Crunchy Shrimp Tostadas
Crunchy Shrimp Tostadas combine crunchy tostada shells with layers of homemade refried beans, mashed avocado, and grilled shrimp. This Tex-Mex recipe is both easy to make and utterly delicious. Try it for Taco Tuesday or any day of the week!
Mexican Street Corn Salad is the perfect side dish for these tostadas!
You don’t have to search long to realize how much I love my Tex-Mex food! I’m a sucker for a crunch wrap, fish tacos, a grilled chicken burrito bowl, beef enchiladas, or a nice bowl of chicken tortilla soup. Gimme ALL of it, and don’t bother me until I’m finished! haha.
Best Shrimp Tostadas
These shrimp tostadas? Oh, they are so many things!
- Crunchy – Love me a crunchy taco!
- Creamy – The beans are the BEST thing, and leftovers are delish.
- Zesty – Lime juice in both the beans AND the smashed avocado.
- Salty – The shrimp have a perfect seasoning mix that is good on all the things.
- Spicy – Only if you want to use the seeds of the jalapeño. 😀
- Easy to tailor to YOUR taste buds. THIS combo is delicious, but you can change it up according to what you prefer.
Try my Pan Seared Sea Bass next!
Best Margaritas
Go ahead and start prepping your favorite margarita now. Because you’re gonna want one. Trust me. My favorites? I love my Classic Skinny Margaritas (strong though!), my Blackberry Peach Frozen Margaritas, and my Swirl Margaritas!
Shrimp Tostada Ingredients:
This recipe can easily be doubled for larger groups!
- For the shrimp: You’ll need a pound of large shrimp plus seasonings. I used cumin, onion powder, kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper.
- For the refried beans: This is a half recipe of my restaurant style refried beans. You’ll need pinto beans, onion, jalapeño, garlic, lime, salt, pepper, butter, and a few shakes of hot sauce.
- For the avocado: One large avocado, smashed, with a squeeze of lime, and some kosher salt.
- Tostadas: I bought tostada shells, but you can also buy corn tortillas and crisp them up in a hot oven or skillet.
- Other: Top the finished tostadas with some crumbled Cotija cheese and some chopped tomato and cilantro. You can also top them with some additional jalapeño slices and extra shakes of hot sauce.
How to make Shrimp Tostadas:
Step 1
Prep the shrimp. If frozen, thaw out the shrimp in cold water (or in the refrigerator). Peel and devein shrimp and remove tails. Then place on paper towels and pat dry.
Step 2
Add seasonings. Combine the seasonings (cumin, onion powder, salt, and pepper), and sprinkle over the shrimp.
Step 3
Grill the shrimp. Then heat a cast iron skillet to medium-high heat. Add the olive oil, and then the shrimp (you may need to do this in batches). Cook the shrimp until they turn pink on one side, and then flip to cook the other side. These should only take a few minutes. Set aside.
Step 4
Make the refried beans. Rinse and strain the beans. Heat a skillet to medium high heat, add olive oil, and sauté the onions and peppers until softened (3-4 minutes). Then add garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Add pinto beans and cook until heated through.
Step 6
Puree beans. Pour the ingredients into a food processor and pulse. Add seasonings, butter, a shake of hot sauce (optional), and the lime juice, and pulse again until smooth. Remove beans to a separate bowl.
Step 7
Prepare avocado. Mash the avocado on a small plate. Sprinkle with salt (to taste) and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. Stir to combine.
Step 8
Heat tostadas. You can bake the tostadas until hot, or sauté them in a hot skillet. (I’ve also microwaved them.)
Step 9
Assemble tostadas. Place warmed tostadas on a plate. Layer with some refried beans, then the mashed avocado, the grilled shrimp, and sprinkle with your desired toppings. I recommend some Cotija cheese, chopped tomatoes and cilantro, and a shake of hot sauce.
Recipe FAQs:
Skip the fork! These are a little bit messy but that’s a part of the fun. Pile them up high and have plenty of napkins handy because these are to be eaten with your hands!
