Enjoy this wildly flavorful and healthy shrimp dish. Marinated in a delicious olive oil based sauce, and cooked over garlic, sweet onions, and whole black peppercorns that crack and pop as they cook. This Cracked Pepper Shrimp dinner is a weekly favorite dish in my home.
If you have been following me for a while, you know that I eat very low carb, and this Cracked Pepper Shrimp meal is one of my weekly favorites.It’s very easy and fast to make and it tastes so good! The shrimp is juicy and has just the right amount of spice that I like.
Cooking whole black peppercorns in hot oil makes them crack and pop, intensifying the pepper’s flavor and making them taste a little more mild. I never thought of eating whole black peppercorns like this, but cooking them this way somehow makes them delicious to crunch on. They give the shrimp a burst of flavor!
If you are not a fan of spicy food, you may still like this dish. I would suggest just adding a little less pepper, or not crunching on them as you eat the shrimp.
I hope you enjoy this recipe, and if you have requests for more dinner recipes like this, please comment below to let me know what they are.
Cracked Pepper Shrimp (Whole30, Paleo, Low-carb)
Ingredients
- 15 large shrimp
- 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon dried fennel seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 small red onion
- 1 head garlic
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil, for frying*
Instructions
- In a bowl, stir the fennel seeds, paprika, garlic salt, olive oil, balsamic vinegar. Mix in the shrimp, add salt and pepper to taste, and let the shrimp marinate for about 10 minutes.
- Dice the onion and garlic.
- Heat the coconut oil in a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add the black peppercorns and let them cook for 1 to 2 minutes. The pepper will pop in the hot oil, so cover your pan with the lid while they cook.
- Remove the lid from the pan and sautée the onion and garlic with the pepper until they caramelize, and are soft and brown. Then add the shrimp, and let them cook for about 2 to 3 minutes on each side.
Recipe Notes
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Yum! Quick easy recipe that was DElicious! Served over Romain with celeriac fries.
Thank you Sylvia! I appreciate your feedback and love knowing you enjoyed it! 😊
I just found your site and it looks very interesting. I am going to try this recipe with some Cod I purchased yesterday. Do you provide any nutritional information on your recipes. I am particularly interested in sugar content and carb and fiber. Thanks.
Hi Dee, hope you made it and enjoyed it. I have been posting the nutrition facts in a lot of my desserts, but didn’t calculate it for this one. You can calculate this using an online calculator like this one.
Loved this recipe! I don’t do spicy so I was a little bit concerned about the peppercorns – silly me! Not too spicy and the aroma of the peppercorns as they sizzled and popped was amazing! This was a win for us!
Thank you so much for your feedback and for posting your photo here Andrea! I’m so happy you like the recipe 🙂
Hello! Thanks for posting this recipe. I made it tonight and the flavors were really good. My only question is that when I cooked the black peppercorns they did not “pop” and I can’t figure out why. I then watched the video and realized you used a cast iron skillet. Is that the difference? Did I not have the heat high enough? The coconut oil started smoking so I turned it down. Any help is appreciated!
Thanks!
Hi Amie, I’m so happy to know you liked it! When you turned the heat down, do you think the temperature got much lower? This could be the problem.
I dont like shrimp, would this work with cod?
Hi Jen, this recipe would also work really well with cod and also chicken. Hope you try it soon and let me know how it goes.
Very excited to try this recipe. I’ve eaten green peppercorn curry, which was very spicy! I have been eating Paleo for a week (started with Paleo Leap), and have lost 10lbs so far! I have been pinning some of your delicious recipes and with make sure to post a photo and give a review. My question is – who is the band that was playing on your video?
Thank you Coby. I’m looking forward to knowing how you like my recipes.
The song in this recipe is by Jesse Walton.