Shrimp cooks really fast. It’s better to take them out before over boiling them. Otherwise, the resulting shrimps will be rubbery. Shrimps are easy peasy and take very less time to cook. Boiling shrimp is one of the best ways to cook them because once it’s perfectly cooked, you can either make shrimp salad or shrimp cocktail or use it in any other recipe. If you don’t know how long to boil shrimp, here you get to know about this.
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How Long to Boil Shrimp?
The boiling time of shrimp depends on what type of shrimp you are going to boil. It can be small, medium, large, and jumbo or can be raw or frozen. Here, we have given a table below for your easy understanding.
| Shrimp Size (Count per lb) | How Long to Boil Shrimp | |
| Raw | Frozen | |
| Small (51-60) | 30 sec | 1 min |
| Medium (41-50) | 1 min | 2 min |
| Large (31-35) | 2 min | 3 min |
| Jumbo (21-25) | 3 min | 4 min |
| Extra jumbo (16-20) | 4 min | 5 min |
How Long to Boil Frozen Shrimp?
If you are boiling frozen shrimp, you have to thaw them first for a better cooking experience. Once it’s thawed, you can boil frozen shrimp. Take a large saucepan with water. Add salt, pepper, lemon wedges, and bay leaf into it. Then add thawed shrimp and cook for about 2 mins 41-50 counts/lb. You can check the visual hints of cooked shrimp. If you see opaque, pink color with a red accent, and a curl “C” shape, they are perfectly cooked. Place them in an ice bath to stop cooking and you are good to go.
How to Thaw Frozen Shrimp?
Take a bowl and put all the shrimps you want to thaw. Add cold tap water only, don’t add warm water to fasten the process. Let them stay in the water for about 10 mins. Change the water two times during 10 mins and you’ll end up having thawed shrimp.
I peel shrimp before cooking, so I thaw them for about 5 minutes in cold tap water. They become semi-frozen, hard but easy to peel.
How Long to Boil Shrimp for Shrimp Cocktail?
If you are boiling shrimp for a shrimp cocktail, you should boil shrimp for about 3 to 3 1/2 mins or until they are opaque, and pinkish in color.
How Long to Boil Jumbo Shrimp?
If you are boiling jumbo shrimp, you can use the same method as described above. You just have to maintain the boiling time of jumbo shrimp. It will take about 4 minutes to boil 21-25 counts/lb of shrimp. On the other hand, if you are boiling frozen jumbo shrimp, it will take about 5 mins. only to boil the same quantity.
FAQ:
How long to store leftover boiled shrimps?
You can easily store leftover boiled shrimps in the refrigerator for about 3 days.
What size shrimp should I use for boiling and cocktail?
It's better to use large or jumbo sized shrimps when boiling or poaching them. Small ones are more suitable for stir-fries.
How many shrimp per person to be served?
It depends on whether you serve them as an appetizer or as a main dish. I personally serve 3 oz as an appetizer and 6 oz per person as a main dish.
