Ceviche 101: How to Make Ceviche at Home
Bright lime, crisp vegetables, and chilled shrimp make a refreshing appetizer. This ceviche-style recipe uses fully cooked shrimp before adding citrus, so it is straightforward to prepare at home.
Cooked-Shrimp Ceviche-Style Salad
Serves: 4 as an appetizer · Prep: about 20 minutes · Cooking: approximately 3–5 minutes · Chill: 30 minutes, plus cooling the shrimp. Thawing time is additional.
Ingredients
- 1 pound raw shrimp, weighed after peeling and deveining, thawed
- ½ cup fresh lime juice
- ½ cup finely diced red onion
- 1 cup diced tomato
- 1 cup diced cucumber
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- 1 small jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped, optional
- ½ teaspoon salt, then adjust to taste
- 1 avocado, diced just before serving
- Tortilla chips or lettuce leaves, for serving
Shop Jumbo Gulf Pink Shrimp — check the product's shell-on or peeled preparation and buy enough to yield 1 pound peeled.
Instructions
- Thaw shrimp according to its packaging instructions. Peel and devein as needed. Wash produce and prepare it with clean utensils, keeping it separate from raw shrimp.
- Bring a saucepan of water to a gentle boil. Add the shrimp and cook until the flesh is firm, pearly, and opaque throughout, approximately 3–5 minutes depending on size. Check the thickest part reaches 145°F; timing is a guide.
- Transfer the cooked shrimp to a clean ice-water bath until chilled, then drain thoroughly. Cut into bite-size pieces.
- Combine the chilled shrimp, lime juice, onion, tomato, cucumber, cilantro, optional jalapeño, and salt in a clean bowl.
- Cover and refrigerate at 40°F or below for 30 minutes to blend the flavors. This chilling step is for flavor; the shrimp must already be fully cooked.
- Fold in the avocado, adjust salt or lime to taste, and serve cold with chips or lettuce.
Storage: Keep covered and refrigerated. Best enjoyed the day it is made; use refrigerated leftovers within 3–4 days of cooking the shrimp. Discard after more than 2 hours at room temperature, or 1 hour above 90°F.
Contains: shellfish. Check serving accompaniments for additional allergens.
What Is Ceviche?
Traditional ceviche combines raw seafood with citrus. Acid firms the flesh, but this is not the same as cooking with heat. Citrus does not reliably destroy parasites or harmful germs, and fresh appearance or premium quality cannot establish that seafood is safe to eat raw.
For home preparation, use cooked seafood as in the recipe below. People who are pregnant, children, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems should avoid raw or undercooked seafood. Read the FDA's seafood safety guidance.
Easy Variations
Leave out the jalapeño for a milder version, add diced mango for sweetness, or swap cilantro for parsley. Keep the same cook-first method if using another seafood.
Choosing Seafood for Ceviche
Firm fish such as halibut or snapper, and sea scallops, can also be cooked, chilled, and paired with citrus. Do not substitute raw seafood directly into the recipe above. Freezing for parasite control requires specific conditions and does not eliminate all harmful germs.
Handling references: FDA seafood guidance, FDA parasite-control guidance, and USDA leftover storage guidance.
Shop Seafood for This Recipe
Start with Jumbo Gulf Pink Shrimp, then cook and chill as directed above.