Cuban Shrimp Boil: Peel and Eat Shrimp With Corn, Potatoes and Sausage
Mario CruzA Cuban shrimp boil is shell-on shrimp, corn, red potatoes, and smoked sausage cooked in one pot of water seasoned with mojo criollo, then piled on a platter and drenched in a butter and hot sauce mix. It is the Cuban answer to a Low Country boil: garlic and sour orange in the water instead of beer and Old Bay, and a citrus-forward hot sauce at the table instead of cocktail sauce.
This is the recipe in the video below, the one we make when a crowd shows up. Everything goes into one pot in stages, the shrimp go in last for three minutes, and the whole thing is on the table five minutes after that.
What Goes In
Four things in the pot, one thing poured over the top.
- Shell-on shrimp. Large, 16 to 20 per pound. The shell is not optional; it protects the meat from the boiling water and holds the seasoning. Peeled shrimp in the same pot go rubbery in a minute.
- Small red potatoes, halved. They take the longest, so they go in first.
- Corn on the cob, cut into thirds.
- Smoked sausage, cut into two-inch pieces. It seasons the water as much as it feeds people.
- Hot sauce butter. Butter melted with Barbaro Mojo and a squeeze of lemon, poured over everything on the platter. This is what makes it ours.
Why the Shell Stays On
Peel and eat means exactly that: the shrimp cook in their shells and everyone peels their own at the table. The shell keeps the meat tender through the boil, holds the garlic and citrus against the shrimp instead of letting it wash off, and gives you something to hold while you dip. If a recipe tells you to peel and devein the shrimp before they go in the pot, it is a shrimp recipe, but it is not peel and eat.
The Cuban Part
A Low Country boil seasons the water with beer and Old Bay. Ours goes in with mojo criollo, the sour orange and garlic marinade Cuban kitchens use for roast pork, plus bay leaf and peppercorns. The potatoes and corn soak it up, the shrimp shells trap it, and the whole platter tastes of garlic and citrus instead of celery salt.
The heat is added at the end, not cooked into the pot. Cuban food is not spicy as cooked, so the hot sauce goes into the butter that gets poured over the platter, and more sits on the table for anyone who wants it.
Ingredients
Serves 6, family style.
- 2 lb large shell-on shrimp (16 to 20 count)
- 1.5 lb small red potatoes, halved
- 3 ears corn, husked, each cut into thirds
- 12 oz smoked sausage, cut into 2 inch pieces
- 4 quarts water
- 1/2 cup mojo criollo, or 1/3 cup sour orange juice plus 4 cloves garlic, smashed
- 3 tbsp kosher salt
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
- 1 tsp Cuban sazón, for the shrimp
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
- 3 tbsp Barbaro Mojo El Havanero, or Jalabáo for a milder table
- 2 lemons, one juiced, one cut into wedges
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
How to Make a Cuban Shrimp Boil
- Season the water. Bring the water, mojo criollo, salt, bay leaves, and peppercorns to a rolling boil in your largest pot. Give it two or three minutes at a boil so the garlic and citrus actually flavor the water before anything goes in.
- Potatoes first, 10 minutes. Add the halved potatoes and keep the water at a steady boil.
- Corn and sausage, 5 more minutes. Add both. The sausage starts seasoning the water the moment it hits.
- Make the butter while that cooks. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat, stir in the El Havanero and the juice of one lemon, and keep it warm. Do not let it boil.
- Shrimp last, about 3 minutes. Add the shell-on shrimp, stir once, and watch. They are done when the shells turn pink and the meat curls into a loose C. A tight O means you went a minute too long.
- Drain and pile. Drain everything and tip it onto a sheet pan or big platter. Shake the sazón over the shrimp while they are hot.
- Pour the butter over. All of it, over everything. Scatter the parsley, add the lemon wedges, and put more hot sauce on the table.
- Peel, dip, eat. Standing up is traditional.
