Marinate briefly
Toss shrimp with buttermilk and hot sauce. Refrigerate 15 to 20 minutes — enough to season and hydrate the surface, not enough to make it mushy.
Recipes › Fried Shrimp Po'Boy
Fried Shrimp Po'Boy
Hot, cornmeal-crusted shrimp piled into crisp French bread with cold lettuce, tomato and sharp Creole remoulade — fried fast enough to stay juicy under the crunch.
Jump to RecipeAI-generated serving illustration. It is not a photograph of a tested batch or a doneness reference.
The Recipe
Ingredients
Step-by-Step Instructions
Mix the remoulade
Stir mayonnaise, Creole mustard, pickle brine and chopped pickle together. Chill while you fry.
Make the dredge
Mix cornmeal, flour, paprika, Cajun seasoning and cayenne in a shallow bowl. Season lightly with salt.
Heat the oil
Bring 2 inches of neutral oil to 375°F / 190°C in a heavy pot. Keep a thermometer clipped to the side.
Dredge and fry
Lift shrimp from the buttermilk, let excess drip off, then press into the cornmeal dredge. Fry in small batches 2 to 3 minutes until crisp and just opaque; keep the oil above 350°F / 175°C.
Drain and season
Move shrimp to a wire rack and salt immediately. Do not pile them on paper towels.
Dress and eat now
Lightly toast the bread. Spread with remoulade, add tomato and lettuce, pile in the hot shrimp, close and serve immediately with lemon and hot sauce.
OPTIONAL UPGRADE
Flavor Bomb
Keep the core recipe clean, or flip this on for one or two high-impact upgrades.
How to know it's done
Use these recipe-specific texture cues. Color and curl alone cannot establish safety; use a thermometer to check 145°F / 63°C at the thickest part for cooked shrimp.
ShrimpSense Notes
The little details that make a big difference.
Cornmeal buys crunch
A cornmeal-forward dredge stays crisp under remoulade better than flour alone.
31/40 works here
The coating browns for you, so the shrimp can be a little smaller than for pan searing.
Rack, then sandwich
Steam is the enemy of fried crust. Drain on a rack and assemble at the last second.
Oil temperature is texture
Cool oil means grease; overheated oil darkens the crust before the shrimp is ready.