Try for yourself and see why this Mexican shrimp ceviche recipe is the BEST shrimp ceviche you can possibly find! I mean it. And I'll even give you the low-down on the best & healthiest kind of shrimp to buy!

BEST SHRIMP CEVICHE VIDEO
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I just have to say--for me, this shrimp ceviche is the funnest food to eat! I mean, it's one of those meals that I just can't wait to sit down with and eat with some crunchy tortilla chips and an ice-cold drink. And if you try this recipe for the BEST Mexican shrimp ceviche, you'll see for yourself just how addicting, flavorful and easy it is to make! And fun of course!
It's full of beautifully vibrant and fresh ingredients including Persian cucumber, ripe tomatoes, red onion, avocado, lots of freshly-squeezed lime, and tender shrimp. All the ingredients are super easy to find and the dish itself is a cinch to prepare!
Go ahead and jump right into this one. It's so worth it and it's super easy to make.
If you think about it, when it comes down to it, shrimp ceviche is essentially a salad, filled with fresh vegetables and loads of lime-marinated shrimp.
Is shrimp ceviche healthy for you?
And if you're using the right type of shrimp (more on that below!), it is incredibly healthy. Shrimp is not only a great source of protein, it's also filled with tons and tons of vitamins and minerals. These includes zinc, calcium, iron, sodium, iodine, niacin, vitamin B 6, vitamin B 12, phosphorus, potassium, vitamin A, vitamin E, riboflavin, thiamin, selenium, and choline.
Shrimp also has a carotenoid antioxidant called astaxanthin (hello pinkish-red shrimp color!) that can reduce signs of sun damage to the skin, and can decrease pro-inflammatory molecules. It's also been shown to inhibit cancer cell growth in mouse studies.
Astaxanthin is one of the only known antioxidants that can pass the blood-brain barrier, giving it access to the brain where it may scavenge harmful oxidants and prevent neurodegeneration.
This same antioxidant can help relieve stress on eyes and prevent macular degeneration, glaucoma, and cataracts. Basically, we could all use some more astaxanthin in our lives, especially in this age of glued-to-our-screens-all-the-damn-time.
Aside from the shrimp, in this recipe you're getting tons of nutrients from fresh ingredients like cucumber (high in silica which can remove harmful heavy-metals from the body), avocado (more potassium than bananas as well as a great source of monounsaturated fat), and tomatoes (source of the antioxidant, lycopene, which protects against cancer).
What is the best shrimp to buy?
To ensure you're getting the most out of your shrimp, you'll definitely want to use the right kind of shrimp to begin with.
Unfortunately, the shrimp business is a dirty business (figuratively as well as literally), so you'll want to make sure your shrimp is coming from a clean source and isn't full of nasty contaminants you wouldn't want to put in your body.
A whopping 60% of the shrimp you buy from the store is loaded with bacterial contaminants such as E. coli, Vibrio, Salmonella, and Listeria. And 2% even tested positive for the suberbug MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). And almost all (94%) of the raw shrimp you buy from the supermarket is from Asia (specifically Indonesia, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, and Thailand).
Imported shrimp from Asia should be avoided because the dirty, polluted conditions of the typical farmed shrimp tanks in those countries lead to the heavy use of antibiotics in that system.
And although use of antibiotics for shrimp is not FDA approved, less than 2% of imported shrimp is inspected by the US government. So all that dirty seafood is making its way to our kitchens, and thus, our bodies too.
And aside from nasty contaminants from the sewage water they live in and the filth in the shrimp production facilities, the shrimp you buy most likely also has pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, and pathogen-resistant bacteria. Who in the world wants to eat shrimp after reading that?! But wait...
THE KEY IS TO FIND THE RIGHT SHRIMP TO EAT.
So go for wild-caught Argentinian red shrimp (it's what I use and I buy it frozen from Trader Joe's), wild-caught American shrimp, wild-caught Mexican Gulf shrimp, and wild-caught South Atlantic shrimp. These will be your best bets for the cleanest, healthiest shrimp. So this way you end up getting the most out of the nutrients in your shrimp!
