Camarones a la Diabla are juicy, large shrimp covered in a bright red chile pepper sauce that are ready to eat in 30 minutes! (gluten free, low carb, paleo)
If you love chile peppers as much as I do, you’re going to love these Camarones a la Diabla! Also known as diablo shrimp or Mexican deviled shrimp in English, this dish features juicy, large shrimp covered in a bright red chile pepper sauce that’s spicy, super flavorful and very addicting.
I didn’t eat much seafood growing up, partly because my parents grew up in a landlocked state in Mexico and partly because I grew up in Oklahoma City, which is also a landlocked state. Not a lot of local and fresh seafood options if you know what I mean. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve loved trying new foods and experiencing new ingredients. I’ve been particularly interested in learning how seafood plays a role and is prepared in Mexican cuisine, just because that’s a part of Mexican cooking that I don’t really know about. So to learn more about the flavors of Mexican seafood dishes, I’ve been trying to cook seafood more often by following recipes from some of my favorites like Rick Bayless and Pati Jinich. It’s been so much fun and so freaking delicious!
One of the easiest things to prepare as a home cook is shrimp. It can literally be cooked and ready to eat in 5 minutes if you just want it plain, so shrimp as a starting point for my seafood exploration is perfect. But of course I don’t want it plain – I want it a little jazzed up! And the perfect Mexican way to do that is by making a chile pepper sauce.
Camarones a la Diabla is all about the red chile sauce. The brightness of the sauce comes from a combination of guajillo and chile de arbol peppers as well as plump red roma tomatoes. Yes, it’s spicy, but this version isn’t crazy spicy and can easily be customized to your tastes.
How to make Camarones a la Diabla
- Soak stemmed and seeded guajillo and chile de arbol peppers in hot or boiling water for about 15 minutes. During this time, I like to cover the bowl or pot they’re soaking in with either a lid or a large plate to help keep in as much heat as possible.
- Puree softened chiles in a blender with Roma tomatoes, garlic, onions and salt.
- In a large saute pan or skillet over medium-high heat, add some olive oil and cook shrimp for 1 minute per side, until they are light pink.
- Add in the pureed red chile sauce, lower heat to medium and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and hot.
- Remove from heat, taste, season with more salt if necessary and serve.
Tips for making Camarones a la Diabla
- If you’re afraid the sauce may be too spicy for your tastes, I recommend soaking all the peppers as instructed but only adding in 1 chile de arbol pepper into the blender. Puree the sauce until smooth and then taste. If it’s still too spicy, add in a roma tomato and puree. Keep tasting and adjusting until it’s just right.
- Don’t forget to season the sauce generously with salt. If you’re not used to cooking with dried chiles, you may find their earthy taste a little bitter. The tomatoes should help with that, but you may also find that the sauce needs more salt. Add it in gradually and taste after each addition to make sure you don’t accidentally over-salt.
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Ingredients
- 8 dried guajillo chiles, rinsed, stems and seeds removed
- 3 dried chile de arbol chiles, rinsed, stems removed
- 3 Roma tomatoes, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 medium white onion, roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1.5 pounds large raw shrimp, peeled, deveined and tail-on
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a medium bowl or saucepan, add dried guajillo and arbol chiles. Add very hot or boiling water until chiles are fully submerged. Cover with a lid or large plate and let sit for 15 minutes, until chiles have softened.
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer the softened chiles to a large blender. Add the tomatoes, garlic, onion and salt. Puree until completely smooth. Taste and season with more salt, if necessary. If the sauce is too spicy, add more tomatoes.
- Heat a large saute pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and shrimp. Cook shrimp for 1 minute per side, or until shrimp is light pink.
- Add the red chile sauce to the pan or skillet and mix together to coat the shrimp. Lower the heat to medium and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and hot.
- Remove the pan or skillet from the heat and serve alone as an appetizer or with Authentic Mexican Rice as a meal.
Nutrition Information
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Love the recipe, but you list sodium as “0”. Shrimp have numerous nutritional benefits, including high levels of protein. However, many people may not know that this seafood is high in sodium, containing about 111 mg per 100 g serving, according to the USDA.
Hi Tom! Thank you for catching that! We use a program where we enter the information and it automatically generates the nutritional information, so it must have not caught it for some reason.
