Here it is, y’all! Martha’s beloved shrimp and grits recipe! If you have everything chopped and measured before you start cooking, it takes only about fifteen minutes to prepare. It’s perfect as a one-dish meal for family.–Paula Deen
LC Hors d'Oeuvres How To Note
Should you prefer this as an hors d’oeuvres or first course, simply spoon 1/4 cup grits onto a plate and top with 1/4 cup of the shrimp mixture. Strew some crisped bacon bits over the top. Or for a passed hors d’oeuvres, pull out some Chinese soup spoons and mound a very modest portion of grits and a single shrimp—maybe two.
Shrimp and Grits Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup stone-ground grits
- Salt and pepper
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
- 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined, left whole if small and roughly chopped if medium or large
- 6 slices bacon, chopped into tiny pieces
- 4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 cup thinly sliced green onions, white and green parts
- 1 large garlic clove, minced
Directions
- 1. To make the shrimp and grits recipe, bring 4 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the grits and salt and pepper to taste. Stir well with a whisk. Reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting and cook the grits until all the water is absorbed, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and cheese. Keep covered until ready to serve.
- 2. Rinse the shrimp and pat dry. Fry the bacon in a large skillet until browned and crisp, then drain on a paper towel. Add the shrimp to the bacon grease in the skillet and saute over medium heat just until they turn pink, about 3 minutes. Do not overcook! Immediately add the lemon juice, parsley, green onions, and garlic. Remove the skillet from the heat.
- 3. Pour the grits into a serving bowl. Pour the shrimp mixture over the grits. Garnish with the bacon bits.
Hungry for more? Chow down on these:
- Grits and Greens Casserole from Savour Fare
- Artichokes and Cheesy Grits from No Recipes
- Smothered Shrimp, Andouille Sausage, and Grits from Leite's Culinaria
- Creamy Stone Ground Cheese Grits from Leite's Culinaria
Shrimp and Grits Recipe © 2005 Paula Deen. Photo © 2005 Alan Richardson. All rights reserved.
This was great! I made this dish for a family of five, and there was not enough for seconds. I’ll have to double the recipe next time. Great combination, and better with a hint of cayenne pepper. Mmmm.
If one uses good stone ground grits, 10-15 minutes of cooking time isn’t enough. Use a combination of chicken broth and cream and let the grits cook slowly for about an hour. They will become very creamy and have a much better, almost silky, texture which is perfect for this dish. Skip the cheese. Very, very few low country cooks use cheese in shrimp and grits.
Hi Mike, it really depends upon how finely the grits are ground. Wades Mill recommends about 20 minutes in its recipes. Other producers call for 30 minutes or more, again depending upon how finely or coarsely the grits are ground.
David, You’re right, it really depends upon how finely the grits are ground. But Mike did say “good stone ground grits” and finely ground grits do not make the best grits. You want them coarsely ground or medium ground at most to get the right combination of texture, creaminess, and flavor. Anson Mills recommends that their coarse ground grits be cooked for 90 minutes if unsoaked, 50 minutes if soaked. I personally find that 60 minutes is adequate for their unsoaked grits since I don’t have the patience to stir them for another 30 minutes!
Ed, thanks for the info and clarification. I think it’ll help readers better decide what kind of grits to buy and how long to cook them.
Who cares about being authentic when we know that adding cheese to anything can only make it that much better?! :)
I agree, Jenny! Cheese grits are the best.
Must have the cheese! Sooooo Good!
I’m makin this for a cajun themed fathers day brunch for my dad and my six uncles any other suggestions?
What a lovely thought! Knowing guys’ appetites, clearly you’ll need ample amounts of food. Not knowing your preferences, I’d suggest having biscuits galore to go with—we have a nice recipe on the site for baking-powder biscuits. Maybe even something meat-minded as the centerpiece to go with the shrimp and grits, perhaps a ham? I realize there’s bacon in the grits, but is there ever any such thing as too much pork? And of course some Abita Amber would be nice if y’all are beer drinkers. That’s for starters. I’m going to continue to think about this, please let me know if you have any preferences.
For Cajun style, I recommend making a tasso cream sauce using sautéd leeks with green peppers, deglaze the pan with a little white wine, salt, and pepper. Add heavy cream and reduce, then finish with a little finely grated Parmesan cheese. Great flavor. I recommend Chef Adels’ tasso ham.
We’re not going to argue with you, Mike! Not at all. Sounds Cajun-tastic…
I have made this three times recently. It is great! My husband has a new favorite.
I’m so glad you like the recipe. It’s one of our most popular recipes–ever.
What exactly is stone ground grits. Went to the supermarket, went to whole foods – no one was familiar with “stone ground” grits. Is it polenta? Please let me know, having a hard time finding it in New Jersey
Hi Michele,
Stone ground grits are the heavier bits of corn that remain after the corn kernels are ground between granite stones in a grist mill. Anson Mills is probably the most familiar here in Charleston and you can buy on their website (www.ansonmills.com). Also, Ted and Matt Lee sell them on their site (www.boiledpeanuts.com) along with other Southern goodies. Shrimp and grits are my favorite- we eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
I am so with you on shrimp and grits for breakfast, Beth. Do you do it with a fried egg on top in the a.m.?
No eggs, but we do vary the recipe depending on what’s on hand. Peppers, Vidalia onions, tomatoes, sausage… It’s all good!
Shrimp and grits for breakfast with Southern Fried Chicken and biscuits…ABSOLUTELY THE BEST!!!. Always bring back great memories of my grandmother, aunts and great-aunts who were originally from Columbia, South Carolina.