Is shrimp ceviche safe to eat?
The common misconception is that shrimp (and other seafood for that matter) can be "cooked" by marinating it in lime juice.
This is NOT true.
While it may look cooked, lime juice does not destroy all the potentially harmful bacteria, such as Salmonella, that can be found in shrimp. It's easy to think the shrimp is cooked because the acid in the lime denatures the protein in the shrimp (which heating also achieves) and this makes it look the same as cooked shrimp.
Especially with all that information about shrimp contamination, it's for the best to cook your shrimp prior to making the ceviche. The good thing is that it only takes a few minutes to do and you can't tell the difference when you're eating it between cooked and uncooked shrimp in the ceviche.
Honestly, it sets my mind at ease because by using the best kind of shrimp I can find and cooking it, I know my shrimp is clean and if there was anything potentially dangerous lurking in it, the precooking helps deal with that.
And don't worry about making your shrimp tough. You DON'T overcook the shrimp. It's only heated until just cooked. And if you use Argentinian red shrimp, it is impossible to make it tough. It's always so perfectly tender.
Can you eat shrimp ceviche while pregnant?
For anybody, there is legitimate risk in eating shrimp ceviche that uses uncooked shrimp. So for pregnant women, it'd be best to avoid uncooked ceviche. However, you cook the shrimp prior to making the ceviche in THIS recipe, so it is actually pretty great for pregnant women!
How long does shrimp ceviche last in the refrigerator?
Just like most anything else, I'd give this a week in the refrigerator before tossing out. Especially because we precook the shrimp prior to adding it to the rest of the ingredients, we don't have to worry at all about it going bad quickly or getting all weird and fishy. If you didn't cook the shrimp, then yeah, 2 days tops. But we do, so you can definitely go much longer.
And the leftovers taste just as yummy and fresh as day 1! How awesome is that?!
How to make shrimp ceviche
It's just so simple and fool-proof to make this fantastic shrimp ceviche!
Here's all you do:
-Boil a large pot of water. Add some salt to it.
-Throw in your shrimp for only a few minutes, just until cooked.
-Remove the shrimp and dice it.
-Add the shrimp to a large bowl with some lime juice and toss it together.
-Then chop up your cucumber, avocado, red onion, tomatoes, and cilantro and throw it into the bowl. Add some frozen corn kernels (they'll defrost as you prepare the dish so no need to cook), and give it a quick toss.
-Then you'll want to prepare the rest of the tangy marinade/juice for the ceviche by adding the rest of the lime juice to a small bowl. Mix in some olive oil, sea salt, good ketchup (yes, ketchup. I said what I said. Trust.), and some dashes of good ol' Tapatio hot sauce. Give it a mix and toss it into the ceviche.
Enjoy the BEST Mexican shrimp ceviche that you just made!!
What do you eat shrimp ceviche with?
My favorite way to eat this AMAZING dish is with some restaurant-style tortilla chips. I don't know if you have a Vons or Pavillions in your area but they have killer tortilla chips they make in house and they're PERFECT for this ceviche. You can also use tostadas if you prefer.
I love preparing some refried beans, some easy-peasy guacamole, and making a quick and yummy homemade salsa to eat alongside my chips and ceviche. The last thing I always love to pair with my shrimp ceviche--a cold Mexican Coke. I mean, I just have to. SO good.
Try it for yourself and see why this Mexican shrimp ceviche recipe is the best you can possibly find. I mean it.
For more amazing seafood recipes, you need to try my Easy Shrimp Scampi Recipe and my Mediterranean Tuna Pesto Summery Salad! And you have to try the best lemony baked salmon recipe too!
Recipe
BEST Mexican Shrimp Ceviche - VIDEO!!
