Southern Shrimp and Cheesy Grits.
Okay, you had us at Grits. But Cheesy Grits? Um…Shrimp and Cheesy Grits? Oh, good heavens. This Southern Shrimp and Cheesy Grits recipe is so astoundingly good, you have to try it to believe it. Um, it bears repeating: Mercy, this is an amazing dish:
Watch us make this incredibly delicious Southern Shrimp and Cheesy Grits recipe! Get ready to have some fun and get hungry!
Shrimp & Grits is classic Southern U.S. cuisine. These grits are loaded with flavor…they are creamy, cheesy and buttery…and sinfully delicious.
We LOVE grits!
Oh, and did we mention cheese?
Yes, cheddar cheese, please.
Mmmmmm…cheese.
And of course, we couldn’t just stop there! You know what this dish needs? BACON!!
Bacon, bacon, bacon!!
We are getting so close to shrimp and grits perfection!
And then the Gulf shrimp is sautéed and is loaded with incredible flavor.
The smell alone is worth writing home about!
Look at that shrimp!
Topped off with sauteed gulf shrimp in garlic, scallions, parsley lemon juice, smoked paprika and a dash of hot sauce.
Well, this is Southern decadence at its very best. This dish is not low on calories, so you won’t want to make this every day…but on a special occasion, it is one of the tastiest dishes you’ll ever experience.
Other Southern favorite dishes are:
- Southern Chicken Fried Steak
- Southern Tomato Pie
- Farm Fresh Corn Chowder
- Best-Ever Fried Chicken
- Southern Hush Puppies
But in the meantime…let’s get it on with Southern Shrimp and Cheesy Grits!
And now the time has come to go and make this amazing recipe!
You will NOT be disappointed, that we can guarantee!
Southern Shrimp and Cheesy Grits
Ingredients
- 3 cups chicken stock
- Pinch of Kosher salt
- 1 cup corn grits quick or regular...not instant
- 3 tbsp heavy cream
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese shredded
- 8 slices slab bacon cut into 1 to 2-inch pieces
- 1 lb shelled and deveined large shrimp
- Black pepper
- 2 - 3 garlic cloves minced (should be a heaping teaspoon)
- 3 tbsp flat-leaf parsley chopped
- 4 scallions white and green parts, chopped (3 for cooking, 1 for garnish)
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 or 3 good shakes of hot sauce ie, Tabasco
- 4 tsp fresh lemon juice usually the juice of 1 whole lemon
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, bring the stock to a boil.
- Whisk in the grits and cook over moderately high heat, stirring vigorously at first to eliminate lumps (Continue to stir periodically until thickened and the grains are tender- about 4 - 5 minutes total. If using regular grits, they will take up to 45 minutes)
- Add the cream, butter and cheese and gently stir. Cover and remove from heat.
- Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook the bacon over medium-high heat until crispy.
- Transfer cooked bacon to paper towel-lined plate.
- Pour out all but about 4 tablespoons of bacon fat in the skillet and re-heat.
- Sprinkle black pepper all over the shrimp and then add to the hot skillet and cook until curled and pink, about 3 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic, parsley, scallions, paprika, Worcestershire, Tabasco and lemon juice.
- Meanwhile, crumble the bacon into slightly smaller pieces, set aside.
- Spoon the warm, cheesy grits into 4 shallow serving bowls and top each with a quarter of the shrimp mixture.
- Garnish with bacon and reserved scallions. Serve at once!
Nutrition
This is the best S&G recipe I have used. I used Palmetto Farms Stone Ground Grits & it was delicious. I did not use scallions but all of the other ingredients made this dish very flavorful & easy.
Thanks!!
Hey there! We are so so happy you had success with our shrimp and grits recipe! Sounds like you prepared it perfectly! Thank you so much for sharing and for the wonderful review! That means so much to us! All the best, Kris & Wesley
Nice! I was addicted to the shrimp & grits at the local brew pub before they went out of business. Googled recipes and yours was one of the best.
I have the alpha gal meat allergy, so I substituted turkey bacon at the cost of a sacrifice in taste.
OTOH I used chipotle powder for the pepper and threw in lots of msg for added umami, at the cost of some authenticity.
Also, I’ve seen recipes that cook the grits in milk. So I split the difference and added a tbsp of Better Than Bouillon chicken stock paste to the boiling milk at the same time as the quick grits. Turned out pretty well.
Thanks for sharing this!
Hi Kevin! Wow! Sounds like you prepared it wonderfully! Sounds great! We are thrilled you had such great success with our shrimp and grits recipe! And thank you so much for sharing and for the GREAT review! We truly appreciate that! Please stay in touch! All the best, Kris & Wesley
YUM! So happy to have found this simple yet SUPER effective recipe. I LOVE shrimp & grits, often driving a ridiculous distance to a certain restaurant for it. This home made version was light-years better than the restaurant’s version. TY! TY! TY!
Hi Michelle! You just made our day! Yay! We are THRILLED you had such great success with the shrimp and grits and thank you SO MUCH for sharing and for the GREAT review! That means the world to us! Stay in touch! All the best, Kris & Wesley
I haven’t made this yet, but has anyone considered cooking the shrimp shells in the chicken stock before making the grits to amp up the flavor? That way you get a chicken AND shrimp stock.
Amazing! Only thing I changed was I DID simmer the chicken stock with the shrimp shells, 1 bay leaf, and 10 black peppercorns for about 30 min. @Shay, thanks for the idea!
