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Camarones a la Diabla are juicy, large shrimp smothered in a bright red chile sauce that’s spicy, deeply flavorful, and so delicious. Also called diablo shrimp or Mexican deviled shrimp, the whole thing comes together in about 30 minutes.
Camarones a la diabla was one of the first Mexican seafood dishes that really won me over. Which is funny, because I didn’t grow up eating much seafood at all.
My parents are from a landlocked part of Mexico, and I grew up in Oklahoma City, which is also about as far from the ocean as you can get. Fresh seafood just wasn’t really on the table.
So Mexican seafood is something I came to as an adult, and I’ve had so much fun learning how it’s cooked by following folks like Rick Bayless and Pati Jinich. Shrimp was my starting point because it’s quick and pretty hard to mess up, and this was one of the first dishes that made me fall for it.
What makes camarones a la diabla so good is all in the sauce. It gets its color and flavor from guajillo and chile de árbol peppers blended with ripe Roma tomatoes. It’s spicy, yes, but not the kind of spicy that wrecks you, and it’s easy to dial up or down to your taste.
I like to serve it over Mexican rice with warm flour tortillas to catch every bit of that sauce.
How to Make Camarones a la Diabla
- Soak stemmed and seeded guajillo and árbol chiles 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 a lid or a large plate to help retain 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
- Spice level: 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.
- Salt: 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Spicy, but not painful. Most of the heat comes from the chile de árbol, so you’re in control. Soak all the chiles like the recipe says, but only blend in one árbol to start, then taste and add more until it’s where you want it. The Roma tomatoes mellow things out too.
Fresh Roma tomatoes are what I use and I think they taste best here. If all you have is canned, about half a cup of crushed tomatoes works in a pinch.
Guajillo and chile de árbol are the traditional combo and what I’d stick with. If you want more depth, you can swap one or two of the guajillos for ancho or pasilla chiles. They’re milder and a little sweeter, so they round out the sauce without adding heat.
Large or jumbo shrimp are ideal since they stay juicy, but medium works fine. Fresh or frozen is fine too. Just thaw frozen shrimp fully and pat them dry before cooking so they sear instead of steam.
Camarones a la Diabla
Ingredients
- 8 guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded
- 3 árbol chiles, stemmed and seeded
- 3 Roma tomatoes, roughly chopped
- ½ medium white onion, roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1.5 pounds large raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tail-on
Instructions
- Add the chiles to a small pot and cover them with water until they're completely submerged. Bring the water to a boil over high heat, then remove it from the heat, cover, and let the chiles soak for 10 minutes.
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer the softened chiles to a large blender. Add the tomatoes, onion, garlic, and salt. Puree until completely smooth. Taste and season with more salt, if necessary. If the sauce is too spicy, add more tomatoes.
- Heat the oil in a large sauté pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp and cook for 1 minute per side, or until shrimp is light pink.
- Pour in the blended red chile sauce and mix together to coat the shrimp. Reduce 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 Mexican Rice as a meal.
Video
Notes
- Spice level: Want it milder? Soak all the chiles but blend in just one chile de árbol to start, then taste and add more. If it’s still too hot, blend in an extra Roma tomato to mellow it out.
- Chile swap: No guajillos? Swap one or two for ancho or pasilla chiles. They’re milder and slightly sweet, so the sauce stays rich without extra heat.
- Shrimp tip: Frozen shrimp work great. Just thaw fully and pat dry before searing so they brown instead of steam.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This post was originally published in September 2018 and has been updated with more helpful information and recipe tips!
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 !!!