I love sandwiches. I love fried food. I love creamy sauces. This all adds up to this being one of my favorite dinners ever. Ever, ever, ever. The remoulade is soooo good (every ingredient brings something to the table), and the shrimp are super crispy. You’ll love it too.
I know frying is not everyone favorite, but we gotta do it here. It makes a huge difference. And it’s a great way to cook shrimp because they just take a couple minutes.
Table of Contents
Ingredients and Tools You’ll Need
Frozen shrimp is totally fine just make sure to thaw them completely and pat them dry. If you can’t find Creole seasoning, you can make your own by mixing paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, and thyme. Or you can make my prairie dust seasoning. It won’t be exactly the same, but it’ll still taste great.
This makes four sandwiches and is best enjoyed fresh. If you need to feed more people, you can double or triple the recipe by making adjustments in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
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Prepping the Shrimp
- 2 pounds jumbo-sized raw shrimp (peeled and deveined, 21-25 shrimp per pound)
- 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning
Shrimp Batter
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ cups ice-cold water
Breading and Frying
- 3 cups Panko bread crumbs
- 3 cups cooking oil (peanut, vegetable, or canola oil)
Assembling Sandwiches
- 4 French bread rolls (small baguettes, or hoagie bread, sliced in half almost all the way through)
- 1 head of iceberg lettuce (shredded)
- 2 large tomatoes (sliced)
- 1 cup sliced dill pickles
Remoulade Sauce
- 1 ½ cups mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 2 teaspoons country dijon or coarse ground mustard
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic cloves
- 1 ½ teaspoons pickle juice
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ¾ teaspoon Creole seasoning
How to Make Shrimp Po-Boy Sandwiches
Step One: Make the Sauce
Mix up your remoulade before you do anything else. Just dump the mayo, ketchup, mustard, minced garlic, pickle juice, Worcestershire and hot sauce, lemon juice, and Creole seasoning in a bowl. Whisk it up and stick it in the fridge. Done.
Step Two: Get Your Shrimp Ready
Toss the peeled shrimp with 1 tablespoon of Creole seasoning. Just mix it around with your hands.
Step Three: Make the Batter
In a big bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, Creole seasoning, and baking powder. Add the egg and ice-cold water. Whisk until smooth. Drop your seasoned shrimp right into this batter and let them marinate while you heat your oil.
Step Four: Heat Your Oil
Pour about ½ inch of oil in a heavy pan and get it to 350°F. If you don’t have a thermometer, drop a tiny bit of batter in – it should sizzle immediately but not go crazy.
Step Five: Bread Those Shrimp
Put some Panko crumbs in a pie pan. Pull each shrimp out of the batter with tongs, let the extra drip off, then lay it in the crumbs. Sprinkle more crumbs on top. Don’t stack them – they need their own space. Put them on a cookie sheet as you go.
Step Six: Fry
Cook the shrimp in batches – don’t crowd the pan. About 2 minutes per side until they’re golden. Put them on paper towels with a cooling rack on top so they stay crispy.
Step Seven: Build Your Sandwich
Split your French bread almost all the way through. Bottom gets lettuce, tomato slices, and pickles. Pile on the shrimp – don’t be shy. Spread that remoulade on the top piece of bread and close it up.
Eat it immediately with extra sauce on the side because you WILL want more.
Serving & Storing
Serve these with a side of french fries and a glass of strawberry sweet tea.
If you have leftover shrimp, let them cool completely before storing them. Place the shrimp in an airtight container and refrigerate them for up to 2 days. The bread and veggies should be stored separately to keep them fresh.
To reheat the shrimp, place them on a baking sheet and warm them in a 350°F oven for about 10 minutes, or until they’re heated through and crispy again. Avoid microwaving, as this can make the shrimp soggy.
The remoulade sauce can be made ahead of time and tastes even better after sitting in the fridge for a few hours. Store it in an airtight container, and it’ll be ready when you are.
Questions and Troubleshooting
You can, but they won’t be as crispy. If you decide to bake them, I’d recommend spraying the shrimp lightly with cooking spray and baking at 400°F until golden and cooked through. Just keep in mind that frying will give you that authentic crunch. No…um…no. Don’t do it!
After frying, place the shrimp on a wire rack over a baking sheet. This lets the excess oil drain off and keeps the shrimp crispy. Avoid stacking them on a plate, as that can make them soggy.
More Shrimp Recipes You’ll Love
- Deep-fried coconut shrimp would also taste great as a sandwich.
- Shrimp Alfredo pasta is a quick and easy weeknight dinner.
- Shrimp fajitas with a chipotle creama comes together quickly all in one pan.
- Shrimp and sausage combine in this spicy and creamy Cajun pasta.
Printable Recipe
Shrimp Po-Boy Sandwiches
Ingredients
Prepping the Shrimp
- 2 pounds jumbo-sized raw shrimp (peeled and deveined, 21-25 shrimp per pound)
- 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning
Shrimp Batter
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ cups ice-cold water
Breading and Frying
- 3 cups Panko bread crumbs
- 3 cups cooking oil (peanut, vegetable, or canola oil)
Assembling Sandwiches
- 4 French bread rolls (small baguettes, or hoagie bread, sliced in half almost all the way through)
- 1 head of iceberg lettuce (shredded)
- 2 large tomatoes (sliced)
- 1 cup sliced dill pickles
Remoulade Sauce
- 1 ½ cups mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 2 teaspoons country dijon or coarse ground mustard
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic cloves
- 1 ½ teaspoons pickle juice
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ¾ teaspoon Creole seasoning
Instructions
- Make remoulade sauce. In a small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, garlic cloves, pickle juice, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, lemon juice, and ¾ teaspoon creole seasoning. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Season shrimp. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the shrimp with 1 tablespoon of the Creole seasoning.
- Marinate. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, 2 teaspoons of the Creole seasoning, and baking powder. Whisk in the water and egg. Add the shrimp to the batter and let it marinate while you heat the oil.
- Heat pan. In a large heavy-bottomed skillet, pour enough oil to be about ½ inch tall in the pan and heat it to 350℉.
- Coat. Pour 1 cup of the Panko bread crumbs into a pie pan or wide bowl. Using tongs, remove shrimp one at a time from the bowl, allowing the excess batter to drip back into the bowl. Lay the shrimp flat over the breadcrumbs without overlapping. Pour a couple of tablespoons of breadcrumbs over the top to ensure the shrimp are covered in breadcrumbs. Repeat with all of the shrimp, laying the breaded shrimp on a cookie sheet.
- Cook. Cook shrimp in batches in heated oil for about 2 minutes on each side in a single layer. Place cooked shrimp on a paper towel-lined baking sheet with a cooling rack placed over the top to prevent shrimp from getting soggy.
- Make the sandwich and serve. On the bottom side of the sliced bread, place the desired amount of lettuce, tomato slices, and pickle slices. Generously add shrimp over the top. Generously spread the remoulade sauce on the other side of the bread and place the top of the bread over the shrimp. Serve immediately with additional remoulade sauce and additional pickles if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Love,
