These Caribbean Shrimp Tacos with black beans and mango slaw are refreshing and bright! A fast, healthy 30-minute dinner.
Here’s a quick, healthy dinner idea! Bursting with tropical island flavors, these Caribbean Shrimp Tacos are quick and easy to make, full of delicious flavor, and surprisingly easy. Shrimp is seasoned with Caribbean Spices, pan-seared (or grilled), served over a warm seasoned Cuban-Style black beans, topped with a refreshing mango cabbage slaw.
Together, this flavorful trio of grilled shrimp, cool, crunchy slaw, and earthy, spicy black beans makes for the perfect combination of flavor and texture – and takes me far away to hammocks, palm trees, and sandy white beaches. I’m so excited for you to try this.
Caribbean Shrimp Tacos Ingredients
- Large raw shrimp (peeled and deveined) - The main protein, tender and slightly sweet, cooking quickly while absorbing the warm spices.
- Salt and sugar - Balance the seasoning; salt enhances flavor while a touch of sugar highlights the shrimp's natural sweetness.
- Warm spices (yellow curry powder, allspice, cinnamon, cumin, ground ginger) - Create a fragrant, Caribbean-inspired spice blend with warmth, depth, and subtle sweetness.
- Chipotle powder - Adds a touch of heat and smoky depth. Or sub smoked paprika and cayenne.
- Mango cabbage slaw - Provides crisp texture, sweetness, and acidity that balance the spiced shrimp.
- Black beans - Cuban-style black beans (canned) work beautifully, or regular canned black beans can be seasoned with cumin, coriander, chili powder, salt, and pepper.
- Corn or flour tortillas (toasted) - Serve as the warm, soft base for building the tacos. I like a corn-and-flour blend.
- Chipotle mayo (optional) - Adds smoky creaminess and a little extra heat to finish the tacos.
How to make Caribbean Tacos
Make the Slaw! It is really refreshing and tasty, and often I’ll eat a bowlful of just this, with just a side of black beans or rice.
Cook the Shrimp. Shrimp is peeled, cleaned, and deveined. Pat dry with paper towels. Add just enough oil to lightly coat… 1 to 2 teaspoons. This will help the flavorful Caribbean Spice blend adhere. In a little bowl, mix the spices, salt and sugar together…then toss with the shrimp.
Grill or pan-sear the shrimp. After they are cooked, give a little squeeze of lime.
Warm the black beans. For quick black beans, use canned. with this. Or simply season plain black beans with cumin, chipotle pepper, salt, and cilantro. Of course, for a special meal, slow-cooked black beans seasoned with dried chilies, onion, garlic, and spices would be especially good too. But today, we are all about fast!
Assemble. So here is the whole spread: Caribbean shrimp, cuban style black beans, Cabbage Mango Slaw and tortillas…all of which can be put together in 30 mins flat! Remember to toast the tortillas. Nothing can ruin even the most flavorful tacos more easily than cold or untoasted tortillas. So either place them in a toaster oven or a regular oven, right on the rack, on the grill, or over a gas burner, using tongs to flip and rotate.
Serving suggestions
Serve with fresh lime wedges and hot sauce.
Storage
Leftovers can be stored in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
More favorite taco recipes
- Best Shrimp Taco Recipe
- Baja Fish Taco Bowls
- Salmon Tacos
- Chicken Taco Recipe
- Taco Salad
- Korean Tacos
Enjoy them, and please give them a rating below. xoxo Sylvia
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Caribbean Shrimp Tacos with Mango Slaw
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 7 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: 30 minute Dinner, Dinner, healthy dinner, weeknight dinner
- Method: Grilled or stovetop
- Cuisine: American, Caribbean
- Diet: Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free
Description
These Caribbean Shrimp Tacos with black beans and mango slaw are so refreshing and bright! Healthy, fast, and easy- and can be made in 30 mins on the grill or stovetop.
Ingredients
- 1 lb large raw shrimp- thawed, peeled and deveined
- 1-2 tsp oil
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp yellow curry powder
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp cayenne or chipotle powder
- Mango Cabbage Slaw- 2 cups
- 14-ounce can "Cuban Style" Black Beans - or 1 1/2 cups cooked black beans seasoned with 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon coriander, 1 teaspoon chili powder, and salt & pepper to taste.
- 8 warm tortillas (5-6 inches), corn, flour, or a blend
- Optional- serve with Chipotle Mayo, cilantro, pickled red onions, hot sauce
Instructions
- Pat dry shrimp well. Drizzle with just enough oil to lightly coat- 1 to 2 teaspoons.
- Mix all spices, salt and sugar in a small bowl. Toss spices with shrimp, mixing well and set aside
- Make Mango Cabbage Slaw ( you’ll need about 2 cups for the recipe)
- Grill the shrimp over medium-high heat or pan-sear in a well-oiled cast-iron skillet on medium-high until just cooked. Squeeze with lime juice.
