Countdown to Cinco de Mayo! Sure, that may not mean anything to you if you live in North Dakota, Ireland, Australia or Japan. But here in SoCal… sooooo close to Mexico, we do it up big for Cinco de Mayo! It’s really just an excuse to make some fabulous Mexican food and chow down. Today I’m sharing: Shrimp Tacos with Avocado Chimichurri Sauce
My family gets a little excited when I tell them we’re having any kind of seafood tacos for dinner. Fish tacos and shrimp tacos are a pretty big deal around here. Everyone loves them. Fish Taco Tuesday ($1 deals) are pretty common at some of the fish taco eateries around town. But we like to make them homemade.
I discovered this Green Pepper Tabasco Sauce on my recent trip to Avery Island, LA when I taste-tested every variety of Tabasco Sauce under the sun. I had never had this one, so I didn’t really know what to expect. It has some spice to it, but it is MUCH milder than their classic sauce. It’s definitely one of my favorites now- finding it’s place in eggs, salad dressings, dips and- of course- all kinds of Mexican food.
Your typical fish taco usually includes a yogurt-based sauce. This is no yogurt sauce! Instead, it’s a blend of cilantro, green Tabasco, garlic, spices, a tiny bit of honey and avocado to create a chimichurri-like sauce. It’s all these tacos need to make them delicious. And I pinky-swear that this sauce is not super spicy. If my 10 year old ate it without blinking, it’s definitely NOT spicy!
In many varieties of shrimp tacos, the shrimp is dipped in beer-batter and deep fried. I opted to cook these in a skillet instead with some bell peppers and onions. Fresh and easy.
Served alongside a simple garnish of fresh salsa and corn cut straight from the cob, these fish tacos were a big-time hit. We drizzled plenty of that avocado chimichurri sauce in the tacos and added a little bit of lettuce too. They really didn’t need anything else!
Best shrimp tacos ever! And you get to avoid the deep frying too. Happy Cinco de Mayo… or Mexican-Food-Eating-Day or whatever you might be celebrating on May 5th 🙂
If you happen to be following the Weight Watchers WW plan, you’ll find a link to the WW Points on the recipe card below.
Shrimp Tacos with Avocado Chimichurri Sauce
Recipe Details
Ingredients
CHIMICHURRI SAUCE
- 1 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro (packed lightly)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce
- 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon honey
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 medium avocado, pitted and peeled
TACOS
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large garlic clove, minced
- 1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
- 1 medium yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
- 1 small onion, cut into thin strips
- 1½ pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined (tails pulled off)
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 cups chopped lettuce
- 8 taco sized flour or corn tortillas, heated according to package directions
Instructions
CHIMICHURRI SAUCE
- Combine all of the sauce ingredients in a food processor or blender. Process until smooth.
- Scrape the sauce into a small bowl, cover and set aside until ready to serve.
TACOS
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the garlic, bell peppers and onion, and stir fry until slightly softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the shrimp, and continue to stir fry until the shrimp are pink and curled up (cooked through), 4 to 5 additional minutes. Sprinkle in salt and pepper, to taste. Remove the skillet from heat.
- Fill each tortilla with shrimp, peppers and onions, plus ¼ cup lettuce and a generous spoonful of the chimichurri sauce.
Notes
- If you are preparing this recipe as gluten free, just be sure to use a brand of corn tortillas that are known to be GF.
Nutrition
*Disclosure: I was compensated by Tabasco to create a recipe using one of their fabulous sauces. All opinions shared are my own.
Here are some more varieties of seafood tacos on some of my favorite blogs:
Baja- Style Tempura Fish Tacos by Leite’s Culinaria
Lettuce Wrap Fish Tacos with Spicy Cabbage Slaw and Avocado by Kalyn’s Kitchen
Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa and Cilantro Lime Sauce by Love and Olive Oil
Shrimp Tacos with Grilled Poblano Salsa by Two Peas and Their Pod
Shrimp Tacos by The Pioneer Woman
Chipotle Salmon Tacos by Aggie’s Kitchen
Grilled Tilapia Tacos with Pineapple Salsa by No Fear Entertaining
Broiled Fish Tacos by RecipeGirl
Beer Battered Fish Tacos with Baja Sauce by RecipeGirl
I made the avocado-chimichurri sauce ONCE and fell in love! My mom and I have to have it with all our tacos now.
OMG!!! These were soooo freaking good! My 3 year old was so excited because he got to help make the chimichurri, which he LOVED! Even after the shrimp was all gone, we sat there eating it with lettuce!
This recipe was fabulous – The Chimichurri Sauce was finger licking good. I’ll definitely be committing the recipe to memory!
This recipe was fabulous – The Chimichurri Sauce was finger licking good and I’ll definitely be committing the recipe to memory!
