Up next in my summer grilling adventures I head down south to the Caribbean for some grilled Jamaican jerk shrimp using a tasty homemade jerk marinade. Jamaican jerk spice comes in the form of a spice blend a paste or a marinade and its main ingredients are allspice, scotch bonnet peppers, green onions, thyme, nutmeg and garlic. I like to make my own jerk marinate from scratch and although the list of ingredients may be long it is super simple to make and you should have most of the ingredients in your pantry already. This jerk shrimp is as easy to make as marinating the shrimp in the jerk marinade, skewering it and grilling it! Jerk spice is typically on the spicy side so I like to serve it with fresh fruits or salsas, especially in the summer! The only thing that is better than fresh fruit is grilled fresh fruit so why not throw something like pineapple or peaches onto the skewer along with the shrimp for grilling? It is hard to beat grilled meat on a stick for summer entertaining but throw some fruit into the mix and you have to have one of the most perfect appetizers around!
Hot and spicy jerk shrimp along with sweet and juicy pineapple on a stick is a fabulous combo!
Grilled Jerk Shrimp and Pineapple Skewers
Spicy grilled jerk marinated shrimp and sweet and juicy pineapple skewers!
ingredients
- 1 pound (20-25 or 16-20) shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1/2 cup jerk marinade
- 2 slices pineapple, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
directions
- Marinate the shrimp in the the half of the jerk marinade for at least 20 minutes and up to over night, skewer the shrimp and pineapple and grill over medium-high heat until cooked, about 2-3 minutes per side.
Jerk Marinade
A quick and easy homemade jerk marinade!
ingredients
- 1+ scotch bonnet pepper
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
- 2 green onions
- 1 tablespoon thyme, chopped
- 1 tablespoon allspice
- 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon dark rum
- 1/2 orange, juice and zest
- 1 lime, juice and zest
directions
- Puree everything in a food processor.
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Too funny, I am posting jerk salmon and pineapple this week! LOL!
I love your shrimp skewers and I am always game for anything with pineapple. YUM!
Delicious! I love jerk seasonings.
Now I know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow! This sounds fabulous. Can't wait to try it.
I'm making this tomorrow. I would have never thought of peaches. 🙂 I have been reading your blog for awhile and hands down- yours is the best cooking blog out there. Your recipes are amazing!
Thanks for sharing them all!
This looks delicious. Pinned it. Thank you!
Yum, looks like the perfect recipe to make on an upcoming vacation!
Love the look of that marinade, I'll have to try it.
YUM. These look pretty fantastic…lovely skewers.
I am going to make these tomorrow – thanks for the recipes!
This sounds delicious and sure looks delicious!
OOh yum, this looks delicious! I think I might try this with chicken.
Is the "thyme" in the marinade fresh or dried?
Anonymous: Fresh or dried thyme will work.
Thanks – just wasn't sure of the amount (if you meant dried, and I was using fresh, I'd need to add more).
Is this precooked shrimp?
Anonymous: Use raw shrimp.
These look fantastic!
Are they good at room temperature? I'm thinking of making them for NYE, but I'd need to make them an hour or so ahead.
-Kat
Kat: These are better hot but they will still be good at room temp. Enjoy and Happy New Year!
It might sound dumb to you all but I have to ask "what is a scotch bonnet pepper?" I,m sorry but I never heard of it before so what do I look for?
Anonymous: The scotch bonnet pepper is a chili pepper common in the Caribbean and it might be labeled as a Caribbean pepper. If you can't find them the habanero pepper has a similar heat and can be used in place of them, though the flavour is different. Here is the wikipedia article for more info on them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch_bonnet_(pepper)
For those of you not familiar with Scotch Bonnet Peppers, they are probably the hottest pepper available so be careful using them. Don't get any of the juices on your fingers and then rub your eyes. But, they are definitely good in Caribbean dishes!
Kevin, what can I use instead of the dark rum? Or, can I just leave it out. I do have some rum extract..would that work? I'm so excited to try this recipe. I love shrimp and this looks fabulous!
Oh, I forgot, I have one more question…can this jerk seasoning be stored in the frig for another use later? Or maybe even frozen?!
Linda K: A little bit of rum extract will give you the flavour or you can omit it. You can store the marinade in the fridge for a few day or in the freezer for longer term. Enjoy!
Thank you…this is definitely tomorrow's menu! Can't wait to try it!!
"Marinate the shrimp in the the half of the jerk marinade …" and the other half? %-)
Guy B.
BTW: Delicious – thanks for this!
Anonymous: Use the other half for something else like jerk chicken, steak, etc. or just halve the marinade recipe.
How does the marinade have chunks if you blend all the ingredients in a food processor? Did you add them?…..i like the look.
Adriana Zavala: I had a cheap food processor back then and it did not fully puree things like cloves of garlic so the marinade was not perfectly smooth.
can I use bottled jerk marinade?
Anonymous: Yes!
Looks O So Heavenly Yummy!
I love jerk anything, especially shrimp. Your recipe says 2 green onion, is that 2 stalks of green onion or 2 pieces out the stalk?
So! Just moved into a new place and we can't have a grill at our apartment, could I make these on my stove top? I want to impress my boyfriends parents when they come over to see the new place, and I know they'd love these!
– SsW
Hi Kevin – just stumbled across your site when looking for some jerk recipes. What did it take to fill the decanter you have a picture of? How many times the recipe? I am missing where the volume comes from. Thanks.
I will be trying this marinade soon.
WannaBeChef: I made a double recipe with each batch making 1/2 cup or 1 cup in total.
I made these. We love jerk seasonings and I thought they looked fantastic!
I doubt I will make them again. The ginger was, in our opinion, incredibly overpowering. If I were to try it again, I would dial it back significantly and maybe use 1/4th the amount prescribed.
I used a habanaro pepper because I could not find a Scotch Bonnet anywhere, and perhaps this altered the taste significantly, it also may have been a good bit hotter than a Scotch Bonnet.I am not sure, but they were wildly BLAZING! Haha.
This looks fabulous! Is the calorie count for the whole recipe?
These look incredible! Also interested to know the calorie count if possible? Thank you!
I made them, and they were great. By calculating the calories, the above listed calories are per serving not the whole recipe.
Looks delicious! Exactly what I was looking for tonight!
Awesome! Will definitely do this one again! Thank you!
You are not only one of my favorite chefs, but have always admired the photographs of your food. Today for th first time I was not able to have a photo included with the recipes. Hopefully this is not permanent. Keep up thee good work, enjoy all that you publish.
Happy creating to a Top Chef.
I’m glad that you have been enjoying my recipes! What issue are you seeing with the photo? I recently updated my site and I would love to fix any problems!