Chef John's Shrimp and Grits Recipe

Another great job, Chef John! This was exactly what I wanted for Shrimp and Grits! I make a Cheese Grits Casserole often and it worked well for this dish, and added the make-ahead benefit! The shrimp and sauce mixture was very tasty, and so good that I will make more sauce next time! Recommend passing the shrimp thru the hot pan quickly, add the veg's, then sauce, then shrimp back to finish. So easy to overcook shrimp! This will be a great brunch dish!

For information from a born-and-raised Southerner, what is labeled "white grits" is hominy grits, hominy being raw corn soaked in alkali to dissolve the husk, then dried and milled like corn meal to produce the grits. It is a more neutral flavor than "corn" or yellow grits. I've made this dish for 50 years and I do this prep but I also add sliced mushrooms and omit the cream. The combo of bacon fat, shrimp, mushrooms, and green onions with a bit of cayenne is comfort food! It also amazes dinner guests who haven't had grits before.

I used 1 3/4 cup plus 1/4 cup milk to start with the grits. I stirred basically constantly. I also added the butter. I needed to add water and heavy cream while cooking. They were fabulous. Do not use instant grits. Get the real ones.

This is an amazing dish just like all of Chef John's amazing dishes! This one will stay in my rotation. The flavors are great as is, but I like to take it one step further and add a splash of white wine (approximately 2-3 tablespoons) to the cream sauce, which gives it a fancier pop of flavor! Prep is definitely key to making it simple. First, I put the raw shrimp in a bowl with the seasoning and set that aside. I cook the bacon. Then, I prep the sauce and set that aside. I chop the veggies and bacon. Once those are chopped, I put those ingredients into the sauce (minus the jalapeno) to let them soak their flavor into the sauce. Then, I cook the grits sometime using the instant ones if I want a quicker process. Lastly, I cook the shrimp as suggested by Chef John. I like a thicker sauce so if the shrimp is done and the sauce is too runny, I place the cooked shrimp in a bowl and let the sauce thicken to my likeness. My kids and husband love this recipe.

I love shrimp and grits. Whenever I am at a restaurant and it's on the menu I will try. This recipe is by far the best. I double steps 1, 2, and 5 because I like more sauce.

This recipe is delicious as is!! We love it! For super-easy, week night dinners when I want a meal is 15-20 minutes, I use instant grits, bagged shredded cheese, frozen pre-cooked shrimp, packaged bacon bits, and a bag of frozen (peppers, onion, & celery) soup seasonings. Literally dump the veggies and bacon bits in a fry pan, sautee them in a little olive oil and butter, add Cajun seasoning and pepper, make a roux, add some milk and a little cream cheese (if I have it) and we have a delicious dinner in minutes! It’s not quite as good as the original recipe (especially the bacon) but it’s still pretty darn delicious and hits the spot on a cool evening.

It turned out fabulously. I will be making this one again. The only changes I made were sautéing half a red onion and two jalapeños in the beginning and adding them to the grits along with the cheese, which I went a little heavy on. For spices I made the Creole Spice Blend recipe and used a couple of tablespoons of that on the shrimp. I think it was true to the basic recipe and added some touches that we appreciate at our place.

This was delicious! The only change we made was to double the sauce...we love a good sauce. I added a cornstarch slurry to thicken it up a bit and the consistency and taste were amazing. Next time I’ll use fresh shrimp. Mine was frozen so the only off taste was shrimp quality. This was my first attempt at shrimp and grits. So easy to follow, thank you! This is a keeper.

Delicious - but I think the sauce had too much water. I did double the sauce ingredients, but next time I would NOT double the water. I would have liked it a bit thicker. I also added mushrooms, which I sauteed with the onion and garlic a bit before adding it to the sauce (could that have thinned it too much?). Took veggies out of pan, sauteed shrimp for a minute and then added sauce/veggies back in to finish cooking. Also, remember to make the grits with broth, not water - forgot this time, and definitely not as flavorful. Still good, though!

This is a good recipe but the grits weren't very creamy. To really get those grits nice and creamy, I added about a 1/4 to 1/3 cup of heavy cream to the water for the grits, brought that to a boil and then simmered them in that for about 20 minutes.

This is absolutely delicious and very easy to execute. I’ve made it twice and doubled the sauce both times. I think I will triple the sauce next time because it’s just too good. I love the garlic level but it’s a little too much for my husband. Next time I will add the garlic sooner so it cooks out more and might cut the garlic in half (sadly) ;).

This recipe is officially my go-to.

Can’t wait to make it again.

This recipe just flexed on all others.

I wish i could give more than FIVE stars ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ! This was so delicious and better than anything i could have gotten at a restaurant! I made as per recipe except i was out of cream so subbed buttermilk, which i had, and added more red bell pepper and green onion.

Instead of the jalapeño and spices I added a can of Rotel with chilis.

Chef John for the win again! We make this about once a week and the family says it gets better every time! Thank you again, Chef!!! But soon, you need to teach me how to lose all the weight I’ve gained since I’ve been cooking all this delicious food!

This is easy and flavorful. And you can add your own touches., for example, I add a dash of liquid smoke for an even report depth of flavor and use beef bacon! Chef’s kiss! I love Chef John!

Very good! It was a little salty, even with using low sodium bacon. I might cut out the Worcestershire sauce or salt next time. I would also add a little more jalepeno since we list more spice. But again, very good.

I didn’t use the jalapeño, because the Cajun spices were enough for me. My husband added some cayenne and loved the taste. I loved the taste too. But OMG…easy??? Not.