↑

Will Cook For Smiles

Classic and Original Homecooking Recipes

  • Home
    • About Me
    • Work With Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Subscribe!
  • Recipes
    • Popular Posts
    • Appetizers
    • Breakfast
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Healthy Dishes
    • Soup
    • Salad
    • Sandwich
    • Cauliflower
    • Drink
    • Cocktail
  • How To
  • Instant Pot
    • Instant Pot Main Dishes
    • Instant Pot Side Dishes
    • Instant Pot Soups
  • Main Dishes
    • Side Dishes
    • Chicken
    • Beef
    • Seafood
    • Pork
    • Chili
    • Pasta
    • Slow Cooker
    • Vegetarian
  • Dessert
    • Cheesecake
    • Cake
    • Cookies
    • Chocolate
  • Holidays
    • Christmas Dinner
    • Christmas Baking
    • Holiday Leftover Recipes
    • New Year’s
    • Valentine’s Day
    • Super Bowl Recipes
    • St. Patrick’s Day
    • Easter
    • Cinco de Mayo
    • Mother’s Day
    • Father’s Day
    • BBQ
    • 4th Of July
    • Fall Recipes
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
Home » Dinner » How To Peel and Devein Shrimp

How To Peel and Devein Shrimp

Created: May 26, 2020 Updated: September 3, 2022 by Lyuba Brooke 2 Comments *This post may contain affiliate links. Read More...

1.6K shares
Jump to Recipe

Learn how to peel and devein shrimp with this easy step-by-step instructional photo and video guide. Once you learn how to clean shrimp yourself, you won’t have to buy already peeled shrimp anymore.

Easy shrimp dinners are always pleasant and fast on the week night, so enjoy these shrimp in the Easy Sautéed Shrimp recipe and and some Shrimp Scampi.

shrimp cleaned in a pile on waxed paper

If you’re constantly spending extra money at the seafood counter having to buy already peeled and deveined shrimp, I’m here to help. Before we start, I would like to reassure you that it’s really easy to do and once you try it a few times, you’ll be a pro.

Unless you grew up with professional chefs or lucky enough to live on the coast, you may feel intimidated. I don’t blame you, shrimp have a hard outer shell that looks like armor and a lot of tiny hairy legs. Whole shrimp with heads still attached may seem even scarier. 

Not to worry, the shell comes off very easy and so does the head. Cleaning out the veins does take a few extra minutes but it’s also easy. (And, it’s a very important step.)

holding a shrimp still in a shell

Why Do I Have to Peel the Shrimp?

You may have heard people say “leave the shell on shrimp, it will give them more flavor!” They are not completely wrong, it will give them more flavor but, it will give them quite a bit more than flavor. You will also be eating the shrimp’s directive tract, content of its colon, and most likely sand. Not so fun feeling sand grinding on your teeth as you try to enjoy a delicious shrimp.

So even though it is a tedious job to peel and devein shrimp, especially when you have to clean a couple of pounds of shrimp, but I assure you, it is a necessary step! 

The dark “vein” running along the back of the shrimp is actually its digestive tract. The tract runs along the entire shrimp and it can be packed or barely have anything there. Either way, you must remove it. Everything that shrimp ate, including dirt and sand will be in its digestive tract. 

Nothing is worse than biting into the shrimp and seeing that dark line or tasting sand. It’s very unpleasant and the exact reason why we clean the shrimp.

holding a shrimp and peeling off the shell

How to Peel and Devein Shrimp

If the head is still attached, pull it off.

Step 1:

Start pulling off the shell by the legs, cracking the underside. When you feel a small crack, pull on the legs to the side and pull the shell off the meat. Be assertive, larger shrimp have a tougher shell. You can choose to pull off the tails or leave them on. Keeping the tails on makes a nice presentation but it’s much easier to eat shrimp without tails. 

If you do decide to take off the tail, pinch it with your fingers and slide it off. 

holding the shrimp and cutting through the top with a small knife

Step 2:

Use a paring knife or another small knife to slice the top of the skin all along the back. Cut very gently to only cut through the top thin layer of skin to expose the “vein.”