Timing Is the Whole Recipe
Nothing here is hard. The only thing to get right is the order, because every ingredient wants a different amount of time in the water. Potatoes need about 18 minutes total, corn and sausage about 8, shrimp about 3. Stagger the drops and everything finishes together. Put it all in at once and you get mushy shrimp and raw potatoes.
Shape, not time, tells you when the shrimp are done. Raw shrimp are straight. A loose C is done. A tight O is overcooked and the texture goes from snappy to rubbery, so stand at the pot for those three minutes.
Shrimp Only, Hot or Cold
Skip the potatoes, corn, and sausage and you have plain Cuban-style peel and eat shrimp: the same seasoned water, shrimp in for three minutes, out onto a platter. Hot out of the pot is the backyard version. For a make-ahead party platter, drain them straight into an ice bath, chill them shell-on, and serve cold with the hot sauce butter on the side. They peel more cleanly cold.
Which Sauce
El Havanero is the one in the butter: habanero and tomato on a mojo base, 9 out of 10 on the Barbaro Mojo Cuban heat scale, so three tablespoons in a stick of butter is plenty for a whole platter. For a mixed table, make the butter with Jalabáo instead, 3 out of 10 with a green pepper flavor that suits shrimp, and leave El Havanero in the bottle for the people who want it. Piñazo, pineapple and Carolina Reaper at 6 out of 10, is the one people end up hoarding on seafood.
If you want the shrimp cooked in the sauce instead of dipped, that is a different dish: the Jalabáo shrimp sauté. For shrimp simmered in a tomato sofrito, make enchilado de camarones. For shrimp on the grill, the mojo shrimp skewers.
Related: 10 ways to use El Havanero.
Keep reading: fricasé de pollo, Cuban chicken fricassee.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Cuban shrimp boil?
Shell-on shrimp, corn, red potatoes, and smoked sausage boiled together in water seasoned with mojo criollo (sour orange, garlic, bay leaf, peppercorns), then served on a platter with a butter and Cuban hot sauce mix poured over. It is the Cuban version of a Low Country boil, with garlic and citrus where the beer and Old Bay would be.
What is peel and eat shrimp?
Shrimp boiled or steamed in the shell and served whole, so each person peels their own at the table. The shell protects the meat from overcooking and holds the seasoning. It is served with a dipping sauce, hot or cold.
How long do you boil peel and eat shrimp?
About 3 minutes for large 16 to 20 count shell-on shrimp, from the moment they go into boiling water. Smaller shrimp take 2 minutes, jumbo closer to 4. Judge by shape: a loose C curl means done, a tight O means overcooked.
What order do things go into a shrimp boil?
Potatoes first (about 18 minutes total), then corn and sausage (about 8 minutes), then the shrimp for the last 3 minutes. Staggering the additions is the entire technique; everything finishes at the same moment.
What sausage goes in a shrimp boil?
Any fully cooked smoked sausage, cut into two-inch pieces. Andouille gives a spicier, Louisiana-leaning boil; a plain smoked pork sausage or kielbasa keeps it mild and lets the mojo and the hot sauce butter do the seasoning.
What makes it Cuban rather than a Low Country boil?
The water and the sauce. The pot is seasoned with mojo criollo, the sour orange and garlic marinade used for Cuban roast pork, instead of beer and Old Bay. The finish is a butter made with a mojo-based Cuban hot sauce, and more hot sauce at the table, rather than cocktail sauce. Heat is added at the end, not cooked into the pot.
Can you make peel and eat shrimp ahead?
Yes, for the shrimp-only version. Boil, drain into an ice bath, and refrigerate shell-on for up to a day. They peel more cleanly cold and are the classic make-ahead platter. The full boil with potatoes and corn is best eaten straight from the pot.
What hot sauce goes with a shrimp boil?
A citrus-forward sauce rather than a vinegar-heavy one, since the pot is already seasoned with sour orange and garlic. El Havanero, 9 out of 10 on the Barbaro Mojo Cuban heat scale, goes into the butter; Jalabáo at 3 out of 10 suits a mixed table; Piñazo's pineapple at 6 out of 10 is a favorite on shrimp.