honey butter sauce… all of it is just freshness and brightness and color hard at work. It’s one of those meals you can look forward to all day. And again the next day. And maybe we’ll just make it every night this week.
So, basically, we’ve laid out a big ol’ welcome mat for spring in the form of this coconut shrimp and rice and we really, really, really hope it pays us a visit ASAP.
Baked Coconut Shrimp: Frequently Asked Questions
Sure does! The beautiful sweet and nutty coconut flakes shine through on the shrimp and leave you with a slightly sweet tropical flavor.
For this recipe, we typically remove the tails; however, you could keep the shrimp tails on if you want them to be more of a finger snack. We like to eat them on the plate with a fork, which is why we pulled the tails off.
You can! Add oil to a medium skillet and fry a few shrimp at a time over medium-high heat. Be sure not to overcrowd your pan. Cook the shrimp for about 2 minutes per side until they come out a beautiful golden brown color.
Baked Coconut Shrimp with Springy Rice and Honey Butter Sauce
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 3–4 servings 1x
Description
Perfectly springy baked coconut shrimp piled high on a mountain of steamy pea-speckled and lemony rice and drizzles upon drizzles of a beautiful honey butter sauce. This is exactly the spring vacay you need!
Ingredients
Coconut Shrimp
- 3/4 cup Chef’s Cupboard Panko Breadcrumbs
- 3/4 cup Baker’s Corner Coconut Flakes (sweetened or unsweetened, but I prefer sweetened)
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 pound Fremont Fish Market Jumbo EZ Peel Raw Shrimp, thawed, tails removed (see notes)
Springy Rice
- 1 cup Specially Selected Jasmine Rice, uncooked
- 10-ounce bag of Simply Nature Sweet Peas
- lemon juice and zest
- herbs or greens
- 1 clove grated garlic
- 2 tablespoons butter
Honey Butter Sauce
- 4 tablespoons melted butter
- 2–3 tablespoons honey
- 1–2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Instructions
- Prep: Cook the rice according to package directions. (I do this in a pressure cooker)
- Toast the Coconut: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place panko and coconut on a baking sheet; toast for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until nice and golden brown. After your panko and coconut are toasted and out of the oven, bump up the oven temperature to 425 degrees.
- Coat the Coconut Shrimp: Make three bowls: one for the flour, paprika, and salt; one for the egg, and one for the toasted coconut. Coat individual shrimp in flour / spice mix, then egg, then press into the panko until the mixture sticks to the shrimp. (I usually do all the shrimp in the flour / spice mix first, and then do the egg / panko dip so it’s a bit cleaner). Place coated shrimp back on the baking sheet. Spritz or drizzle with oil.
- Bake the Coconut Shrimp: Bake shrimp at 425 for 10 minutes.
- Finish the Rice: Add peas, lemon juice and zest, herbs, garlic, and butter into the hot rice and gently fluff with a fork to combine. The peas just need to get heated through.
- Make the Sauce: Whisk the melted butter with the honey and Dijon mustard. (And add whatever else you like – red pepper flakes, chili paste, lemon, etc.)
- Serve: Serve shrimp with a pile of rice and generously drizzle with the sauce. HELLO! So yummy.
Notes
I prefer to make these with the tails removed because I like to pile them on a plate and eat them with the rice, and honestly, pulling the tails off with every bite is kind of annoying. But if you want it to look a little fancier or if you want this to be more of a finger-food situation, then you can also leave the tails on.
This amount as written feeds my family of 4 (mom, dad, toddler, baby) perfectly, with little to no leftovers. If you are serving a larger group, or people with bigger appetites than little kiddos, I would double the amounts!
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: coconut shrimp, baked shrimp, spring shrimp
Thank you to ALDI for sponsoring this recipe!
More Springy Shrimp Favorites
- Sheet Pan Shrimp and Cauli Rice (an incredibly easy sheet pan dinner)
- Chipotle Orange Shrimp with Cilantro Rice (with a sweet-meets-smoky cream sauce)
- Spicy Shrimp Tacos with Garlic Cilantro Lime Slaw (these are our FAVORITE shrimp tacos!)
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of sweet honey recipes. Check it out!
I have never had a punch of Yum miss, but unfortunately this was it. To me and my husband it was such a competition of flavors that didn’t match. We wanted to love it but we didn’t. The shrimp was good but all the elements together were not. Such a bummer.
This meal is delicious, quick, easy, and perfect for busy nights. Even my pickiest eater ate her entire plate. My whole family loves this shrimp and springy rice!
