This Air Fryer Coconut Shrimp is an easy recipe you can make in your air fryer. It is shrimp coated in panko breadcrumbs and coconut flakes – it’s crunchy and has a little sweetness from the coconut – the perfect appetizer or dinner recipe!
We love air fryer recipes (air fryer potatoes are the absolute best)! I love that you can make crispy, crunchy dishes with hardly any oil. It’s also so much easier than frying on the stove – definitely less mess and less stress to deal with.
This coconut shrimp recipe is so easy and quick to make. The shrimp are coated in crispy panko and they cook really fast in the air fryer. We’ve made batches of these for parties, but we also love it as a light dinner.
Ingredients NEEDED
- Flour: I use all purpose flour, but you could also use gluten-free 1:1 flour.
- Spices: This recipes uses black pepper, salt, garlic powder, and onion powder
- Eggs: To help adhere the breadcrumbs to the shrimp.
- Coconut: I use shredded, sweetened flaky coconut mixture.
- Breadcrumbs: Panko breadcrumbs are the best, but you can substitute Italian breadcrumbs. We prefer panko because it’s crunchier.
- Shrimp: Use medium sized shrimp – buy EZ Peel with tails still on.
Best Shrimp to use
I always use frozen easy-to-peel shrimp because I hate to devein it myself. I prefer medium sized uncooked shrimp, with the tails on, but use what size you can find. When I took these photos, I could only find large shrimp.
You can easily thaw frozen shrimp on your countertop – place in a bowl of water and they’ll thaw in an hour or so.
How to Make AIR FRYER Shrimp
- I use 3 shallow dishes (like pie plates) to set up a dredging station. Add the eggs to one, flour to another, and breadcrumbs and coconut to the third. Add ⅓ of the seasoning mixture to each dish and stir each to combine. It’s important to season every layer of your coating.
- Coat the shrimp with the flour, dip in the egg mixture, then coat with the coconut mixture.
- I place in a single layer on a cookie sheet while coating.
- Place shrimp in a single layer in your air fryer basket (spray the basket and the shrimp with nonstick cooking spray). Air fry in batches (depending on the size of your basket).
Storing Leftovers
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. To reheat, pop back in the air fryer.
You can coat the shrimp up to 8 hours ahead if you’re prepping for a party.
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Expert Tips
- Panko is a type of breadcrumb that is really light and crispy. You can usually find it near the regular dried breadcrumbs at the store.
- We love serving with Thai sweet chili sauce for dipping
If you’re serving them for dinner here are some side dish ideas to try:
- Serve them with brown or white rice along with a sauce that you like. We like a delicious orange sauce.
- Add some steamed broccoli or snap peas
- Enjoy them with some vegetable spring rolls
- Sometimes we have them with French fries on the side
FAQs
When the coating is golden brown and the shrimp is pink they’re done.
They’ll heat up in just a minute or so if they’re already cooked.
Be sure to thaw the shrimp first. Cook at 400°F for 3-4 minutes on each side.
Air Fryer Coconut Shrimp Recipe
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup (82g) all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup (86g) flaked coconut (sweetened shredded coconut)
- ½ cup (29g) panko bread crumbs
- 1 pound easy peel medium shrimp peeled and deveined with tail left on
- Cooking spray
Instructions
- Get three shallow glass dishes (pie plates work great). In the first one combine flour and pepper. In the second put in the two eggs beaten until smooth. In the third dish combine the coconut and panko bread crumbs.
- Mix together salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Add ⅓ of the seasoning mixture to each dish and stir each to combine.
- Holding the shrimp by the tail dredge in the flour coating the whole shrimp and gently shake off any excess. Then dip the shrimp into the egg coating the whole shrimp and gently shake off any excess. Finally dredge the shrimp in the coconut/panko bread crumb mixture pressing it to adhere to the shrimp. Try to ensure large pieces of coconut are not sticking out too far from the shrimp as it tends to burn. Place shrimp on a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Spray the shrimp with cooking spray.
- Set air fryer at 400°. Spray the air fryer basket with cooking spray.. Place half the shrimp (approximately 10) in the tray and cook for 3-4 minutes. Turn shrimp over and cook another 3-4 minutes. Then repeat with the other half of the shrimp.
- Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
- You can find many good off the shelf dipping sauces. We used a sweet and sour sauce with ours. There are a number of sauces that use orange marmalade that pairs nicely with the shrimp.
- We used frozen easy to peel shrimp that was already deveined. This saves a lot of prep time and still tastes great.
Recipe Nutrition
