Oven Baked Breaded Butterfly Shrimp

Breaded butterfly shrimp that’s oven baked makes for lots fewer calories than fried and has a nice crunch. Have the shrimp with your favorite cocktail sauce or drizzled with fresh lemon juice.  It’s a wonderful appetizer or a main dish.

Coastal Seafoods in Minneapolis has 20% off shrimp on Monday’s.  No better time to have breaded butterfly shrimp.  Mary Jo and I drove over to the store on this rainy day and picked up a pound of 16 to 20 size shrimp, peeled and deveined.

To butterfly shrimp, you need pretty big shrimp.  We’re talking the 16 to 20 shrimp per pound size.  Since these were peeled and deveined, all I had to do was cut down the vein line with a sharp paring knife just enough to separate the two sides of the shrimp and press down to create a flattened, butterflied shrimp fillet, as in this 25 second YouTube video.

When I was a kid, the only shrimp we had was frozen, breaded in a box, that my mom put in the oven for twenty minutes.  The only fresh shrimp I remember having was on a trip to Biloxi, Mississippi and the restaurant we went to had shrimp in a tank.  They would catch, bread, and fry the shrimp while you waited.  I have never, ever had shrimp that was so good.  Honest!

Making Oven Baked Butterfly Shrimp

So let me explain what’s in these pictures.  This post is a kind of before and after thing…first day then second day.

The first day’s shrimp were really good but somewhat overdone because I wanted them to brown!  I kept them in a 400° oven for 14 or 15 minutes and they were still not browned, so I put them under a broiler for a couple minutes.  Still not very browned as seen in the large picture above.  Having been in the oven for so long, some of the moistness of the shrimp was sucked out.  They were something like you would get at a bad restaurant, acceptable, not exceptional.

Day two.  I knew I had to redeem this recipe and present to you a superior product.  Off to the store for a few more shrimp.

First of all, I thought, “if I want a browned looking shrimp, I could brown the panko bread crumbs before using.”  This actually worked better than I had imagined. Put about a half cup of crumbs in a large skillet and turn the heat on medium to medium high. Keep a good eye on the crumbs and toss every now and then. Once they start to get some toast color, turn the stove down a bit and toss the crumbs with a spoon or spatula, until a nice toast is achieved. Immediately pour the crumbs into a bowl since they will continue to toast in the hot skillet. This only takes 3 or 4 minutes.

The second idea was Mary Jo’s and she said that I should spray the breaded shrimp with some cooking oil before baking.  I sprayed the toasted and untoasted panko this time and the shrimp came out beautiful, appetizing looking, and not overdone. I kept them in a 400° oven for 12 minutes, and although the untreated panko didn’t brown a lot, it was golden, sweet and moist.  The way shrimp should be.

So follow along with the recipe directions and you decide…Toasted….Not Toasted panko bread crumbs on your breaded butterfly shrimp.  Either way they are tasty, moist and sweet.

Oven Baked Breaded Butterfly Shrimp

Perfect as an appetizer or as a main course.

4.25 from 4 votes

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Course: Seafood

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Total Time: 37 minutes

Servings: 3

Calories: 231kcal

Author: Joe Boyle

Ingredients

• 1 pound 16-20 size shrimp peeled, deveined and butterflied
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 lg. eggs
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs crushed or put in a food processor to reduce the crumb size, skillet toasted if desired
• 2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• cooking spray vegetable oil or olive oil

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400°.
• Mix eggs and milk well in a bowl.
• Put panko crumbs into a small food processor and pulse 6 or 7 times to reduce the size of the crumb. Alternatively, place crumbs in a gallon plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush the crumbs. 
• Toast the crumbs in two batches if desired, then place in a bowl and mix in all the spices.
• Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
• Place flour in a bowl and set up a breading station, first the flour, then the egg, then the panko crumbs.
• Coat the shrimp on all sides with flour, tapping to remove the excess. Dip the shrimp in the egg mix to coat and let the excess drip off. Then coat the shrimp with the panko and spices mixture, then place on the baking sheet, cut side down and tail standing.
• Continue with all the shrimp, leaving space between the shrimp on the sheet.
• Spray the shrimp lightly with cooking spray then place in the oven for 12 minutes.
• Remove and serve with cocktail sauce and/or fresh lemon juice.

Notes

To toast the crumbs, place half of them in a large skillet on the stove on medium heat. Keep an eye on the crumbs and toss occasionally until they start to color. Lower the heat some and use a spoon or other tool to stir the crumbs continually until toasted to your liking. Remove the crumbs immediately from the hot skillet. Repeat with the remaining crumbs.

Nutrition

Calories: 231kcal

Yum