Phenomenal every time. One of my all time favorites from POY
OHMYGOODNESS! This recipe is amazingly delicious. Made exactly as written. My only addition is to make twice as much as you think you’ll eat 🙂
My son has an egg allergy. What do you recommend as an alternative to help bind the breading to the shrimp? Thanks!
My hubby and I loved this recipe! The sauce brought it all together. Soooo delicious!
These are incredible!!! I marinated mine in some extra coconut milk and mixed that with the egg mixture for some extra flavor. But so easy and so delicious!
This meal was so easy and delicious especially with that honey butter sauce! I only baked the coconut flakes for about 8-10 min until they were nicely browned and I used pre-cooked shrimp so cut down the baking time to 6-7 min. I had an hour between activities to cook, eat, & get ready, and this meal fit in perfectly to that schedule. It truly could be considered an SOS meal! This will definitely be a go to again when I’m in a pinch for time.
I cannot say how many delicious recipes I’ve made from POY…I just wish you would break down the fat’s on the nutritional table. In my house we have to be very careful about the sat and trans fats in our food because of serious health complications due to to much of these fats. Just an observation for us who have limited time to do the research on our own when we find recipes we want to make. Love this site and share it with people on the daily!!
I’m wondering if you wanted the shrimp to be even sweeter if you mixed a little bit of sweeten condensed milk with the egg if that would give it a nice flavor and also be more sticky to hold the coconut I definitely agree with baking the coconut first to make sure it’s all brown trying it for a New Year’s Eve party !
Really enjoyed this recipe. The coconut shrimp has a really good texture and it’s easier and healthier than frying it. The only change I would recommend is reducing the amount of flour and increasing the seasoning. Ended up throwing away more than half the flour and therefore half the seasoning.
Doing them in the oven did not make them look so great. Some of the coconut was black and the shrimp body was white, although cooked. I was looking for the deep brown. Just a few looked closer to browning. I think its better to fry these next time for a better look. After all we eat with our eyes first! The honey butter sauce was super good. Rice was great. I used a rice pot and added the lemon etc at the end. Lovely!
Just loved this recipe. Did it a pretty much as you said… added a little extra mustard to the sauce…. I would have liked the shrimp cooked less..but thats me. My guests loved it
cant wait to try this one too!
This recipe is perfect for our tongues from Indonesia, because rice is the main ingredient of our food. Thank you for sharing this very delicious recipe.
Absolutely loved these! Made them for the boys with mixed results (at 5 & 2 I never know what they will like from one week to the next!) but I thought they were amazing. Made them for my husband last week and he loved them too so definitely will be adding them to our favourites list to have again!
I have a kiddo allergic to eggs – what can I use instead of egg to coat the shrimp? Can’t wait to try this one!!
Great question! We haven’t tested this recipe with an egg substitute, but you could maybe try a flax egg.
What herbs go well with this dish?
Parsley, thyme, or even cilantro would be great!
So excited to try this recipe! It sounds amazing 🙂
Question about how much lemon juice to use, and I can’t find in the recipe where and when to add the juice.
Thanks!
Great question, Judy! We add the lemon juice along with the lemon zest in Step 5. We’d start with a couple squeezes, then taste, and add more if you’d like!
This meal was absolutely delicious! Everyone loved it 😍
SO SO tasty! Would definitely make this again. Agree with other commenters, keep an eye on your panko/coconut. Wonder if there’s a way to prep the shrimp ahead and freeze? They’d make a great appetizer as well.
There’s a great hibachi restaurant almostt 20 miles from where I live called Green East buffet in the Brandywine section of Wilmington. They have delicious creamy coconut shrimp that absolutely nails the spot every time I eat. To be honest, II’ve never taken the time to make my own baked coconut shrimp, yet alone, make a homemade coconuut shrimp dish. Now that you blogged about this Lindsay, I may try this in the future. Thank you for blogging about this 🙂
We hope you enjoy it!
What herbs or greens do you suggest? I read through your notes and people’s comments and didn’t see it mentioned at all. The shrimp look yummy 😋
Thyme would be a great option!
Thanks! 😊
This was so delicious! I didn’t follow it exactly when it came to browning the coconut/panko so didn’t experience the same issues the other comment seemed to have. The sauce I agree is deadly.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Bea!
I made this for dinner last night and it was delicious!! Toasting the panko and the coconut before was key. The sauce was great too and could be changed up easily for different flavors. I will make this again for sure. I will also try it with chicken tenders. Thanks POY.
Glad you enjoyed it, Kristen!