Quick & Delicious Instant Pot Shrimp

Transform your meal prep with perfectly cooked Instant Pot shrimp! Whether you have a bag of frozen shrimp or fresh from the market, your Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi pressure cooker can whip up succulent, tender shrimp in mere minutes. Forget guesswork and rubbery results; we’ll guide you through our revolutionary “0-minute” cooking method, ensuring your shrimp are perfectly pink and ready to elevate any dish, from a creamy alfredo dinner to a high-protein snack.

Instant Pot Shrimp: Fresh or Frozen Perfection

Just recently, a craving for shrimp led to an unexpected discovery. My husband, following a request for fresh shrimp, returned with two bags of frozen shrimp instead. This happy accident allowed us to conduct a side-by-side comparison, and we quickly learned a crucial secret: there’s virtually NO difference in cooking time or results when preparing fresh versus frozen shrimp in the Instant Pot!

This means you can easily achieve the same fantastic results whether you’re using an Instant Pot or a Ninja Foodi pressure cooker. Simply utilize the pressure cook function with the appropriate lid, and you’re on your way to a quick and delicious seafood meal.

Our journey into pressure-cooked seafood began with a delicious Instant Pot fish recipe, where we simultaneously cooked vegetables and white fish in stackable pans. Building on that success, we’ve since created a diverse collection of Instant Pot shrimp recipes to share with you.

We started with the fundamentals: simply cooking shrimp on its own to perfection. As we honed our technique, we began incorporating other ingredients, leading to exciting creations like our popular Instant Pot shrimp boil. This initial focus on getting the basic shrimp cook right was key to unlocking its full potential in various dishes.

Choosing the Right Shrimp for Pressure Cooking

To ensure the best results, it’s essential to select the right kind of shrimp. We recommend using large, raw jumbo shrimp with the shells still on. This might seem counter-intuitive, but the shells provide a crucial layer of protection, preventing the delicate shrimp from overcooking too quickly. Overcooked shrimp, as many know, can become unpleasantly tough and rubbery – a texture we definitely want to avoid!

Don’t be alarmed by the initial size of jumbo shrimp; they do shrink slightly as they cook, transforming into perfect bite-sized pieces. You’ll typically find excellent quality shell-on jumbo shrimp in the freezer section of most grocery stores, making it easy to replicate our successful shrimp in the Instant Pot recipe at home.

Should You Peel Shrimp Before Pressure Cooking?

Absolutely not! When cooking shrimp in a pressure cooker, especially if they are frozen, there’s no need to peel them beforehand. In fact, it’s often impossible to peel frozen shrimp without thawing them first, which adds an unnecessary step. The great news is that once cooked, the shells will loosen beautifully and peel off with incredible ease. This also offers a practical benefit: shell-on shrimp are typically less expensive than their peeled counterparts, making this method both convenient and economical.

The “0-Minute” Method: How Long to Steam Frozen Shrimp?

This is where the magic happens! For small to medium-sized, shell-on shrimp, whether fresh or frozen, we highly recommend setting your pressure cooker to 0 minutes. That’s right, zero minutes!

• Our personal experimentation revealed that even the Instant Pot’s own website’s recommended cooking times for shrimp (1-2 minutes for fresh, 2-3 minutes for frozen) led to overcooked, rubbery results.
• Through trial and error, we discovered that 0 minutes at high pressure produces perfectly cooked, tender, and pink shrimp, as you can see in our photos below. The shrimp cook during the natural process of the Instant Pot building up pressure and then during the quick release.
• For reference, while fresh fish fillets (around 3/4 lb. salmon) might require 4 minutes to cook through, shrimp demands a much shorter “active” cooking time under pressure.

It’s important to clarify: “0 minutes” doesn’t mean no cooking time at all. It means that once the Instant Pot reaches full pressure, it immediately begins its countdown to zero and then signals completion. The actual cooking occurs during the pressure build-up phase and the subsequent quick pressure release.

Essential Equipment for Instant Pot Shrimp

Preparing perfect pressure cooker shrimp requires just a few key items:

1. Instant Pot Steamer Basket: A good quality steamer basket is indispensable. We particularly like models that feature small feet to keep the shrimp elevated above the water, along with a sturdy hook or handle for easy, safe lifting in and out of the hot pot.
2. Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker: Of course, you’ll need a pressure cooker! Any brand will do, whether it’s an Instant Pot (like our preferred 6-quart model) or another reliable option such as a Crock Pot Express.
3. Raw Jumbo Shell-On Shrimp: As discussed, opt for raw, shell-on jumbo shrimp. Avoid pre-cooked varieties, as they will undoubtedly become tough and rubbery when cooked under pressure.

Enhance Your Meal: Shrimp with Vegetables

Cooking shrimp simultaneously with vegetables in your Instant Pot is entirely possible and highly recommended for a complete, quick meal. The key is to select vegetables that have a similarly rapid cooking time to shrimp. Broccoli is an excellent choice for this duo, as it cooks perfectly in just 1 minute. Simply add your shrimp and broccoli to the steamer basket, set your Instant Pot, and enjoy a virtually fat-free dish once topped with a pat of butter, a sprinkle of salt, and a dash of pepper.

Once your shrimp are perfectly cooked, you can easily peel them and enjoy them as-is, or incorporate them into your favorite Instant Pot shrimp recipe. We’ll share some of our top picks, including a delectable pressure cooker garlic shrimp variation, below.

Mastering the “0-Minute” Instant Pot Setting

Setting your Instant Pot to cook for 0 minutes might sound unusual, but it’s a straightforward process:

1. Add your ingredients (water, steamer basket with shrimp) into your pressure cooker.
2. Close the lid and ensure the venting knob is sealed.
3. Press the “Manual” or “Pressure Cook” button (depending on your model).
4. Select “High Pressure.”
5. Adjust the timer using the minus (-) button until the display shows “00.”
6. Allow the Instant Pot to begin its cycle. It will take a few minutes to build pressure, during which the shrimp will start cooking.
7. The Instant Pot will beep as soon as it reaches full pressure and the “00” minute timer completes. This signifies the end of the active pressure cooking time.
8. Immediately perform a quick release (QR) by carefully moving the venting knob to the “Venting” position. This is crucial for shrimp to prevent overcooking. Always refer to your pressure cooker’s manual for safe quick release procedures.

Following these steps ensures your frozen shrimp emerge perfectly cooked and pink, not just thawed and still raw. This same “0-minute” technique also works wonderfully for how to cook frozen scallops, yielding similar tender results!

Other Delicious Instant Pot Shrimp Recipes You’ll Love

Once you’ve mastered the basic “0-minute” cooking method, a world of culinary possibilities opens up! You can use your perfectly cooked shrimp in countless ways. For instance, we love to add our tender shrimp on top of a comforting Instant Pot shrimp alfredo, creating a luxurious and satisfying meal. These defrosted and cooked shrimp are also fantastic in savory pressure cooker Asian steamed dumplings.

Beyond these, you can always take your cooked shrimp a step further by sautéing them with some minced garlic and butter to create a simple yet incredibly flavorful dish. Or, for a meal with a kick, try making our crowd-pleasing Instant Pot bang bang shrimp. For those times when you still have frozen shrimp and prefer an alternative cooking method, our air fryer frozen shrimp with parmesan offers another quick and tasty option.

No matter how you choose to prepare them, Instant Pot shrimp are guaranteed to provide a delicious, protein-packed meal that’s both easy to make and incredibly versatile!