When you see the dark, long string, use the tip of the knife to gentle pull it out. Use your hands to gently pull on it to take it out of the shrimp. (Note: some shrimp may not have a large vein or visible one at all. That’s okay, just rinse out the cut with cold water.)

Rinse the shrimp under a gentle steam of cold water and it’s ready to cook or marinate. 

taking out the vein from the shrimp

Pro Tip:

Don’t throw away the shells but use them instead to make fish stock! Or cook them in the stock when making shrimp risotto, shrimp salad, and any other recipe that could benefit from more great shrimp flavor in the stock.

Ways to Cook Shrimp

Now that you have that beautiful, clean shrimp, it’s time to cook. Shrimp is one of those proteins that is great to cook with any method and it’s done in just a few minutes. 

You can cook shrimp on stove-top, in a hot skillet, grill it, fry it, or bake it in the oven. No matter what method you choose, shrimp takes up to 5 minutes to cook. Large shrimp may take a minute or so longer and small shrimp would take less than 5 minutes. 

Some of my absolute favorite stove-top shrimp recipes are Shrimp Alfredo and Shrimp and Grits.

When it comes to grilled shrimp, try my Cajun Grilled Shrimp, Cedar Plank Shrimp, or Spicy Grilled Shrimp. 

Shrimp is also great in appetizers like my Cajun Shrimp Dip and in cold salads like Avocado Shrimp Salad. 

What If I Still Want Shrimp In Shell?

There is a way to enjoy the shrimp is shell, like the shrimp boil or Pealla, and not have to deal with the shrimp digestive tract and sand. It does take some work or some searching in stores. Check the seafood department of your grocery store, many will have shrimp that are deveined but still in shell.

What they do is take off the head, then they cut on top right through the shell and clean out the digestive tract cavity. You can do the same at home if you have thinner kitchen shears.

Cut through the shell on top, from neck to the tail, and cut through the thin top layer of skin. Then, clean out the vein and digestive tract with a gentle stream of cold water.

several shrimp together cleaned but with tails on waxed paper

Save This Post For Later

Pin For Later
several shrimp together cleaned but with tails on waxed paper

How To Peel and Devein Shrimp

Learn how to peel and devein shrimp with this easy step-by-step instructional photo guide. Once you learn how to clean shrimp yourself, you won’t have buy already peeled shrimp anymore.
5 from 2 votes
Print Pin SaveSaved! Rate
Course: Appetizer, Main Course
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes minutes
Servings: 1
Calories: 322kcal
Author: Lyuba Brooke

Equipment

  • Paring knife
  • bowl
  • Cold water

Ingredients

  • 1 lb shrimp in shell or any amount of shrimp

Instructions

Peel The Shrimp:

  • If the head is still attached, pull it off. To do that, get a hold of the shrimp head right where it is attaching to the rest of the body. Use a twisting motion to pull the head off the body.
  • Start pulling off the shell by the legs, cracking the underside. When you feel a small crack, pull on the legs to the side and pull the shell off the meat. Be assertive, larger shrimp have a tougher shell.
  • You can choose to pull off the tails of leave them on. Keeping the tails on makes a nice presentation but it’s much easier to eat shrimp without tails. 
  • If you do decide to take off the tail, pinch it with your fingers and slide it off. 

Devein Shrimp:

  • Use a paring knife or another small knife to slice just the top of the skin all along the back. Cut very gently to only cut through the top thin layer of skin to expose the “vein.”
  • When you see the dark, long string or a fat string, use the tip of the knife to gently pull it out. Use your fingers to gently pull on it to take it out of the shrimp. (Note: some shrimp may not have a large vein or visible one at all. That’s okay, just rinse out the cut with cold water.)
  • Rinse the shrimp under a gentle steam of cold water and it’s ready to cook or marinate.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 322kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 62g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Trans Fat: 0.04g | Cholesterol: 572mg | Sodium: 2567mg | Potassium: 513mg | Vitamin A: 816IU | Calcium: 245mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @willcookforsmiles and tag #willcookforsmiles
collage of cleaned shrimp on top and steps to take off the shell and vein on the bottom

LYUBA

ABOUT LYUBA

I’m Lyuba Brooke, mother of 2, the cook, recipe developer, photographer, and author behind willcookforsmiles.com. I share many classic and original recipes, cooking tips, and tutorials. My passion is sharing delicious meals for everyone to try. Read more...

