If you live in Louisiana, you have to love shrimp. And if you’ve watched Forrest Gump, you know from Bubba that there are a million ways to cook it, but fried in a sweet coconut batter is one of my favorite ways.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• flour
• salt and pepper
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
• 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
• 1 lb raw shrimp, peeled and deveined with the tail on
• oil for frying

First set up a breading station for the shrimp using 3 bowls…

In the first bowl, mix the flour (I used about a cup) with salt and pepper to taste. The beaten eggs go in the second bowl, and mix the coconut and Panko in the third bowl.

You can use regular breadcrumbs if you’d like, but the Panko breadcrumbs are larger and give the shrimp more texture and crispiness. You can also add a couple dashes of hot sauce to the eggs to give your shrimp a little more kick.

Roll the shrimp around in the seasoned flour, then dip in the eggs, then the coconut mixture. Really press the shrimp into the coconut mixture – you want as much as you can to stick to the shrimp so they can have the most flavor possible.

Once your oil reaches 350 degrees, drop the shrimp in and fry until they are a beautiful golden brown. I used peanut oil, but if you want some added flavor you can use coconut oil for frying.

It doesn’t take long at all to fry these little babies. If you are deep frying them, it only takes about 4-5 minutes, and if you are using a skillet it takes about 2 minutes per side.

Aren’t they beautiful?!? You can dip them in cocktail sauce or sweet & sour sauce, but they have so much flavor I usually just eat them plain. The mix of savory and sweet flavors make these shrimp taste amazing!

Thanks y’all!

– Nikki