Baked Jumbo Stuffed Shrimp Recipe with Crabmeat

Sharing is caring!

If you’re a seafood lover, our stuffed shrimp recipe will be your new favorite shrimp appetizer.  

This baked stuffed shrimp recipe tastes like a crab cake in a shrimp’s loving embrace. 

Crab-stuffed shrimp is a great appetizer for the holidays, a special occasion party, watching a great game, or as part of your meal.

This recipe is also easily moldable, because with a slight change of the dry seasoning on the shrimp prior to baking you could make it cajun, blackened, or even citrus forward. 

Recommended Shrimp Size

The size of the shrimp matters! You want to make sure you use a large shrimp at a minimum to hold the crab stuffing.  

We were lucky enough to find some colossal fresh shrimp at our local grocery store, Fiesta Mart which is an even larger shrimp.  

With over 15 varieties of shrimp in their seafood department, they have the largest shrimp selection we’ve ever seen.

These puppies were so big they felt like mini lobster tails. 

They were sized 13/15, which means 13-15 shrimp per pound. The lower the number, the larger your shrimp will be.

Making Your Crab Filling

The crab stuffing is very similar to a crab cake, which is a shortcut we use in our Crab Stuffed Salmon Recipe hack. 

We gave this recipe a smokey chipotle twist, and it all comes together in minutes and only a few ingredients. 

Who doesn’t love a recipe where you can throw everything into one bowl and just mix?

If you want more of a traditional crab filling, you could also use the buttery ritz crackers crab cake recipe for your filling like we do for our appetizer crab cake recipe with Ritz Crackers. 

Ways to Serve This Stuffed Shrimp Recipe

We ate these crab stuffed shrimp right out of the pan, but the flavors are so versatile, you can serve them in a number of ways.

• Appetizer – Eat it straight from the oven directly out of the cast iron pan on its own.  It’s truly such an easy appetizer to serve any festivity. Serve it with remoulade sauce or guacamole.
• Tacos – Add the shrimp into corn tortillas and top with guacamole is our favorite way to turn this into a main course. Use the citrus slaw from our Lobster Taco Recipe for even more flavor.
• Pasta – Toss with a simple garlic, parmesan cheese, and butter pasta for a delicious crab and shrimp pasta.
• Sandwich – Take a buttery brioche roll and stuff it with the crab stuffed shrimp recipe (just be sure to remove the tails!) and you just turned a classic Lobster Roll into a seafood roll!

Baked Stuffed Shrimp Recipe with Crab

Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Cook Time: 20-25 Minutes

Serves: 30 Shrimp

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds colossal or jumbo shrimp 13- 15 count per pound: peeled, deveined and butterflied
• 1 Tablespoon of olive oil
• 2 teaspoon old bay seasoning (or a medium heat cajun seasoning)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 pound lump crabmeat (you can use jumbo lump, claw, or lump crabmeat)
• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup breadcrumbs (Italian, panko breadcrumbs, or buttery cracker crumbs)
• 3 tablespoons Chipotle sauce (or chipotles in adobo, blended)
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Squeeze of lemon juice, for garnish
• 1 teaspoon cilantro finely chopped, for garnish

Directions:

1. Start by preparing your shrimp. We bought easy peel colossal shrimp. We chose to peel the shrimp ourselves so that we could keep the tips of the tail on. The tail-on shrimp helps to create a perfect handle when serving it as an appetizer.
2. Using a paring knife, butterfly the shrimp by slicing down the back of the shrimp. We liked to leave the tip still connected to the butterfly shrimp to make it easier to stuff.
3. In a large bowl, toss all the butterflied shrimp in a drizzle of olive oil and then with the garlic powder, old bay seasoning, black pepper, and sea salt, until all the shrimp is well coated in the seasoning.
4. In a medium bowl, mix the egg, mayonnaise, and chipotle adobo sauce. Then fold in the lump crab meat until all combined. Finally, gently fold in the breadcrumbs into the crab meat mixture.
5. Scoop a tablespoon of the crab meat filling in the shrimp. Fold the tail back on top.
6. Align the shrimp around the cast iron pan or a large skillet that is oven safe until it is filled. Either use your largest pan, or make these in two batches.
7. Bake the shrimp at 375 degrees F for 20-25 minutes until the shrimp is fully cooked and the crab filling is golden brown.  The larger the shrimp the longer it will take. 
8. Meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan with the minced garlic.  You can also add an extra tablespoon or two of the chipotle sauce in the butter if you want to kick up the butter dip even more. 
9. Prior to serving, drizzle the crab stuffed shrimp with the melted butter, chopped cilantro, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. If you don’t like the taste of cilantro, you can garnish the shrimp with chopped fresh parsley or chopped green onions.
10. Eat the shrimp on their own with a dip like tartar sauce or melted butter, or add the shrimp into tacos and top with guacamole. 

