Beer-Battered Shrimp

This beer-battered shrimp recipe has a perfectly crispy batter coating juicy, tender shrimp! Because you're shallow frying the shrimp in this recipe, there's no deep fryer needed for a delicious fried shrimp dinner at home.

5 from 18 votes

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Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 10

Total Time: 20

Servings: servings

Calories: 394kcal

Equipment

Kitchen Knife
Cutting Board
Paper Towels
Paring Knife
Medium Bowl
Measuring Cups
Measuring Spoons
Chopsticks or Whisk
Frying Pan
Tongs
Wire Rack / Cooling Rack or Baking Sheet

Ingredients

16 ounces shrimp 16/20 size, peeled, deveined, see note 1
1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt
1 lime zest of
⅔ cup cornstarch
⅔ cup cake flour
¼ teaspoons baking powder
½ tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
½ tablespoons paprika
1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup light beer cold
2 cups neutral oil like canola, peanut, or rice bran oil

Instructions

Pat the shrimp dry on both sides and season them with salt and lime zest. Keep them in the fridge until needed.
To make the beer batter, mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl until they're well combined.
Slowly pour the beer into the dry ingredients, stirring with a whisk or chopsticks until the batter just comes together. It should be thinner than pancake batter but thicker than crêpe batter (about the consistency of heavy cream). It will have some lumps. Don't overmix it.
Heat 1 inch of oil and a frying pan to 350°F.
Once the oil is hot, dip the shrimp piece by piece into the batter one by one, letting the excess batter drip off. Fry them in the hot oil. Use tongs to turn them for even frying. Fry them in small batches so they don't get crowded.
Fry the shrimp until they turn golden brown and reach an internal temperature of 145°F, about 2 to 3 minutes total. Once they're done, transfer them to a wire rack or a paper towel-lined tray to drain.
Sprinkle them with a bit of salt and serve hot.

Notes

General

You can use a smaller size of shrimp if desired. They may cook more quickly.
If using frozen shrimp, defrost completely before cooking.

Storage and Reheating

Fridge: It's best to cook only as much beer battered shrimp as you plan to eat. If you end up with leftovers, they can stay in the fridge for up to 4 days, but they won't remain crispy.
Freezer: It's not recommended to freeze leftovers.
Reheating: To bring back some crispiness when reheating, you can put the shrimp in an air fryer at 325°F for 4-5 minutes until heated through.

Nutrition