This Air Fryer Breaded Shrimp is so easy to make in the air fryer and it turns out perfectly crispy and delicious in just 6 minutes.
»Looking for more great air fryer recipes? You will love this Air Fryer Tilapia!
Air fryer shrimp are super versatile and they are the perfect recipe to add to your repertoire. Tender seafood with a crispy breading, what’s not to love?
Sometimes fried food can be a bit intimidating. Not to mention the dreaded oily fish smell that hangs around after deep frying. I’m happy to report that the air fryer gets rid of that problem! Now you’re free to have delicious crunchy shrimp whenever you like.
What You Need
- Shrimp – Raw, shelled, cleaned and deveined. Any sized shrimp works fine. These are a medium sized shrimp. You may need to add a minute or two if you use bigger shrimp. Don’t use pre-cooked shrimp.
- Flour – Coating the shrimp in flour before the egg and bread crumbs helps the coating stay on during cooking.
- Salt and pepper – Salt is added to increase the flavor. You could also add lemon pepper, Old Bay seasoning or this Cajun seasoning.
- Egg – The egg helps hold the breading on.
- Bread crumbs – This recipe uses panko bread crumbs but you could use regular bread crumbs.
How to Make Air Fryer Shrimp
One of the best things about this recipe is that it’s easy and fast. Thaw your shrimp, making sure they’re cleaned, deveined, and shelled. Then pat them somewhat dry.
Mix seasonings and flour to create a dredge then crack the eggs into a bowl and scramble them. Pour the Panko onto a plate. Your seasoning could be just about anything. We used plain old salt and pepper but lemon pepper, old bay seasoning, cajun seasoning or this dry rub would work great.
For each shrimp, season with salt and pepper, coat them in flour, dip in the egg and coat in Panko before adding them to the air fryer basket.
Air fry at 400° F for three minutes on one side, flip the shrimp over and cook for three more minutes at the same temperature.
Then you’re finished!
These shrimp go great with just about any sauce you can dream up. We recommend bang bang sauce or honey sriracha sauce.
They are also wonderfully in tacos like crispy shrimp tacos with creamy sriracha sauce or can be eaten straight out of the air fryer. At least, that’s what we did. It’s hard to wait when the shrimp are so good!
Why Use an Air Fryer
An air fryer is an incredibly easy way to cook just about anything. You place the food in a fryer-style basket and hot air rapidly circulates all around the food, making the food crisp – much like deep-frying, but without the oil. You can cook anything you’d make in the oven.
- If you don’t have an air fryer yet, check out these options to find one that fits your needs.
- See reviews and prices for air fryers on Amazon.
- Click to find more recipes to make in your Air Fryer.
- Learn how to make fun things in the air fryer, like potato wedges, pork belly bites, and chicken wings.
Tips for Making Air Fryer Shrimp
- As seasoned air fryer veterans may know, you shouldn’t use normal non-stick cooking spray. It contains additives that can mess with the non-stick finish of your cooking basket. In order for these to not stick to the air fryer basket you need to spray the basket with oil. A light spray will do.
- We picked up an avocado oil sprayer from the store and that did fantastic. You can also buy a reusable oil sprayer and fill it with any kind of oil you like (vegetable, avocado, canola, or peanut work best).
- Since every air fryer is different you should consult your models instructions on cooking times.
- You may need to adjust your cooking time for the size of shrimp you are using. Shrimp tend to get rubbery when overcooked, so you really don’t want to overdo it. In this recipe we are using medium-sized shrimp.
What Our Readers Are Saying
You don’t have to just take my word for it. Hundreds of readers have tried this recipe and loved it. See below some of the reviews we’ve received from visitors on Pinterest.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to cook breaded shrimp in the air fryer?
Lightly spray air fryer basket with oil and place shrimp in the basket leaving space between each shrimp. Lightly spray the tops of the shrimp. Cook for 3 minutes. Flip shrimp over and cook an additional 3 minutes. Cook for 4 minutes per side for larger shrimp.
How long does it take to cook frozen breaded shrimp in the air fryer?
The air fryer is a great way to cook frozen shrimp. Straight from the freezer add them to the air fryer basket sprayed lightly with oil. Make sure not to overcrowd the basket. Cook at 400° F for 8-10 minutes(depending on size), flipping half way through cooking.
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Air Fryer Breaded Shrimp
Ingredients
- 1 pound shrimp shelled, cleaned and deveined
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
Instructions
- Clean and dry shrimp.
- You need three shallow bowls. Add flour, salt and pepper to one bowl, egg to another bowl, and breadcrumbs to the third bowl. Start by coating the shrimp in flour, then dip it in the egg mixture, then coat it with breadcrumbs. Bread all the shrimp this way.
- Preheat the air fryer to 400 degrees F.
- Lightly spray air fryer basket with oil and place shrimp in the basket leaving space between each shrimp. Lightly spray the tops of the shrimp.
- Cook for 3 minutes. Flip shrimp over and cook an additional 3 minutes. Cook for 4 minutes per side for larger shrimp. Continue in small batches until all shrimp are cooked.
Equipment Needed
Nutrition
» If you don’t have an Air Fryer yet (go directly to Amazon and order one!), you really should consider it. We have a free Air Fryer starter guide that you can download or check out our Air Fryer page for more.
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Laura is a home cook who loves making new recipes and finding new favorite things to eat, whether at home or abroad. She also runs a popular travel blog and spends a lot of her time traveling for food.
I love using my air fryer. I always have shrimp in the freezer. I would love to stuff these into some tacos for dinner tonight.
This was so delicious. I made it today! It was approved by my entire family! I am adding it to the rotation! YUMMMM
I am always looking for new ways to use my air fryer and this looks amazing. I can’t wait to try it.
Looks delicious! I love that it’s air-fried 🙂
WOW, what a crispy and delicious looking shrimp. Love how easy and convenient it is to make these in the air fryer. Thank you for the amazing recipe.