I will admit that i dont follow recipes, look at instructions for most products or furniture assembly because i think i know better. I used the same ingredients but my own measurements because i just skimmed through this and guess what… my 14yr old ate it up. Im good with steaks, just not with shrimps and i needed a recipe because my son wanted shrimp. Thank you.
I really enjoyed this. This was my first time making any type of devil shrimps too. I did add 3 more chile de arbol and wooooo weeee it was spicy. (My hubby loves spice)
Also instead of saIt, I used Caldo de tomate. And used some of the pepper water when blending the sauce to make it more liquidy. Very yummy and easy!
I’m gonna try it, don’t cook with any kind of chili. I have with Pato sauce and Pace Picante sauce (HOT) before but that’s it.
Full of flavor and easy to make
I followed recipe but the sauce lack major flavor. I added the salt but more was needed to make this dish delish. Bummer it was the easiest recipe I found and was really hoping it would be great.
Worst iteration of Camarones a la Diabla I’ve ever tasted. My girlfriend made it for me today 11/19/20. They looked just like the picture but they tasted like just a bunch of spiced peppers. I enjoy eating spicy food but this was not good. Less guajillo chiles maybe or less tomatoes? She even added extra chiles de arbol and it was not spicy.
I believe Camarones a la Diabla should be in more of a sauce than the “chile paste” this made.
Going to try to wash off the sauce to try and save the other pound and a half of shrimp.
It followed it precisely and it turned out great with rice and beans on the side thank you
I made this, it was delicious! I used more Chile de Arbol since I wanted it spicier and I didn’t have three tomatoes on hand so I used one fresh tomato and a can of tomato sauce. It was really good and tasted like my mother’s, asking my mother for a recipe can be difficult since it’s all second nature to her so having a recipe that can guide me is always great. Can’t wait to try other recipes!
Cook the tomatoes before hand so the taste is more uniform !!!
A little disappointed in the receipe. Made this but i think 3 roma tomato was to much! Also you need to strain the sauce before pouring it that makes a difference. I’ll stick to our traditional one
I agree! What is your recipe?
What if I where to use Chile Chipotle in Adobe sauce instead of guajillo and chile de arbole
The sauce looks really tasty, but I am allergic to shellfish. Do you think it would taste good on chicken? Thanks!
Yes, I think it would be great on Chicken!
This is really tasty! I’m new to cooking Mexican food and this was my first effort. It was close to being a tiny bit heavy on the “diabla” side but in my defense I have no idea what kind of chiles I used. I bought them from a local tienda in an unlabeled bag. They kinda looked like guajillo chiles?! I’m pretty sure the arbol chiles were japonese though. I think I used too much onion. I used half of a large instead of half of a medium. Tasting the sauce alone it was onion heavy, which is saying a lot considering how much I love onions. But once mixed in the skillet with the shrimp that toned down a lot and turned out really well. Loved it!
you should actually try roasting the chile’s instead of soaking them! brings out a better taste!!
Not at all as hot as I wanted. This was a mild recipe compared to what I have had. I found another one that uses a habanero. I made it with butter instead of olive oil which made it miss any sort of tangy flavor so I have to try that next time and add the habanero.
Very tomanoty right? Onion over powered it too, i ended up throwing the sauce away and just ate salt pepper shrimp, maybe chipotle would of saved it?
Yes! Found myself cooking the sauce a few minutes longer so the tomatoes can cook a bit. I also quadrupled the amount of Chile’s de Arbol. And I still find it’s not as spicy as I wanted it. How ever it is delicious. And super easy to make. Next time I’ll broil the tomatoes and add an habanero or a chipotle.
It’s the real deal. The only thing that I will change is that I’d simmer the sauce for several minutes to bring out more of the flavors. Then I’d cook the shrimp for 4 – 5 minutes. It’s a beautiful tasting dish.
Super recipe! Although I don’t know that I can take full credit for Isabel posting this recipe, I had contacted her and requested she do one for Camarones a la Diabla. Followed the recipe to a T other than blooming the chilis in a pan before soaking and also broiling the tomatoes, onions and garlic. Very delicious recipe! Thanks so much!
How long did your broil them for?
wow, this was great! thanks!
Wow! Those shrimp look so flavorful! That sauce just sounds to die for. Could these shrimp be the base of a taco?
Ooh, absolutely! I think that’s a great idea. I like where your going with this, haha.