Omg YUMMMMMMMM
Hi Sharon! Yay! So so happy you loved the shrimp and grits and thank you SO MUCH for letting us know and for the GREAT review! That means the world to us! All the best, Kris & Wesley
Oh, my goodness! As a born & raised Colorado girl I had never had Shrimp & Grits but I decided to dip my toes in the water. Where have you been all of my life? Thank you, thank you for such a wonderful recipe! You don’t see this dish in Colorado ( beef & potatoes country) very often but no matter because I’ll be making my own from now on!
Hi Gail! You have no idea how happy you just made us! We are thrilled you made the shrimp and grits and had such great success! Thank you so so much for sharing and for the GREAT review! That means the world to us! Please stay in touch!!! All the best, Kris & Wesley
Great recipe, I think the flavor is great without the Worcestershire sauce but over all definitely a keeper.
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Joy!!
Absolutely THE best, most outstanding, and easiest recipe for shrimp & grits that I’ve ever cooked. I’m a Cajun woman, born & raised, and this is absolute perfection in a bowl! I will say that I used both bacon AND pancetta, and used equal parts white cheddar & mild yellow cheddar. I used a combination of Tabasco Reserve and Mild Green Tabasco, as well. (Substituted/adapted according to what I had on hand as well as preference). Not only is the portion spot on, but it’s better than any I’ve gotten at ANY restaurant or cooked at home – and being from/living in Louisiana, that is exceptionally impressive to me (I am, admittedly, quite a food snob; especially Southern & Cajun foods!)! Thanks so much for the recipe, and I can’t wait to cook again!
***my husband (EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING…!) eats 1 serving of grits, one fried egg (with original Tabasco), one slice of bacon, and one slice of buttered Texas toast. I’d anticipated him curling his nose at the idea of having grits, in ANY form, twice in one day. Quite the opposite, much to my surprise! He actually asked me to ‘write the recipe down’ for him so that HE can cook it, too! High praise, y’all!
Hi Angee!! So sorry for the delayed response! We can’t even begin to express how much this means to us! That is the highest praise we could ask for! You know good shrimp and grits and we are THRILLED you loved our recipe and had such great success with it!! Thank you so much for sharing and for the GREAT review! That truly does mean so much to us! Please stay in touch! All the best, Kris & Wesley
This was not a good recipe…… it was INCREDIBLE! I learned how to make grits with shrimp when I lived in North Carolina and thought they were really good, but sorry what I make is dog food compared to this! Thank you so much for the recipe! Just a note, this is really good cold with a fried egg on top the runny yoke over the shrimp and grits is very good also! First time making one of recipes and I see no reason to look anywhere else! Thanks again!
Karen! You have no idea how much you have made us happy! We LOVE that you enjoyed the shrimp and grits recipe and your addition of a fried egg on top…WOW! Heavenly! Thank you for sharing and for the GREAT review. That means the world to us! All the best, Kris & Wesley
Made as written. I have made what I thought were great grits, till now. WOW Nailed, nailed it!
You just made our day! We are so so happy you loved the shrimp and grits, and thank you SO MUCH for sharing and for the GREAT review! Please stay in touch! All the best, Kris & Wesley
Used this recipe.. and babeeee best recipe yet..!! It was delicious..!! My family loved it.!!!
That is music to our ears!!!! Woo hoo!! Thank you so much for letting us know and we are so happy you and the family loved the shrimp and grits!
I’ve never left a review before, but this one definitely deserved one. Excellent recipe! The ONLY thing I tweaked here was putting in 1 1/2 cups of sharp cheddar and substituted the other 1/2 cup with smoked cheddar. Absolutely delicious!
Hi Michelle! We apologize for the late reply here! BUT…we are THRILLED you had such great success with our shrimp and grits recipe! And the smoked cheddar sub is spot on!!! Thank you so much for sharing and even more for the wonderful review! That means the world to us! Please stay in touch!! All the best, Kris & Wesley
This recipe has become a Valentines Day tradition for my husband and I. Its seriously the best shrimp & grits I’ve ever tasted. I look forward to February 14th every year.
We can’t even begin to describe how happy this makes us! Happy Valentine’s Day, you two love birds!! Enjoy the shrimp and grits!!!! Much love! Kris & Wesley
Made this tonight. We have never made grits at home. Your directions were perfect. A great recipe that I will gladly use again in the future.
Hi Don! We are so so thrilled to hear that you had such great success with the shrimp and grits. Grits are fun to cook with, right? Thank you so much for letting us know!! Please stay in touch, and Happy New Year! Kris & Wesley
This is the Shrimp and Grits recipe I have been searching for! It turned out amazing, your Instructions are perfect and I didn’t change a thing. I making the Cheesy Grits again tonight because they are just that GOOD!
Rachel!! Woo hoo!! We have to admit, that has been one of our most favorite dishes we have ever put on the blog. We get so excited when someone tries it and loves it, too!! Thank you so much for letting us know and for the wonderful review! We appreciate that so very much!!! Kris & Wesely
Thank you so much for this recipe…I made it for my husband’s birthday dinner…I did add more heavy cream into the grits and added a little cayenne instead of the hot sauce…and added 1 tbsp butter into the shrimp…
Yum and he was one happy camper.
Gail
Hi Gail!! That makes us so incredibly happy to hear! We are thrilled you had such great success with the shrimp and grits and that you gave your hubby and wonderful birthday meal. Sounds like your modifications were just perfect. Thank you so much for letting us know and for the great review. We ALWAYS appreciate that so very much! Happy Birthday to your husband! All the best, Kris & Wesley