Bacon Wrapped Shrimp is cooked in the oven with brown sugar for a sweet and savory appetizer! This recipe is so quick and easy to make. It’s perfect for any party, from New Year’s Eve to game day!
What’s in this Shrimp Appetizer?
You only need 5 ingredients to make this bacon wrapped shrimp recipe. Talk about an easy appetizer!
- Shrimp: Clean, peel, and devein shrimp before using. You can make as many as you like, just work in batches and don’t overcrowd the pans.
- Bacon: Cut bacon into strips that will fully wrap around the shrimp, but not too long or they will just add extra heft and be difficult to secure in place.
- Brown Sugar: This adds the perfect amount of sweetness to balance out the savory bacon.
- Butter: Use fully melted butter. This will be brushed onto the shrimp before baking to add flavor.
- Chipotle Powder: This adds a little bit of heat and spice into the flavor mix. You could use smoked paprika, red pepper flakes, or chili seasoning instead.
To prep the shrimp: use a paring knife to remove the shells, then cut directly along the vein on the back to remove it. Fully rinse the shrimp and pat dry. You can buy shrimp ready to cook and eat if you prefer.
Flavor Variations
The simplicity of this recipe means it’s easy to change the flavor to your liking. Here are a few ideas.
- BBQ: Brush on your favorite BBQ sauce (sweet, smoky, or tangy) before placing them in the oven.
- Garlic Butter: Mix minced garlic and/or garlic powder into the melted butter to add more flavor.
- Ranch: Add dry ranch seasoning mix into the melted butter. And of course you can serve with some ranch dressing for dipping.
We’re cooking these shrimp in the oven at 400°F.
Bake the shrimp for about 15 minutes, then broil for a couple of minutes at the end.
The thinner the slices of bacon, the crispier they’re going to get in the oven. I also recommend placing a rack in the baking pan to elevate the shrimp–this allows hot air to circulate around the bacon.
Shrimp will become opaque when it’s fully cooked, and it should be fork-tender.
They will be best if cooked right before serving, but you can make them and reheat a couple of days ahead of time.
How to Store Bacon Wrapped Shrimp
If you have leftovers, place the shrimp in an airtight container or resealable bag, and keep them in the fridge up to 3 days.
The best way to reheat them is to quickly warm them in the microwave, or broil them for 2-3 minutes. You can also eat them cold, as long as they were fully cooked before storing them.
What to Serve with Shrimp Wrapped in Bacon
I definitely recommend serving these with dipping sauces. They taste great with ranch, honey mustard, garlic aioli, or even just a bit of soy sauce.
They also go great with other bacon wrapped appetizers, or any of your favorite finger foods for parties. Try ham roll ups, cheesy artichoke bruschetta, and herb marinated mozzarella.
And if you want more shrimp appetizers, try this coconut shrimp, or garlic butter shrimp.
Easy Bacon Wrapped Shrimp Appetizer Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb shrimp about 20 cleaned, peeled, and deveined
- 7 thick pieces of bacon cut into thirds
- 4 tablespoons salted butter melted
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon chipotle powder more if desired
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with foil. Preheat oven to 400F.
- Wrap each piece of shrimp with 1/3 slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick. Place on the baking sheet.1 lb shrimp, 7 thick pieces of bacon
- Mix together the melted butter, brown sugar, and chipotle powder.4 tablespoons salted butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tablespoon chipotle powder
- Brush each shrimp liberally with the butter mixture, using about 2/3 of it. Save the leftover butter mixture and set aside.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Take the shrimp out of the oven and switch to broil.
- Brush each shrimp one more time with the remaining butter mixture (stir before brushing).
- Broil for 1-2 minutes or until bubbly.
- Serve and enjoy!
Last step! Don’t forget to show me a pic of what you made! Upload an image or tag me @thecookierookie on Instagram!
Nutrition Information
I’m sorry to say I have no idea how this recipe has so many high ratings and since that is what attracted me to this one, I want to provide my experience. You can hardly go wrong with bacon wrapped around anything IMO so the author has that benefit. I agree with many others, the cooking time is way too long for the shrimp and pre cooking bacon helps but detracts from ease of prep. I used regular,thin bacon. The sauce is not ideal, very bland aside from the heat. Just, boring. Thrown sugar was clumpy and didn’t add much IMO. The glossy pics are not realistic, look at instructional series of pics for idea of what it would look like. I would not waste time or money on this recipe again.
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy this recipe, Kris!
What kind of sauce do you use to dip (looks like ranch)? Is there a recipe? Thanks…
Yes, it’s just ranch! Try this recipe (click here)!
Wont make again. Brown sugar did not dissolve in the melted butter so I had globs of brown sugar to put on the shrimp. The bacon was not cooked enough when the shrimp were done. Did not taste that great in the end. Meh.
I’m sorry this didn’t work out for you, Dave!
Great! I cooked the bacon a little first and it came out perfect. I used a Cajun seasoning instead of chipotle because that’s all I have and we had no complaints!
Sounds awesome!!
What kind of shrimp are best?
I do a pound of smaller cleaned, peeled, and deveined shrimp!
what kind of chipotle powder?
Any kind from the grocery store works!
What kind of sauce is shown? Do you have a recipe for it?
This was just basic ranch, cocktail sauce is my favorite!
It tasted delicious but my bacon wasn’t crispy at all…..maybe I need to cook the bacon first ?
Definitely modify to your liking!
I’ve been making these for about 3 years now and personally use 1/3 slice of Thin Bacon. Comes out perfect Every time.
I LOVE THIS STUFF! 😋
I made recipe as listed…down to the T and it was perfect. I made two batches for my guest. The first batch didn’t even leave the kitchen thanks to my “helpers”! The second batch caused a traffic jam at the serving table that ended with me making empty promises to share the recipe! 🤣 Thank you!!!!
That’s awesome, thanks for sharing, Shawna!
The timing is way off, 15 minutes plus broiling time produces rubbery overcooked shrimp. I made a proper batch by par baking the baking before wrapping and baking 7 minutes then broiling and the recipe was fantastic.
I am sorry it didn’t work out at first but happy to hear it worked out in the end!
What does par baking the baking mean?
They mean cooking the bacon separately so it’s partially cooked, but still pliable. I would recommend using this method as the cooking time will cause your shrimp to be overcooked.
Bake the bacon first 5-10 mins depending on the thickness. THEN wrap the shrimp in and cook another 10. That way both are cooked the correct amount of time.