This Cuban Shrimp Creole or “enchilado de camarones” is a flavorful, classic Cuban dish. The shrimp get simmered in a flavorful sauce made with tomato, onions, peppers, garlic and seasonings. You’ll definitely want to keep this recipe on hand for quick weeknight meals.
Growing up in a large Cuban family, this meal was a special treat! We had “enchilado de camarones” many times for family gatherings or when company was over. I asked my mom what the english name for it was and the general consensus was “Cuban Shrimp Creole”. Although it doesn’t translate exactly, it’s what this dish is most commonly known as in English. So no matter if you call it an enchilado or a creole, you’ll be making it over and over for your friends and family as well!
How to make Cuban Shrimp Creole (Enchilado de camarones):
By now you know, most cuban dishes start with *drum roll* green peppers and onions! Add in some garlic and a couple tablespoons of the tomato sauce and you have a winning combination of flavors!
After cooking the veggies and tomato sauce, everything else (except the shrimp) goes in the pan and gets simmered for just 5 minutes. I told ya this was easy! By the way, even if you don’t like olives, i’d still encourage you to add them in with the brine. You can pick them out after cooking if you want but they add a great flavor that will otherwise be missing from the sauce.
Now for the star of the show…the shrimp! Dump them in and simmer for another 10 minutes. They should be cooked through at this point and be curled up and opaque.
Serve immediately over a bed of white rice and enjoy!
Cuban Shrimp Creole (Enchilado de camarones)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- half of a medium onion diced finely (about 1/2 cup)
- half of a green bell pepper diced finely (about 1/2 cup)
- 4 large garlic cloves - minced
- 8 ounce can of tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1/3 cup green Spanish olives (plus a tablespoon of the brine)
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 heaping teaspoon salt
- 1 pinch black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 and 1/2 pounds medium sized shrimp (peeled, deveined, and tail-off)
Instructions
- Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat and add in the olive oil, onions, and green peppers. Sauté until the onions and peppers soften.
- Add in the garlic and 2 tablespoons from the can of tomato sauce. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Add in the remaining tomato sauce, water, white wine, olives, oregano, salt, pepper, and cumin. Bring to a simmer for 5 minutes, uncovered.
- After the 5 minutes, add in the shrimp and simmer, covered for 10 minutes.
- Serve immediately over white rice.
14 Comments
Anita
March 26, 2020 at 5:15 pmThis shrimp creole is simply delicious and full of flavors. I can eat this with nothing but white rice. 🙂
Charla @ That Girl Cooks Healthy
March 26, 2020 at 5:22 pmI bet the whole house comes to life with the smell of this wonderful looking dish.
Roxana
March 26, 2020 at 5:53 pmThere is something about these creole flavors and shrimp that work perfectly. So comforting with rice. What can I use instead of wine?
Coco and Ash
March 26, 2020 at 6:13 pmthank you! If you want to skip the wine, use the same amount of chicken or vegetable broth and add in 1 tablespoon of white vinegar for acid 🙂
Sara Welch
March 26, 2020 at 6:16 pmSo many flavors in one dish; this was fantastic! Looking forward to enjoying leftovers for dinner again tonight!
Dlishus
April 27, 2020 at 8:21 amThis is not the way to make Enchilado de Camarones. Any real and true Cuban doesn’t put the brine of the olives in any meal for the simple reason the brine gives the meal bitter taste. In this recipe it doesn’t call for oregano or cumin, but it calls for hot sauce which isn’t mentioned at all. In addition, the recipe doesn’t call for water either.. Please research you data before publishing a Cuban Recipe…
Coco and Ash
April 29, 2020 at 12:03 pmThanks for your input. But both my parents, grandparents, great-grandparents – ALL born in Cuba and I am first generation born in this country. So if this is the way we make it, I’d say it’s pretty darn AUTHENTIC Cuban. Have a GREAT day!
LizB
December 14, 2020 at 6:47 pmCould you not be a troll? I just made her picadillo recipe and it was definitely authentic.
Coco and Ash
December 14, 2020 at 7:47 pmLOL thank you!!!!!
Theresa Gonzalez
August 16, 2020 at 1:20 pmDo you cook the shrimp before adding it to the sauce?
Coco and Ash
August 16, 2020 at 6:12 pmNo, they cook in the sauce 🙂
Gigi Perez
October 10, 2020 at 1:11 pmI have never eaten Cuban camarones enchilados with olives. I’m Cuban and we usually use olives in picadillo, ropa vieja, fricasé de pollo, that’s about it.
Coco and Ash
October 10, 2020 at 1:13 pmI’m cuban and my family makes it with olives 🙂 feel free to leave them out if you’d like!
Francisco Castellanos
November 15, 2020 at 12:52 pmGOOD RECIPE. VENEZUELAN MARRIED TO A CUBAN FROM CARDENA