Poached Shrimp Recipe: How to Poach Shrimp

Poached shrimp is an appetizer or entrée consisting of shrimp gently cooked in water or a flavorful poaching liquid. Keeping the liquid just below a boil prevents the shrimp from overcooking. Poaching is a gentle cooking technique ideal for preparing quick-cooking foods like fish and eggs.

Serve poached shrimp with cocktail sauce for an easy appetizer, or incorporate poached shrimp into your main dish. Here are some of the best shrimp dishes to try:

1. 1. Shrimp cocktail: This retro party appetizer consists of poached peeled shrimp served with cocktail sauce, an alcohol-free mixture of horseradish, ketchup, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce that gets its name from the way it’s served: in a Martini glass.
2. 2. Shrimp salad: Mix poached shrimp with finely chopped onions, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, and champagne vinegar to make shrimp salad. Serve the salad in lettuce cups or on toast for a light lunch or spread it on crackers and serve it as a canapé.
   
3. 3. Shrimp tacos: Use poached shrimp as the main ingredient in shrimp tacos. Poached shrimp is simpler and less messy to prepare than the fried shrimp featured in most shrimp taco recipes. Serve the poached shrimp on corn tortillas with cabbage slaw and chipotle mayonnaise.
4. 4. Sushi: Butterflied poached shrimp is a classic topping for nigiri sushi. To butterfly shrimp, use a small sharp knife to cut through the back of the shrimp, being careful not to cut through the shrimp. Then, press down on the shrimp to flatten. Use your hands to press the seasoned sushi rice into an oval mound and top with the butterflied poached shrimp. (Learn how to make sushi rice.) Serve the shrimp nigiri sushi immediately with soy sauce, wasabi, and pickled ginger.
5. 5. Vietnamese fresh spring rolls: Fresh spring rolls, known as gỏi cuốn in Vietnamese, feature poached shrimp wrapped in rice paper, along with rice noodles, lettuce, fresh mint, and chives. Serve the spring rolls with a Vietnamese dipping sauce such as nước chấm, a fish sauce–, lime-, and sugar-based sauce, or peanut hoisin sauce made with sweet hoisin sauce, peanut butter, garlic, and sambal chili paste.

Poaching shrimp is quick and easy. Follow these tips to prepare the best poached shrimp at home:

1. 1. Devein the shrimp. Deveining is the process of removing the digestive tract in the back of the shrimp. Whether or not to devein shrimp before poaching is a matter of personal preference. Many chefs prefer to devein large shrimp—such as jumbo shrimp—because the digestive tract can look unsightly or create a slight grit or sandiness in the final dish. With smaller shrimp, most chefs opt to skip the deveining process. While some home cooks often skip the process because it can be time-consuming, you can purchase deveined shrimp from many grocery stores. Learn how to peel and devein shrimp.
2. 2. Decide on whether to use fresh or frozen shrimp. If you can’t find fresh shrimp for poaching, opt for frozen. When thawing frozen shrimp, fill a strainer set over a bowl with the frozen shrimp, rather than placing the shrimp directly in water so that it doesn’t become waterlogged or diluted in the thawing process.
3. 3. Flavor the poaching liquid. Impart delicious flavor into poached shrimp by flavoring your poaching liquid with aromatics like bay leaf, black pepper, sprigs of fresh parsley, and white wine. Customize the herbs and spices in your poaching liquid to complement your favorite shrimp recipes.
4. 4. Prepare an ice bath. Ice baths are crucial to poaching because they stop carryover cooking. To prepare an ice bath, combine equal parts ice and cold water in a large bowl. The ice water will shock the poached shrimp, preventing them from cooking further.
5. 5. Use an instant-read thermometer to maintain water temperature. When poaching, your liquid should never reach the boiling point. Bring the liquid to 170 degrees Fahrenheit, and use an instant-read thermometer to ensure the liquid stays at that temperature, reducing, increasing, or shutting off the heat as needed. If you don’t have an instant-read thermometer, use visual cues: The water should gently simmer, producing just a few small bubbles.