Note: We used “chipotle sauce” which is a pureed version of chipotles in adobo. If you can not find chipotle sauce, you can use the adobo sauce from a can of whole chipotle peppers or even substitute for hot sauce.

If somehow there’s any leftovers, you can store your shrimp in an airtight container, and refrigerate for 1-2 days. 

Continue to Content

Baked Stuffed Shrimp Recipe with Crab

Yield: 30 Stuffed Shrimp

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

This garlic butter crab stuffed shrimp recipe is a perfect appetizer for a party or great addition to pasta or tacos.

Print

Ingredients

• 2 pounds colossal or jumbo shrimp 13- 15 count per pound: peeled, deveined and butterflied
• 1 Tablespoon of olive oil
• 2 teaspoon old bay seasoning (or a medium heat cajun seasoning)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 pound lump crabmeat (you can use jumbo lump, claw, or lump crabmeat)
• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup breadcrumbs (Italian, panko breadcrumbs, or buttery cracker crumbs)
• 3 tablespoons Chipotle sauce (or chipotles in adobo, blended)
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Squeeze of lemon juice, for garnish
• 1 teaspoon cilantro finely chopped, for garnish

Instructions

1. Start by preparing your shrimp. We bought easy peel colossal shrimp. We chose to peel the shrimp ourselves so that we could keep the tips of the tail on. The tail-on shrimp helps to create a perfect handle when serving it as an appetizer.
2. Using a paring knife, butterfly the shrimp by slicing down the back of the shrimp. We liked to leave the tip still connected to the butterfly shrimp to make it easier to stuff.
3. In a large bowl, toss all the butterflied shrimp in a drizzle of olive oil and then with the garlic powder, old bay seasoning, black pepper, and sea salt, until all the shrimp is well coated in the seasoning.
4. In a medium bowl, mix the egg, mayonnaise, and chipotle adobo sauce. Then fold in the lump crab meat until all combined. Finally, gently fold in the breadcrumbs into the crab meat mixture.
5. Scoop a tablespoon of the crab meat filling in the shrimp. Fold the tail back on top.
6. Align the shrimp around the cast iron pan or a large skillet that is oven safe until it is filled. Either use your largest pan, or make these in two batches.
7. Bake the shrimp at 375 degrees F for 20-25 minutes until the shrimp is fully cooked and the crab filling is golden brown.  The larger the shrimp the longer it will take. 
8. Meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan with the minced garlic.  You can also add an extra tablespoon or two of the chipotle sauce in the butter if you want to kick up the butter dip even more. 
9. Prior to serving, drizzle the crab stuffed shrimp with the melted butter, chopped cilantro, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. If you don’t like the taste of cilantro, you can garnish the shrimp with chopped fresh parsley or chopped green onions.
10. Eat the shrimp on their own with a dip like tartar sauce or melted butter, or add the shrimp into tacos and top with guacamole. 

Notes

 We used “chipotle sauce” which is a pureed version of chipotles in adobo. If you can not find chipotle sauce, you can use the adobo sauce from a can of whole chipotle peppers or even substitute for hot sauce.

If somehow there's any leftovers, you can store your shrimp in an airtight container, and refrigerate for 1-2 days.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

• 
  Shrimp Deveiner Tool and Peeler
• 
  Cast Iron Skillet Handle Covers
• 
  Cast Iron Cleaning Set
• 
  Lodge Cast Iron Seasoning Spray
• 
  Enameled Cast Iron Skillet - Exceptional Heat Retention & Durability

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

When it comes to shrimp appetizers we think this may be one of the best we’ve ever had. 

You’ll Love our Other Absolute Favorite Seafood Recipes:

• Seafood Boil – Our crab, sausage, and corn boil is perfect year round.  You can make your seafood boil spicy, or just a good cajun flavor.
• Air Fryer Coconut Shrimp – These tropical air fryer shrimp bites will give you all the vacation vibes you need.  They’re crispy, sweet, and so tasty. 
• Tempura Fried Lobster Tail Recipe – Most people have had shrimp tempura, but lobster tempura takes it up a notch.  We love this upscale twist on this Japanese classic fried food. 
• How to Grill Lobster Tail – Don’t be intimidated by the thought of grilling lobster, our guide walks you through the process to ensure they don’t get overcooked.
• Sous Vide Lobster – If you have a sous vide, you need to try this foolproof recipe for the most tender lobster that you’ve ever tasted.
• Shrimp Ceviche Tostadas – Another favorite fresh shrimp appetizer.  It requires zero cooking, and it’s “cooked” with natural citrus.  It’s a tried and true recipe, and better than you’ll get at most Mexican restaurants.

Click this link to pin this recipe for Crab Stuffed Shrimp on Pinterest.

Also, don’t forget to follow us on instagram and facebook for more recipes and foodie recommendations. 

If you’d like to automatically receive our posts in your email, register here.

Whip up this recipe? Be sure to tag us on social media as @coupleinthekitchen and we’ll share it with our foodie followers!