Grilled Shrimp with Cheddar Grits

These Grilled Shrimp with Cheddar Grits are an easy grilling recipe for Southern food lovers.  Season grilled shrimp to taste and serve over hearty cheddar grits.  

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Grilled shrimp with tomato cheddar grits

Summer Grilling for the WIN!

Now that the nice weather is finally here, my husband and I are sweeping off the patio, cleaning up the outdoor furniture and looking forward to having friends over for food and fun. Outdoor Entertaining during the summer is a great way to spend a Friday night without wasting a ton of money on theme park tickets or spending hours in your car. You can have friends over and feed them awesome food without a whole lot of work on your part.

Like this grilled shrimp?  Try these shrimp recipes, too!

raw shrimp

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Finding the best summer recipes

You may need to mow the grass and invest in a few more lawn chairs but the food itself can be fairly simple. What makes a great outdoor entertaining recipe? You want it to be fast so you don’t spend all your time cooking instead of socializing. Find recipes you can make up ahead of time for even less work come party time. Grilling seafood or kabobs is incredibly quick and will feed a crowd.

Look for recipes that won’t spoil if they spend a few hours in the sun…avoid mayonnaise based sauces, for example. Summertime is the perfect time for outdoor entertaining so check out my Outdoor Entertaining Recipe Collection on Foodie.com for a little bit of inspiration for the weekend!

shrimp on the grill

 

How to Grill Shrimp 

Learning how to grill seafood can be a bit of a challenge. It literally takes only minutes to cook in some cases so watch it carefully. Grilled shrimp should be cooked on a skewer or you may end up with it falling into your coals. For larger pieces of seafood, I use a grill tray or long handled basket to make turning it easier.

Once fish starts cooking it has a tendency to fall apart easily so be careful flipping! And of course, I would not be much of a green blogger if I did not encourage you to buy sustainably raised and harvested seafood. Check out the Seafood Watch list on the Monterrey Bay Aquarium for a list!

Everything Bagel Cheddar

What are Grits?

Grits are a southern tradition that I have been trying to figure out for 15 years. I have finally come to the conclusion that if you add enough cheese and flavoring, they are actually quite tasty. Have you ever tried making homemade grits? Plain grits are not all that appetizing but for this recipe I used an ‘Everything Bagel’ cheddar cheese that I got from Cabot which added quite a bit of flavor to the grits.

Pour in just a little tomato sauce and they were really quite tasty. I used the quick cooking grits so they were done in less than 10 minutes. Lay your grilled shrimp skewers on top right before serving and sprinkle with fresh parsley. You can use whatever marinade you like for the grilled shrimp but I think the combination of lime, garlic and ginger really gave a nice flavor to this dish.

Grilled Shrimp with Cheddar Grits

Grilled Shrimp with Cheddar Grits - Turning the Clock Back

 

 

Yield: 4 to 6

Grilled Shrimp with Cheddar Grits

Grilled shrimp with tomato cheddar grits

These Grilled Shrimp with Cheddar Grits are an easy grilling recipe for Southern food lovers.  Season grilled shrimp to taste and serve over cheddar grits.  

Prep Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • For the Marinade
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1/3 cup light colored vinegar (I used a rice wine vinegar)
  • juice of one lime
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 TBSP lemongrass, minced
  • 1 TBSP ginger, minced
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • FOR THE GRITS
  • 5 cups chicken stock
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream
  • 1 TBSP butter
  • 6 ounces tomato sauce
  • 1 1/2 cups quick cooking grits
  • 1 1/2 cups Cabot Cheddar (I used their Everything Bagel cheddar)
  • ALSO need 2 pounds shrimp, peeled, deveined and tale removed
  • Fresh parsley needed for serving if desired

Instructions

  1. Mix marinade ingredients in medium sized bowl and whisk until combined.
  2. Pour marinade over shrimp and let sit one hour
  3. Slide shrimp onto skewers and grill 2 to 3 minutes on each side over medium heat or until done
  4. Make the grits: In a large pot, heat stock to boiling. Reduce heat to medium and add grits. Stir constantly until grits are almost done. Reduce heat to low. Add tomato sauce, cream, butter and cheddar cheese. Stir until cheese is melted and grits are thick.
  5. To serve, spread grits on a plate or serving dish and top with skewers of shrimp
  6. Sprinkle with fresh parsley if desired.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1152Total Fat: 73gSaturated Fat: 23gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 45gCholesterol: 563mgSodium: 4373mgCarbohydrates: 47gFiber: 2gSugar: 11gProtein: 75g

Nutrition information not always accurate


 

 

 

10 thoughts on “Grilled Shrimp with Cheddar Grits”

  1. Yum! Definitely pinned this. I have never had grits before but I think I would love them cooked as more of a dinner food than a breakfast food.

    Reply
    • I really thought grits were gross for about 15 years of my life in the south but then had them at a restaurant as part of a shrimp toast appetizer and they had cheddar cheese in them and realized they could be delicious!

      Reply

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