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Drunken Shrimp with Tequila (Camarones Borrachos)
These camarones borrachos—or “drunken shrimp,” translated from the Spanish—are food writer and recipe developer Paola Briseño-González’s version of a dish served up by Sergio Peñuelas at 106 Seafood Underground, a casual outdoor eatery located, literally, in the backyard of a residence in Inglewood, California. Peñuelas uses head-on shelled shrimp, which are amazingly flavorful but difficult to source. For this recipe, you can peel and devein the shrimp so they’re easy to eat or you can leave the shells on, as they contain loads of shrimp flavor and do an excellent job of trapping the garlicky, spicy sauce. Use a tequila that’s labeled as “blanco,” “plata,” “white” or “silver”—it should be clear and lack color—rather than a variety that’s rested (reposado) or aged (añejo). If you like, serve with rice on the side, as Peñuelas does, and with lots of napkins if you’ve kept the shells on the shrimp.
4 to 6
Servings
Tip
Don’t forget to reduce the heat to medium before adding the shrimp to the skillet. Gentle cooking helps ensure that the shrimp cook up plump and tender.
35 minutes
Ingredients
-
2
pounds extra-large (21/25 per pound) shrimp, peeled and deveined (if desired; see headnote)
-
2
teaspoons lime juice, plus lime wedges to serve
Directions
-
01In a large bowl, stir together the shrimp, lime juice and ½ teaspoon salt; set aside. In a liquid measuring cup or small bowl, combine the tequila and 1 cup water.
Reviews
February 23, 2025
Great flavor
Wonderful recipe, even pleased a non-shrimp lover like myself.
December 24, 2024
Easy and Deliciois
We halved this recipe for two, added a bit more garlic, and it was very, very good. We put the onion and cucumber around the outside circumference of the plate, put rice in the middle and shrimp on top with the sauce. I poured the pan sauce over it all. It did not have much of a tequila taste, so next time I will reduce the water and add more tequila or use a reposado.
September 10, 2023
This was a crowd pleaser
I made a few adjustments, I used the shrimp shells by simmering them in water and then used that for the 1 cup of water the recipe called for, At the end I splashed some additional tequila and burnt off the alcohol. I pickled the red onions and cucumbers and of course more garlic. We served this with the cilantro rice and it was hit. Thanks Milkstreet!
August 28, 2023
Great Shrimp
We made this recipe for the first time this week and we fell in love with it. We will be having this often. It was easy to make and amazing. We had it with rice and a salad on the side. Perfection!
March 20, 2023
Get out the Mandoline
We just got a Benriner Mandoline (cut resistant glove highly recommended) which makes paper thin slices out of the cucumbers and onions, someone asked why the veggies weren’t even quick pickled-with thin Mandoline sliced onion and cucumber, it’s really not necessary.
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I halved this recipe to make a hearty serving for 2, with white rice. It was good and very easy, although the smell of the reducing tequila was amazing and didn’t really translate to the final dish the way I would have liked (in that sense, maybe err on the side of a little less oil and butter?). It had a little kick with the red pepper flakes, but not too much. So go heavy handed if you want more kick. This reminds me of a fusion between shrimp scampi and Southern California, and it looked lovely on the plate. It’s well worth trying given how easy the recipe is, but it won’t be your “favorite” shrimp dish…just a solid recipe to try something easy and new. And that’s the whole point, right?