Po’ Boys, the delicious Louisiana sandwiches, are a craving I get surprisingly often and fried shrimp po’ boys are the best of them all. There are many toppings for po’boys but I am most partial to the fried shrimp, catfish, crawfish, or oysters kind. Although there are many perfectly decent places to grab a po’ boy in NYC, I still just don’t have a go-to spot that I love. And the last time the craving hit and we tried a new place I ended up with food poisoning. So this time when I couldn’t get the idea of a pile of fried shrimp with pickles and hot sauce out of my head I figured I might as well make it myself and see what happens. The results were a super crunchy, spicy fried shrimp sandwich — stuff falling out of the sides of my roll, needing two or three napkins to clean up. Total success.

Frying shrimp and piling it in a roll is a pretty simple endeavor. Maybe not quite a weeknight staple, but if you gather everything together you can be eating this meal within 30 minutes without too much fuss.

This recipe is a non-traditional, but accessible home version of the beloved New Orleans staple, but if authenticity is important to you, you can seek out just the right french rolls, get gulf shrimp and go the extra mile and make a remoulade sauce rather than my quick mayo sauce. But it’s also okay to use regular rolls, a french loaf cut into sections, or even hot dog buns and it’s definitely okay to use whatever shrimp or seafood you can get your hands on. It will be wonderful either way!

The shrimp are dredged in flour, then egg, then a cajun seasoning spiked cornmeal for a super crunchy coating. Then they are pan-fried rather than deep-fried so you get a lot of crunch, but I find the clean up easier and you don’t have to use a thermometer.

If you aren’t familiar with po’ boys but you tried my jambalaya and enjoyed it, you might like this too—and maybe you should consider a trip to Louisiana sometime. ;)

Fried Shrimp Po' Boys

A crusty french roll, loaded down with cajun-seasoned, cornmeal crusted shrimp, lettuce, pickles and tomatoes, topped with a zingy mayonnaise.

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Course Main Course

Servings 4

Ingredients

  

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Fried Shrimp

• 1 lb shrimp peeled and deveined (approximately 30 shrimp)
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 cup canola oil

Sauce

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 Tbsp mustard
• squirt hot sauce

For Assembling the Sandwiches

• 4 crusty french rolls
• 1 tomato sliced, to taste
• lettuce shredded, to taste
• pickles to taste

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!