Juicy honey garlic shrimp tossed with a kiss of spicy chipotle sauce is what's on the menu today. These addictive and easy shrimp are snuggled into a bed of cheesy golden corn polenta and served with lots of fresh peppery basil. AKA The perfect summer dinner.
Okay, everyone... has summer got you feeling all the outdoor eating and quick dinner vibes yet? It sure does at our house. We're set to have a record-breaking June with 30c temperatures all month long. If you live in a place that also gets crazy hot you're gonna need some serious relief. So, I'm arming us with a roster of dinner saviours. This honey garlic shrimp number being one them.
This shrimp dinner has a lot going for it.
- Shrimp cook in 5 minutes.
- They're healthy
- These shrimp can be marinated for 30 minutes and either sauteed or grilled, giving you maximum dinner flexibility.
- It also loves basil, so if like me, you have an out of control basil plant in your garden, this is the perfect dish to tame it!
And if you're interested in upping your kitchen skills, I have a tutorial on my Instagram stories about peeling and deveining whole shrimp. So, buy them whole and roll your sleeves up.
Step By Step Honey Garlic Shrimp
It's so easy that you don't even really need it. But here it goes...
- Mix honey, garlic, and chipotle paste. You will be adding a hit of fresh lime juice but we do that at the end. Because shrimp flesh is so delicate, if you add an acid and let it sit for too long, the acid starts to cook the shrimp and you end up with tough seafood. When you add it at the end, the flavour also stays fresher and brighter.
- Cut the cobs of the corn and roast it in a nonstick pan over a low heat. We want golden brown colour here.
- Make your polenta. Add the polenta to some boiling water and stir. I make my polenta by ratio rather than exact measurement. This lets me make more or less depending on how much I need. Use 1 part of polenta to 5 parts water. I'll include more details about cooking polenta in the recipe notes.
Once my corn is golden and my polenta is soft and fluffy, I stir the corn into the polenta leaving a few kernels aside for topping it the whole dish off. This polenta is absolutely delicious by itself, but when that chipotle, garlic, honey, shrimp situation gets involved, it's next level.
The beauty of this dish is that by the time your corn is golden and mixed into your polenta the shrimp will be ready for sauteeing and you can use the same pan you had the corn in. Simple economy of pan use means fewer dishes.
So, yeah. We're pretty much living our best honey garlic shrimp life right now.
Thanks so much for reading and cooking along with me! If you make these bars or have a question, I'd love it if you left a comment and a rating. You can also follow along on Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram to see what we're eating, pinning and a little behind the scenes too!
Honey Garlic Shrimp With Golden Corn Polenta
Ingredients
For the Polenta
- 1 cup polenta quick cooking
- 5 cups water
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 corn from two ears
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
For the Shrimp
- 20 large whole shrimp peeled and deveined
Honey Garlic Sauce
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 Tablespoon chipotle paste
- 1 clove garlic minced
- juice of 1 lime
- 1 bunch basil chopped
Instructions
- Bring 5 cups of water to a boil and add the polenta. Cook according to package directions, about 8 minutes for quick cooking and 20 for regular. Once the polenta is thick and cooked through stir in the butter and the cheese. Set aside.
For the Shrimp.
- Peel and devein the shrimp. Set aside in the fridge while you prepare everything else.
- Mix the honey, chipotle paste, garlic and the lime juice in a small bowl.
- In a non stick skillet heat the olive oil over a medium low heat. Cut the kernels off the ears of corn and roast in the oil until the corn is a deep golden brown about 15 minutes. Place the corn in a bowl and set aside.
- In the same pan add a tablespoon more olive oil and add the shrimp. Cook for about 2 minutes per side, or until the shrimp are golden and cooked through. Pour the honey garlic sauce in the pan with the shrimp and cook for a further 30 seconds to heat the sauce and thicken it slightly.
To serve
- Stir half the corn into the polenta and divide between 4 bowls. Place the shrimp on top of the polenta and drizzle with sauce. Scatter with the remaining corn and chopped basil.
Stephen A. says
I haven't seen chipotle paste anywhere near me. Can I simply use chipotle peppers in adobe sauce blended together?
Thanks! Plan on making this tomorrow!
Debs says
Hey Stephan! Yes. Absolutely. That's the perfect substitute. Hope you enjoy it!