I remember vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard, as we did every year, and a bunch of us went to a resto in Oak Bluffs for an early lunch. The cook was from the South and made the best big old plate of shrimp and grits. Gosh, that was more than 12 years ago, and I can still remember where we sat, even the light as it slanted through the window. Food really is a powerful anchor for memory, isn’t it?
Shrimp and grits in Martha’s Vineyard? No way, honey. Come to Charleston and we will show you how it’s done.
I swear! Best I ever had. But you’re on. I a-comin’ to Charleston.
Good food can be cooked anywhere in the world. It makes no difference where you are, or where the dish originated. I lived part-time in New Orleans and I have been known to make some of the best shrimp and grits ever, including of ALL the ones I have consumed in Charleston, New Orleans, and many other southern locations…and I do it right here in my Indiana kitchen. :)
You bring up a very, very good point, Marianne. We aren’t going to try and argue.
Good good and good
Well put, Michel! Thanks for adding your approval to the chorus…
What are some suggestions for side dishes with shrimp and grits?
Hi Don,
Coming from Charleston, South Carolina, the land of shrimp and grits, I would have a basket filled with biscuits. Here is a link to a fast and easy biscuit.
http://leitesculinaria.com/74799/recipes-easy-cream-biscuits.html
Just to add to Beth’s suggestion–we’ve had raves galore on that biscuit recipe–our intrepid cook and recipe tester, Karen Depp, also chimed in. She hails from Louisiana and suggests a big green salad, unless the shrimp and grits is intended as a breakfast dish. She deviates from Beth’s approach, prefering a baguette to biscuits, but she says really, with grits, you don’t NEED bread or biscuits. (But when has that ever stopped us?!) And lots of beer, yes!
One more thing from Karen in Louisiana, Don–she says milk punch is a nice touch for brunch or midnight. We just so happen to have a recipe right here…http://leitesculinaria.com/61714/recipes-bourbon-milk-punch.html.
I made this for Valentines Day Dinner for my boyfriend…and he said it was the BEST he’s ever had. I wish I could comment, but my aversion to seafood kept me at bay. But he ate the WHOLE thing (and wasn’t this supposed to feed 4? :) )
Janet, I try to be objective, but I have to say that this may be my very favorite reader comment ever! I’m sorry to hear that you weren’t able to enjoy the dish, although it sounds as though your boyfriend reveled in it for both of you–and then some. Here’s hoping he knows how lucky he is…
Is it possible to make this in a crockpot?
Darlene, we’ve heard of folks making grits in a slow-cooker. Although we haven’t tried it ourselves, we’ll tentatively say yes to that part of the recipe. As for the shrimp, we fear they’d turn quite mushy. But the shrimp and sausage comes together so quickly, you could easily toss it together at the last minute, especially with the time you saved not stirring the grits…
Took the advice above and used 2 cups chicken stock and 1 cup cream to cook the grits. I also added just under a tablespoon of tomato paste to give the grits a bit of acid and tomato flavor…..I think it was a good call! Cut the sharp cheddar in half…..used only 1 cup. Still plenty “cheesy”. Finally, after cooking the shrimp, they still tasted like they needed something. I sprinkled the pile of cooked shrimp with the low sodium Old Bay Seasoning. Not too much, but enough to give it that good seafood flavor.
Hi David,
Here at home there are as many different versions of this recipe as there are grits! Another suggestion to bump up the flavor level of your shrimp is to put a few drops of the liquid Shrimp and Crab boil in there (just a FEW drops unless you really like this flavor) and this will give it some zing. Some of the original recipes around here (South Louisiana) rely on grits cooked plain with some cheddar and butter stirred in at the end until cheese melts. We used to be able to buy Garlic Cheese (the old kind in the plastic tube) that we would stir in instead of cheddar. The shrimp were cooked in a saute pan in butter and seasoned with parsley, garlic, green onion, cayenne, paprika and some lemon juice. Sounds as if your Old Bay is a good suggestion! Crab Boil and Old Bay seem to always be in a contest around here – Old Bay being too sweet for the taste buds around here that have been raised on HOT sauce over ice cream. And of course, the Louisiana Gold Hot Sauce bottle is always on the table!
Karen
So amazing! Very good. I omitted the bacon for sodium reasons (used evoo instead), but it still turned out great.
Terrific, Brittany! We are all about the bacon, but we can (almost) understand why you opted to ignore it. Lovely to hear it was still phenomenal. Thank you for letting us know….
Great recipe..I used mike’s suggestion of coarse grits and it really made a difference.
Lovely Melissa, do you have a good source for your grits?
I live less than an hour from Charleston, SC and for years now have cooked Shrimp and Grits on several occasions. If you live near Charleston, Shrimp and Grits is a must! I add water, milk, cream cheese and cheddar cheese with a little garlic when cooking my grits. I cook it for a couple of hours(stirring often) until it reaches that rich, creamy taste. When cooking my shrimp, I cook my bacon first. I then saute diced onions and bell peppers in the bacon grease. After draining the rest of the bacon grease I then add my shrimp(don’t cook too long!). Next I add one can of Campbell’s Shrimp Soup and cook for approximately 2 min. Ladle this on the top of your grits and then sprinkle with crumble bacon and diced green onion tops. YUMMY!!!
Oh Cis, you are talking to me! I live in Charleston and just finished a huge meal of shrimp and grits. I learned a new trick today from Rebecca Lang to make your grits extra creamy—condensed milk. Wow.
I made this last night. It was fantastic, I used 1.5lbs of shrimp and 4 andouille sausages. It barely fed 4 adults and 3 kids. Definitely doubling this recipe or tripling it for left overs
Allison, you found one of my favorite dishes- shrimp and grits. We eat them morning, noon and night!