Bacon wrapped shrimp made in the oven and coated with the most delicious spicy maple glaze! One of our favorite appetizer recipes, these sweet and spicy bacon wrapped shrimp fly off the plate.
Related: We love these bacon wrapped cream cheese stuffed jalapeno poppers!
How to Make the Best Bacon Wrapped Shrimp
These bacon wrapped shrimp are delicious. I love how we brush a spicy glaze made with maple syrup and chili sauce — use Sriracha sauce or Gochujang paste — over the bacon before baking. As the bacon crisps up in the oven, the glaze caramelizes. It’s excellent.
We love this easy shrimp appetizer. It’s incredibly easy to make, and we have the secret to making it best. We like our bacon crispy, so we’ve developed a method to guarantee that our bacon becomes crispy while making sure our shrimp are cooked to perfection (no floppy bacon or overcooked shrimp here!).
First, we par-cook the bacon. Cooking the bacon for a little bit before wrapping it around the shrimp gives the bacon a jump start. This way, it will crisp up much better in the end, and we won’t need to worry about overcooking our shrimp to cook the bacon.
The bacon only needs a 10 minute head start in the oven, which allows some of the fat to start rendering, but it doesn’t need to be crispy yet. I cook the bacon until it’s about halfway done. Then, I take it out of the oven and let it cool for a few minutes.
Now the bacon’s halfway cooked, let’s add lots of flavor, which we get from the easy maple glaze. Combine maple syrup and spicy Sriracha chili sauce (or use Korean Gochujang). Then, brush it onto both sides of the bacon and the shrimp.
Once the shrimp are wrapped with the bacon (and secured with a toothpick), we brush even more glaze over the bacon wrapped shrimp right on the baking sheet.
The shrimp bake for 5 minutes. Then, we like to turn the oven to broil and broil for 4 to 6 minutes or until the bacon is crispy.
By par-cooking the bacon, the final bite has perfectly cooked bacon and shrimp. If we wrap the shrimp with raw bacon, the time it takes to get the bacon all crisp and delicious means you’ll most likely overcook the shrimp. No good. With our easy method, we get the best of both worlds—crispy bacon wrapped around perfectly cooked shrimp.
For more shrimp recipes, take a look ar our garlic shrimp with cilantro and lime or these party-friendly baked shrimp cups.
For more delicious appetizers, take a look at our homemade crab rangoon (crab and cream cheese stuffed wontons), this creamy crab dip which can be served hot or cold, and our easy shrimp ceviche.
Easy Bacon Wrapped Shrimp
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Bacon wrapped shrimp made in the oven and coated with the most delicious spicy maple glaze! We par-cook the bacon before wrapping it around the shrimp to ensure that the bacon and shrimp are perfectly cooked. Wrapping the shrimp with raw bacon may cause the shrimp to overcook while waiting for the bacon to crisp up. Our simple recipe provides the best of both worlds: crispy bacon and perfectly cooked shrimp.
You Will Need
Wooden skewers soaked in water for 30 minutes
10 strips thin cut bacon
20 extra-large shrimp, shelled with tails left on (about 1 pound)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon Sriracha hot chili sauce
Half a lemon, cut into wedges, for serving
1 scallion, finely chopped, for serving
Directions
1Heat oven to 400° Fahrenheit. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
2Place bacon slices, in one layer, onto the baking sheet. Slide into the oven, and then bake for about 10 minutes or until the bacon has rendered some of its fat, is starting to brown on the edges, but is still floppy.
3Take the bacon out of the oven and transfer it to paper towels to drain excess fat. Discard any fat on the baking sheet, but leave the foil intact.
4Stir the maple syrup and Sriracha in a small bowl. Lightly brush both sides of the par-cooked bacon with glaze, then cut in half, crosswise, making 20 half-strips of bacon.
5Season the shrimp with salt, then wrap each with a half-strip of bacon and use one of the soaked skewers to secure it.
6Place each shrimp onto the baking sheet. Then, brush or spoon the leftover glaze over the wrapped shrimp.
7Bake the shrimp for 5 minutes. Turn the oven to broil, and then broil for 4 to 6 minutes, rotating the shrimp once until the bacon is crispy. Serve shrimp with lemon wedges on the side and scallions scattered on top.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
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Amazing. Our friend Sharon made these for a girls happy hour on her patio. I had to make the same week for a dinner get together. My husband even appreciated them the next day. Very important though, do not over cook bacon as hard to wrap. My friend Sharon’s shrimp were prettier than mine! 🙂
Great stuff! Like it!
This recipe is fabulous! It is well written, accurate, repeatable and very, very good. These are the important things to know that will make it work perfectly. Use large raw shrimp. We used 6 – #13-15 for an appetizer for two. They cost about $4. Be sure to use thin sliced bacon. The rest is easy if you pay attention as they cook. The sauce is the perfect combo of sweet and hot. Must use real maple syrup. The lemon and scallion garnish seals the deal. Don’t change a thing.
Dumb question. I am making this tomorrow. Do you use cooked or raw shrimp?
Thank you
We use raw shrimp.
Ohhh nice! Looks delicious!
This looks AWESOME! I was planning to make bacon wrapped shrimp soon, and this tip on par-cooking the bacon is fantastic!
Have you ever cooked the bacon slightly the night before, wrapped and then broiled the next day? Did it turn out the same? Looking for ways to save time.
Hi Erin, we have never tried this, but it seems like a good option for cutting prep time.
Just made this Bacon Wrapped Shrimp for Super Bowl gathering tonight and it was a big hit. The sauce was delicious and I had to make extra as guests were also drizzling sauce on baked onion rings. Will definately make this shrimp recipe again. 5?