1.6K shares

Filed Under: Dinner, How To, Seafood, Shrimp

All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe. Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.

Comments

  1. JAX says

    July 21, 2023 at 1:54 pm

    5 stars
    Good Video I always remove the other vein on the bottom too I feel that this is really the mud vein and that the one on the Back is the Blood Vein so that’s why I always have done it. It’s not appetizing if you notice it Just thought I’d Share with you JMO. HAPPY COOKING

    Reply
  2. John says

    March 22, 2023 at 12:09 pm

    5 stars
    Thanks for the tips!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Well, hey there!

I’m Lyuba Brooke, mother of 2, the cook, recipe developer, photographer, and author behind willcookforsmiles.com. I share many classic and original recipes, cooking tips, and tutorials. My passion is sharing delicious meals for everyone to try. Read More.

Christmas Dinner Recipes

roasted mushrooms in a serving dish on a white surface.

Roasted Mushrooms

squared closeup of baked ham with orange ham glaze.

Baked Ham with Orange Honey Ham Glaze

holding some scooped hashbrown casserole on a metal spatula over the dish.

Hashbrown Casserole

sliced beef tenderloin with seasoning on the sides and rosemary sprig next to it.

Beef Tenderloin

scooping out some sweet potato casserole with sweet pecan crumble on top.

Sweet Potato Casserole

slices of juicy pork with brown gravy

Pot Roasted Pork Loin

sliced roasted garlic pork loin on the board and sprig of rosemary.

Garlic Pork Loin

stuffing on a serving spoon with the rest in a casserole dish in the background.

Stuffing Recipe

Our Popular Recipes

closeup of pasta with sauce and swirled on a fork

Instant Pot Spaghetti

top look at the chocolate martini in a glass with chocolate rim

Chocolate Martini

Paella is cooked and garnished, ready to be served.

Family Favorite Paella Recipe

closeup of slices of corned beef brisket cooked in Instant pot.

Instant Pot Corned Beef

Creamy Tortellini with Peas Asparagus and Bacon

Creamy Ham and Cheese Cauliflower Soup

Top Rated Recipes

The Best French Toast

Cauliflower Parmesan Crisps

Christmas Cheesecake (Cranberry Jam White Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake)

Avocado Salmon Rice Bowl

round decorative bowl filled with apple pie bread pudding topped with ice cream and a fork leaning on the side of the bowl viewed close up.

Apple Pie Bread Pudding

Smores cheesecake on a wooden table

S'mores Cheesecake

Sides

30 Min

Pasta

Salads

Breakfast

Drinks

Soups

Gluten Free

FEATURED ON:

featured on

Roasted Mushrooms

Roasted Mushrooms

December 7, 2023
These...
Instant Pot Ham and Bean Soup

Instant Pot Ham and Bean Soup

November 30, 2023
Instant...
Baked Ham with Orange Honey Ham Glaze

Baked Ham with Orange Honey Ham Glaze

November 27, 2023
This...
Hashbrown Casserole

Hashbrown Casserole

November 27, 2023
This...
Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie

Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie

November 21, 2023
This...
Beef Tenderloin

Beef Tenderloin

November 15, 2023
Beef...
Garlic Pork Loin

Garlic Pork Loin

November 11, 2023
Easy...
Borscht Recipe

Borscht Recipe

November 9, 2023
Borscht...
Green Bean Casserole

Green Bean Casserole

November 8, 2023
Green...
Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup

Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup

October 30, 2023
Instant...
Privacy Policy
©2023, Will Cook For Smiles. Design by Pixel Me Designs