- Warm the black beans.
- Toast or warm the tortillas.
- Assemble the tacos: Fill the warm tortillas with warm seasoned black beans, shrimp, and a mound of mango slaw. Add any of the optional toppings.
Notes
Leftovers will keep up to 3 days in separate containers in the fridge.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 tacos
- Calories: 333
- Sugar: 7.6 g
- Sodium: 659.8 mg
- Fat: 3.8 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 46.1 g
- Fiber: 11 g
- Protein: 31.8 g
- Cholesterol: 182.5 mg
oh my what a lovely blend of fresh flavors! I made it for friends on a hot evening. We grilled the shrimp and I had made the beans and salad ahead. So delicious on the patio watching the fireflies come out. We finished it with a fresh pineapple sorbet! Perfect summer meal. thank you! This is going in the “must make again” file.
Thanks so much Mert- Glad you liked it!!!
I made this today while in quarantine/isolation! It’s delicious. Never would’ve thought to put cinnamon on shrimp but there you have it. Thanks!
So Glad you liked it!
Made this and brought it over to my family who lives local. Used your Crunchy Asian Slaw instead, since mangos aren’t in season right now. Both my sister and brother-in-law sent me thank you texts 🙂
Awesome Loretta, Im glad they liked it!
Hi Sylvia,
I need to make a big salad for a Hawaiian themed potluck so I am going to make the shrimp and pineapple slaw.
I’m thinking about adding avocados as well as some other veggies!
Any other suggestions from you on other veggies to add are appreciated!
Another yummy recipe!
Thanks so Sylvia !
Pick things that will hold up in the salad- ie, stay crunchy. Avocado may get mushy- so use it right be fore serving, not mixed in.
So we thought this recipe was pretty good! WE found the spices for the shrimp a little too hot as the shrimp flavor was a bit hidden. I will use less cayenne next time. And I did add some garlic powder to the mix.
The black beans I made my own with suggested spices and additional garlic. An improvement next time will be to purée the beans with spices in ninja and can spread on tortilla therefore making more room for shrimp and slaw, yet still have the bean flavor!!
The slaw was lovely. I omitted the onions and oil (in my opinion the oil is not needed and just adds needless calories)and used pineapple since that is what I had on hand. I also added somebody sugar as my cabbage was a little too bitter. Think this is a BRILLIANT slaw without calories of a mayo based slaw. A excellent compliment to all the other flavors!
We will make these again. Thanks for the recipe.
Exceptional flavor and texture!
Everyone ate themselves to misery.
Awesome Kim, thanks for sharing!!!
Exceptional flavor!!!
Loved by all at my table.
Nice work i like this caribbean shrimp tacos recipe
Keep the more coming
Thanks
Those Tacos are mouthwatering for sure.
Wow, looks so delicious! Thanks for sharing ! I will this recipe..
It’s great.
Thank you so much!
Elegant, this is some kind of magic! I can not do that!
Great looking and healthy food, thanks for the ideas and for posting this to us !
mmmm, grilled fruit makes everything even better
oooh this sounds incredible! i will have to try it soon! thanks for sharing! 🙂
Yes, give it a go and tell us what you think!
I just tried this yummy recipe from your blog and it has come out really yummy. Thanks for sharing!
Oh Im so glad you liked it Daniela! One of my favorites too!
Great recipe look nice and yummy , I want to taste it too much I’ll try this follow as your I’m sure that I’ll return to get more useful information form this site ,
really appreciate thanks for sharing this post !!!!!!!
Such a wonderful recipe! At the first time I saw the meal’s image, I cannot wait until I can taste it! Shrimp is always an amazing ingredient, isn’t it? This meal is also very healthy, with a lot of beans and vegetables. Thank you so much for sharing this great recipe!
Thanks Catherine…appreciate it!
Great informations. I needed to get something for my wife, I guess I found it!
It looks so delicious, a clumsy man seems able to do it. Thanks for your post so much!
Thanks, yes, you can do it! Easy recipe!!
Super caribbean recipe, I like to add the lemon shrimp.
It was tasty with a little bit of a kick but it was the perfect amount of heat. My husband loved them and gone real quick, lol. Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe!
Oh good!! thanks so much, makes me happy your hubby liked them too.
the spices make the dish simply awesome , the smell is so good itself, it will make you hungry in no time
The cabbage mango slaw sounds delicious!! I’m sure it goes beautifully with the tacos.
Thanks mary Frances! I love the combination…healthy and tasty!
It is so easy to do and it looks so delicious. I love it. The ingredients make this dish balance between protein and vegetable 🙂
Thanks jennifer, yes a healthy balanced one. 😉
Sylvia these tacos look absolutely beautiful! What stunning photos! Tacos are a favorite at our house! I will definitely be serving these this summer!
Thanks so much Mary Ann…have a great weekend!
Looks right up my alley! I am also going to try it with the black beans pureed and used as a spread. thanks!