The tostada itself is pretty healthy. It really depends on what you put on top. Combining grilled shrimp with refried beans (homemade is best) and some avocado makes these a fairly healthy meal.
Each one of these has just over 300 calories. I normally eat two!
We like to heat the tostadas up in the oven. You can also heat them in a pan in a little oil.
What to serve with Shrimp Tostadas:
These are fantastic with SO many things! Here are some of my recommendations:
Other Tex-Mex Recipes:
Kitchen Tools used for this recipe: (Affiliate Links)
xoxo ~Sue
Crunchy Shrimp Tostadas
Ingredients
- 6 tostadas
- 1 large avocado – or more
For the shrimp:
- 1 pound peeled and deveined raw shrimp – large
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
For the refried beans
- 15 oz. pinto beans – rinsed and strained
- 1/4 cup yellow onion – diced
- 1/2 medium jalapeno – with or without seeds
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper – to taste
- 1 medium lime – freshly squeezed
- cotija cheese, chopped cilantro – for serving
Instructions
- Grill the shrimp. Combine seasonings – cumin, onion powder, salt, and pepper – and sprinkle over the shrimp. Heat a cast iron skillet to medium-high heat. Add olive oil and then the shrimp. (You may need to do this in batches.) Cook the shrimp until they turn pink, and flip to cook the other side. This should only take a few minutes. Set the shrimp on a clean plate.
- Make the refried beans. Rinse and strain the beans. Heat a skillet to medium-high heat. Add olive oil and then the onion and peppers. Saute until softened, about 3-4 minutes. Then add the garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Add pinto beans and cook until heated through. Pour all skillet ingredients into a food processor, and pulse. Add seasonings, butter, some hot sauce (as much as you like), and the juice of one lime (or more, depending on your desired consistency). Pulse again until smooth. Remove to a bowl.
- Prepare avocado by removing the flesh to a plate. Mash with a fork, and then season with kosher salt and some fresh lime juice. Stir to combine.
- Heat up the tostadas. You can bake them, saute in a pan, or even microwave them.
- Assemble tostadas. Place the warmed tostadas on a plate and layer with the refried beans, mashed avocado, and the grilled shrimp. Then add desired toppings – cotija cheese, chopped tomatoes, cilantro, and some extra hot sauce.
- Serve these tostadas with a variety of sides. We like them with Spanish Rice and Beans, Cilantro Lime Rice, or a simple Mexican Quinoa Salad. So many other choices on the blog!
I usually insist we eat Friday since I cook all week, but knew all the restaurants would be crazy busy in my coastal town before the 3-day weekend.
OMG! These were AWESOME! It was almost as good as eating out, only diff was that I had to spend an hour in the kitchen, but they were better than anything I’ve ever ordered at a Mexican restaurant. SO WORTH IT. Your homemade retried beans are TO. DIE. FOR. And I’m ruined for eating any other kind. (My dad is currently licking all the parts of my food processor so as not to waste any! 😆) Only thing I did differently from your recipe was added shredded cabbage as a topping cuz I’m always trying to add veggies wherever I can.
I went with your recommendation of Cilantro Lime Rice (because I love it at Chipotle) on the side, but since I don’t have an Instapot, I just did it on the stovetop (a lot smaller amount) and it still turned out wonderful and I will be making that regularly, too. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Hubs blended me a margarita while I was assembling the tostadas and now I’m sitting in front of my empty plate and margarita glass in Mexican Food Heaven, ready to start a fun July 4th weekend.
Hi Ginger! I’m SO glad you enjoyed the shrimp tostadas! We love them too (especially the refried beans)! 🙂
Can simple Tex-Mex get any better? ✅
Such a simple and flavorful dish. Since I’m allergic to shrimp used the ground beef also in the nacho recipe and was so good!!
Thanks! I wish you could enjoy shrimp. 🙂
Everything about these is delicious and highly recommended! I’ll be enjoying them again very soon!
Yay! These are our current fav! 🙂