Thanksgiving Crab-Stuffed Shrimp
Thanksgiving Crab-Stuffed Shrimp
Butterflied shrimp topped with a generous mound of seasoned crab, with the tail curled over like a scorpion. They bake in under twenty minutes, they look genuinely impressive on a platter, and they taste like something you’d pay far too much for at a restaurant.
Ingredients
Ingredients:
Shopping List
- 1 lb jumbo shrimp
- 1 tbsp avocado oil
- smoked paprika
- Old Bay seasoning
- garlic powder
- 16 oz crabmeat
- .25 cup mayonnaise
- 1 egg
- garlic clove
- .5 cup bread crumbs
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 lemon
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley
Ingredients are subject to availability at local stores. Unavailable items will be automatically substituted at best-effort.
Pick over the crabmeat before mixing to remove any stray shell fragments — this is quick with lump crab and worth doing every time. She blends her favourite gluten-free crackers for the bread crumbs, but any fine dry breadcrumb works. The shrimp can be prepped a day ahead and refrigerated until you’re ready to bake.
Directions
Prep and season the shrimp
- Butterfly the shrimp: Peel and devein the 1 lb of shrimp, leaving the tails attached. Run your knife a little deeper along the back than you would for a standard devein so each shrimp opens flat like a book — this is what gives you a surface to sit the crab on.
- Season them: In a bowl, toss the butterflied shrimp with the 1 Tbsp avocado oil, ½ tsp smoked paprika, ½ tsp Old Bay, ½ tsp garlic powder, and black pepper to taste until evenly coated. Set aside.
Make the crab mixture
- Mix the binder first: In a large bowl, combine the ¼ cup mayonnaise, 1 egg, 1 minced garlic clove, ½ cup bread crumbs, 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard, the juice of ½ to 1 lemon, 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp Old Bay, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1 Tbsp chopped parsley, and a dash of hot sauce. Stir until everything is fully combined — mixing it all before the crab goes in keeps you from breaking up the lumps later.
- Fold in the crab: Add the 16 oz crabmeat and fold gently with a spatula until just incorporated. Stop as soon as it’s evenly distributed; overmixing shreds the lump meat and turns the filling pasty.
Stuff and bake
- Preheat: Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease a baking dish.
- Form and top: Scoop a small ball of the crab mixture — roughly 1½ to 2 tablespoons — and press it onto the butterflied back of each shrimp. Fold the tail up and over the top of the crab mound so it curls over like a scorpion, which also helps hold the filling in place.
- Arrange and bake: Set the stuffed shrimp on the prepared pan with a little space between them and bake for 18–20 minutes, until the crab is golden brown at the edges and the shrimp are opaque and cooked through.
- Finish and serve: If using, drizzle with melted butter and scatter over a little more chopped parsley right as they come out of the oven. Serve hot.
Make-ahead: Stuff the shrimp up to 24 hours ahead, cover, and refrigerate — add a few minutes to the bake time since they’ll go in cold. The crab mixture on its own can be made a day ahead as well. Baked leftovers keep for 2 days and reheat gently at 325°F for 8–10 minutes so the shrimp don’t toughen.
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