Can I Make Tequila And Lime Shrimp?

Our answer

Nigella's Tequila And Lime Chicken (from SIMPLY NIGELLA) bathes chicken pieces in a tequila, lime and chilli marinade. The marinade helps to tenderize as well as flavour the chicken. However we would not recommend marinating shrimp in this mixture for any length of time as the acid in the marinade will quickly denature the proteins in the shrimp and leave the meat with an unpleasantly mushy texture. Also we are not sure that roasting with this marinade would be the best option for shrimp as the shrimp could dry out quickly in the oven, even with a shorter cooking time.

You may be able to stir fry the shrimp with the marinade ingredients and a little oil, but as we have not tried this ourselves we are unable to guarantee the results. Also as the marinade contains alcohol please do stir-fry carefully if cooking over a gas flame. We would however suggest Nigella's Pink Picante Prawns as a possible alternative. In this recipe the shrimp are given a spicy coating containing peppercorns and hot smoked paprika and quickly stir-fried so that they remain succulent.