I wish I read this post 3 hours ago so that I could have made these for dinner tonight but now I am going to make them tomorrow. These look AMAZING, Lori! I am so excited to meet you in Seattle in a few weeks.
Lovin’ these tacos and looking forward to diving into them tomorrow- I’m a huge shrimp fan.
Have a great night!
I look forward to meeting you too!
Thanks for the great recipe. I didn’t make the tacos, but I made the chimichurri sauce and it was delicious! We spread it on tostada shells before putting the other toppings on. Loved it!
Yum! Great idea!
Wow. I already know without trying it that this is gonna be a hit! I’m excited to try that Tabasco sauce, too.
WOW Lori!! I don’t think this could be any more perfect. I’d drink that sauce.
So beautiful! And I love the idea of adding avocado to the chimichurri sauce – YUM! 🙂
These tacos look amazing! I am a huge tabasco fan but have never tried the green pepper sauce. I do like the spice of the more traditional version too but I bet this sauce adds the perfect kick to the chimchurri sauce.
Oh girl – you know how much I love your fish tacos… I bet these are incredible! Can’t wait to try them.
Yum! I love shrimp tacos but they can get so expensive when you order them in restaurants. So glad I can make them at home now. It’ll be so much cheaper and I won’t even have to skimp on the shrimp! 🙂
oh my goodness these look delicious!!!
Definitely the perfect Cinco de Mayo recipe – I’m totally going to be looking for that flavor of Tabasco – it sounds fantastic.
Chimichurri and Shrimp in the same sentence – you have ALL of my attention! Looks like the perfect meal!
I love how colorful and beautiful this meal is!! YUM!
Oh, I could definitely pig out on these. Oink! I love adding avocado to chimichurri–it makes it so velvety and creamy.
Avocado chimichurri sounds amazing! Love any excuse for Mexican food, and these tacos look delicious and healthy!
Hi, greetings from sunny Singapore. it’s my first visit here, and will be sure to come back for more. Cheers!
This recipe looks amazing! And for the record, here in North Dakota there is a bit of Cinco de Mayo celebrating that happens. We tend to like any holiday that gives us an excuse to eat great food and drink beer. 🙂
That is definitely good to hear!
Great recipe! I love it and the chimichurri sauce over top is fantastic!
Oh Lori, I am crazy over shrimp tacos and even CRAZIER over chimichurri. I could literally drink the stuff!
These look absolutely delicious!
These sound great – thanks so much for the sauce recipe. I’ll definitely add it to my collection.
I suggest marinading the shrimp before cooking with the vegges in this product: Goya Mojo Criollo Marinade. You can find it in most ‘Mexican foods’ grocery aisles. Also adding thin red onion slivers to the tacos; for color, crunch and taste.
Nice idea! The sauce is so flavorful here that I found the shrimp did not need any marinade at all. The flavors in the sauce completely take over.
Another yummy recipe to add to my to do list. The sauce looks really great!!
Mexican food in SoCal just can’t be beat! Well, maybe by that avocado chimichurri sauce…I’m basically in love.
Lori this looks and sounds amazing! I love eating mexican food year-round. I love seafood tacos!
Love this, Lori!! That green sauce is my favorite.
This Avocado- Chimichurri Sauce looks to die for, I wouldn’t even need tacos, just give me a spoon 🙂 Happy Cinco de Mayo!
I am a taco fan. I’m sure this is fun to make. A taste of Mexican food would be awesome. Got hungry looking at your photos. Yummy!
mmm, I bet this has a kick with the Tabasco! And yes, it’s Cinco de Mayo here in the city…all week 🙂 The bars are jumpin!
These are amazing! What a great combination with the shrimp and the avocado all wrapped up in a tasty taco topped with the chimichurri sauce! Absolutely perfect for Cinco de Mayo! A definite must try for me!
these look so tasty!!
Oooh, these look so delicious I might have to start celebrating Cinco de Mayo! What beautiful, bright photos!
I love fish tacos of any kind so I am all over this. And the chimichurri sauce with avocado sounds so good!
best food holiday ever! and fish tacos of any variety are a huge favorite in our household as well. I can’t even understand people who don’t like them!
I love shrimp tacos and combined with your sauce, these look phenomenal! Great recipe to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with, Lori. Thanks for sharing!
Craving these now! A good fish taco is hard to find in these parts so we make them at home. Haven’t tried shrimp tacos yet though. YUM!
I love shrimp tacos and the CHIMICHURRI SAUCE sounds so interesting, so fresh and delicious!!
IN NJ no one really celebrates Cinco de Mayo.. but I am trying to get that changed! Starting with these tacos 🙂
I’m coming to your house for cinco de mayo!
In Texas, we celebrate Cinco de Mayo big time, too. Counting down the days until we have delicious Mexican food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 🙂 Your shrimp tacos look AMAZING!!