Ingredients
- 2 pounds shrimp frozen or raw, peeled with tail off
- 1 red onion diced
- 5 Persian cucumbers diced
- 2 avocados diced (firm is better than soft so that they don't get mashed in the dish)
- 1 pound cherry or plum tomatoes cut in half
- 1 cup frozen corn (if you can find fire-roasted frozen corn, that's really great in this recipe too)
- 1 bunch cilantro chopped
- 1 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4 teaspoons sea salt
- ¼ cup ketchup (I prefer the taste of Kensington's organic ketchup)
- few dashes favorite hot sauce (I prefer Tapatio). Add as much as you prefer.
Instructions
- Boil a pot of water. Add 2 teaspoons sea salt to the boiling water.
- Add the shrimp for a few minutes or until just cooked. Look for the tails to curl up, which indicates they are cooked. Remove cooked shrimp to a clean plate.
- When cool enough to handle, dice shrimp into chunks and add to the largest glass bowl you own. Add half of the lime juice and toss together.
- Add in onion, cucumbers, avocados, tomatoes, frozen corn, and cilantro.
- Add the rest of the lime juice to a small mixing bowl and mix in olive oil, 2 teaspoons of sea salt, ketchup, and as much or as little hot sauce as you like.
- Add this mixture to the bowl of shrimp and veggies and give it a good toss.
- Serve shrimp ceviche with tortilla chips or tostadas.
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Video
Nutrition
Sources:
- Wu H, Niu H, Shao A, et al. Astaxanthin as a potential neuroprotective agent for neurological diseases. Mar Drugs. 2015;13(9):5750-66.
- Liu X, Osawa T. Astaxanthin protects neuronal cells against oxidative damage and is a potent candidate for brain food. Forum Nutr. 2009;61:129-35.
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6073124/
- Hussein G, Sankawa U, Goto H, et al. Astaxanthin, a carotenoid with potential in human health and nutrition. J Nat Prod. 2006;69(3):443-9.
- Zhou X, Zhang F, Hu X, et al. Inhibition of inflammation by astaxanthin alleviates cognition deficits in diabetic mice. Physiol Behav. 2015;151:412-20.
- Chew BP, Park JS, Wong MW, Wong TS. A comparison of the anticancer activities of dietary β-carotene, canthaxanthin and astaxanthin in mice in vivo. Anticancer Res. 1999;19:1849–1853.
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2615641/
- https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2015/06/shrimp-safety/index.htm
- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-12-15/how-antibiotic-tainted-seafood-from-china-ends-up-on-your-table?nl=cooking&em_pos=large&emc=edit_ck_20161218
Rebecca Smith Sandall says
Looks so fresh and delicious!
honestandtasty says
Thanks so much! 🙂
Carole France says
Great tips on purchasing cleanest shrimp as well as recommendation to always cook them. Thank you.
honestandtasty says
You're very welcome! Thank you for your comment! I'm so glad you found the tips useful! 🙂
Joseph says
What a great photo ! I love Agentina reds. more of a lobster crab taste ,If HEB has it with shell and head on I remove those and simmer them in water with a drop of white vinegar , salt ,,and taste it if its great poach my shrimp in it Im going tomorrow to get da shrimp and will make it oh I need a cucumber the English one ,and HEB has good chips too ,I may also try a combo with some Alaska Halibut some one gave me yesterday. Mouth watering as I type ,,great to see this post today,,,,You are so rite about the shrimp. nothing compares to those reds. PERACE Always Joseph. oh got those eggs you recommended ,was also a great tip. !
honestandtasty says
Argentina reds! The BEST! They totally remind me of lobster in their texture and sweetness too! What's HEB?
Shahin Sadeghieh says
Great food, and beautiful pictures. I love it 🥰 👏😊
honestandtasty says
Thank you!! <3 <3
Joseph says
Heb aTEXAS....chain market has own shrimp boats. sells its own Texas brands ,great deli great bakery ,its chocolate cake doughnuts are wow yum, also have all name brands great sales weekly ,