Aguachile De Camaron is a healthy and delicious Mexican seafood dish! It is essentially a type of ceviche made with shrimp or other seafood that is marinated in a mixture of lime juice and chili peppers topped with onion and cucumber.
What is Aguachile?
The word “aguachile” literally translates to “chile water,” which is a nod to the spicy marinade used to prepare the dish. The marinade is typically made by blending together lime juice, a little water and fresh chiles like jalapeños and serrano peppers to create a tangy and slightly spicy sauce that is poured over the shrimp.
Why You’ll Love This Dish
- Quick to make: It’s ready to eat in a few minutes plus it’s a delicious and refreshing Mexican dish that is perfect for warm weather.
- Versatile: The protein can be any white fish or shellfish although some new vegan recipes substitute fresh veggies for the protein. Feel free to use this method for any kind of seafood you would like to replace the shrimp with.
- So healthy: It’s high in protein, low fat, gluten free and dairy free plus full of nutrients.
Ingredients
This recipe calls for very simple ingredients but as always, the fresher the better!
- The protein: Start with quality raw shrimp. Fresh seafood is better but it’s okay to use previously frozen shrimp. I actually like to buy the one from a big store (already cleaned and deveined).
- The veggies:
- Jalapeño pepper or chiles serranos. Serrano is more spicy so use more of these if you like more heat on your recipes.
- Cilantro.
- Fresh lime juice. When buying fresh limes, to ensure you select the most juicy ones, select ones that have a soft and smooth skin. If they’re too firm, most likely won’t have much juice.
- Cucumbers.
- Red onions.
- Avocado for topping.
- Chile Habaneros for an extra kick!
- Seasoning: Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
Variations
Other great seafood options:
- Halibut or any other white fish
- Scallops
- Clams
How to make Aguachile De Camarón
The process of making this recipe does not take long once you have all of your ingredients ready. You should be able to eat them in 30 minutes or less!
- First start by slicing the shrimp in half lengthwise to devein. The process is to open it like a butterfly and not cutting all the way through.
- Transfer to a large dish or bowl and cover with plastic. Refrigerate while we prepare the rest of the ingredients.
- In a blender, add the chiles, cilantro, water & lime juice.
- Puree it thoroughly until you don’t see anymore chunks.
4. Pour the aguachile mixture to the shrimps and add the red onion and cucumber at this point if you would like. Otherwise, you can add them as a garnish it when serving.
5. Sprinkle some salt and pepper to taste then place in refrigerator for 10 to 20 minutes covered with plastic wrap.
Serving Suggestions
This finger food dish is perfect to serve as an appetizer before the main dish. Serve the shrimps in a wide bowl and drizzle some of the aguachile marinade. Eat right away topped with sliced avocado, cucumbers and red onion.
My preferred way to eat this shrimp dish is with corn tortilla chips or tostadas but it also goes great with saltines.
Enjoy with Micheladas, a Classic Margarita or a refreshing Agua Fresca like Agua De Piña.
How to Store
Aguachile is best if consumed immediately. It tastes better when it’s raw and does not sit for too long. If you must store some away, place in an airtight container and placed in refrigerator. Eat in 24 hours of less.
FAQs
The main difference between ceviche and aguachile is for ceviche, the seafood is cured in the lime juice until “cooked” for at least two hours. The vegetables in Ceviches are chopped (tomato, cucumber, onions, avocado) and some have a more juicy mixture.
For aguachile, the seafood is only marinated for about 20 minutes then served immediately while still raw.
Lime juice is often used in cooking shrimp in dishes like ceviche, where the acid in the lime juice “cooks” the shrimp by denaturing the proteins, similar to how heat would cook it.
However, it’s important to note that while the lime juice does cause a chemical reaction in the shrimp, it doesn’t actually apply heat to the shrimp, so it’s not technically “cooking” in the traditional sense. It’s more of a “curing” method.
Authentic recipes are made with raw seafood. It’s important to choose high quality seafood (sushi grade) as it is meant to be consumed raw.
More Mexican Seafood Recipes:
I hope you like this recipe! Share it, or leave a rating and comment below. For questions that need an answer right away, please contact me and I’ll get back to you asap. Gracias!!!! xx, Ana
Print Recipe:
Authentic Aguachile De Camaron
Ingredients
- 1 lb good quality raw shrimp. It’s okay to use previously frozen shrimp
- 1 jalapeño pepper or 2 serrano chilies if you like it more spicy stemmed and cut into ¼ -inch pieces
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro
- 2 tablespoons water
- 6 tablespoons fresh juice from 4 limes
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup thinly sliced red onion
- 1 cucumber thinly sliced
- 1 sliced avocado
- Tostadas or corn tortilla chips for serving
Instructions
- Slice the shrimp in half lengthwise and discard any veins. The process is to open it like a butterfly and not cutting all the way through.
- Transfer to a large dish or bowl and cover with plastic. Refrigerate while we prepare the rest of the ingredients.
- In a blender, add the chiles, cilantro, water & lime juice. Puree thoroughly.
- Add the aguachile mixture to the shrimps. Add the red onion and cucumber at this point if you would like. Otherwise, you can just garnish it when serving.
- Sprinkle some salt and pepper to taste then place in refrigerator for 10 to 20 minutes.
- Serve right away topped with sliced avocado, cucumbers and red onion. Eat with tostadas, tortilla chips, or saltines.
Muy Delish Notes:
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Nutrition
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Wow! So refreshing! Loved the cucumber in this!!!
This looks so so refreshing! Can’t wait to try it this summer. Seems like the perfect thing to eat al fresco.
Such a great way to serve shrimp. The jalapenos were amazing.
Such a delicious combination of flavours for shrimp and definitely one to make again.
My husband and I are both seafood lovers, and we absolutely loved this recipe. The seafood was super flavoursome and zingy with lime, and it made an amazing appetizer!
This is Amazing Ana!
Love it ?
Thank you so much Brenda! I’m so glad you found this Aguachile recipe!
street stand to get a taste of Sinaloan aguachile aka Aguachile Verde. I’m not the master coctolero that these guys were so by now means is this their exact recipe. But, I recreated my favorite parts of the dish to make this shrimp aguachile.
0 are there other seafood ingredients naked add to shrimp that you would suggest?
Hi Charles! I think you can make Aguachile with any other seafood item too like crabs, clams, or even squid. You can mix and match as you like. As far as other veggies and such sometimes I add jicama, radishes and even some thinly sliced fresh coconut! Let me know what you decided adding and how you like it.
So fresh and flavorful. Perfect for a healthy lunch!
This looks like such a healthy and delicious option for lunch!
Thank you so much Bintu!
I loved this recipe! It was a total show stopper on the table and had such an excellent flavor. My husband loved it and requested I make it again.
Thank you so much Heidy! So glad you liked it!
This looks SO delicious! I am a fan of ceviche and have never tried aguachile before. I can’t wait to try this! Loving all those fresh flavours!
This Shrimp Aguachile is truly refreshing and amazingly healthy too! Thanks for stopping by Courtney!
This looks AMAZING!! I love ceviche but have never tried aguachile. I must rectify that soon! Thanks for this awesome recipe.
Thank you Victoria! I hope you like it!
I’m always up to try something new on Muy Delish. Never heard of this before. I have to say this recipe nails it!
Thank you Pablo! This is an excellent dish to try for entertaining too! It’s the perfect healthy seafood snack
I’m making this delicious aguachile! I love your ceviche too.
Thank you Monica! I hope you liked making this healthy Mexican seafood!