Shrimp, cooked rewards a little know-how: how to choose it, cook it, store it, and substitute in a pinch. Browse 36 recipes to cook with it.

What is shrimp, cooked?

Cooked shrimp is shrimp that has already been boiled or steamed and chilled, sold ready to eat. You find it on the seafood counter or in the freezer, pink and curled, peeled or shell-on, often labeled "cooked" or "ready to eat."

The whole point is convenience. The shrimp is done, so there is no raw seafood to handle and no guesswork about doneness. You thaw it, give it a rinse, then drop it straight into a salad or a cocktail.

That convenience comes with one catch: it has already been cooked once, so any further heat is a liability, not a step.

How to Use Cooked Shrimp

Treat it as a finished ingredient, not a raw one. The classic use is cold: shrimp cocktail, or piled into a salad like 15 Minute Shrimp & Avocado Salad, Tropical Fruit, Shrimp & Pasta Salad, or Japanese Noodle, Shrimp & Cucumber Salad. No cooking at all, just chill and dress.

When a hot dish calls for it, add it at the very end and only warm it through. Stir cooked shrimp into a finished pasta or fried rice off the heat, or in the last minute, so it heats but does not cook again.

A casserole like Lemon Shrimp Casserole that bakes for a while is happier with raw shrimp; if you must use cooked, fold it in near the end so it does not overbake.

Thirty seconds of residual heat is plenty. The shrimp is ready the moment it is warm.

Cooking and Pairing

Cooked shrimp loves bright, acidic company. Lemon and cocktail sauce are the obvious partners, while garlic and fresh dill or avocado play to its sweet, mild flavor. It slips easily into pasta salads or spring rolls.

The one mistake that ruins it is re-cooking. Cooked shrimp that gets simmered or fried a second time turns tough and rubbery, with that unpleasant squeak. There is no fixing it once it seizes, so the rule is heat to warm, never to cook.

A subtler issue is watery dilution. Thawed shrimp sheds liquid, so drain and pat it dry before dressing a salad, or the dressing goes thin and the shrimp tastes washed out.

Substitutes

Raw shrimp is the natural swap when you actually want to cook the dish. Buy it raw, peel it, and cook it into the recipe; it will taste fresher and stay more tender than reheated cooked shrimp. Just add a few minutes for it to turn pink.

For another ready-to-eat shellfish, cooked crab or lobster meat and surimi (imitation crab) all work cold in salads and cocktails. Cooked, chilled scallops or even canned shrimp can stand in at a pinch.

Buying and Storing

Cooked shrimp is sized by count per pound, the same as raw: the smaller the number, the bigger the shrimp. Look for firm, pink flesh with no mushy spots and no strong fishy or ammonia smell, which is the clearest sign it is past its prime.

Most cooked shrimp is sold frozen. Thaw it in the fridge overnight, or quickly under cold running water, never in warm water or at room temperature, where bacteria multiply fast.

Thawed cooked shrimp keeps 2 to 3 days in the coldest part of the fridge. Refreeze it only if it was thawed in the fridge and never warmed. Once dressed in a salad, eat it the same day.

Nutrition

Quick facts

Food group: Shrimp, cooked is a member of the Finfish and Shellfish Products US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

In Chinese

虾，熟

British (UK) term

Shrimp, cooked

en français

crevettes cuites

en español

camarones, cocinados

How much does shrimp, cooked weigh?

Amount	Weight
3 ounce	85 grams
4 large	22 grams

Related

Finfish and Shellfish Products

Recipes using shrimp, cooked

There are 36 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 36 recipes