My husband is technically from Louisiana. He wasn’t born there, but grew up there from age 2. He has the love for Cajun food in the palate. Hence, I make ketogenic meals with enough flavor to get him excited about keto. This Keto Low Carb Cajun Shrimp was a hit for all, except my toddler. She’s on a eating strike lately and eats like a little bird, but she loves shrimp.
I recently got a copy of Frank Davis Seafood Notebook from my father-in-law. I fell in love with his Cajun sauces and adapted the Heavy Cream Sauce notes to this recipe. He doesn’t add basil or mushrooms. However, I think the fresh basil gives it a nice Cajun flavor that reminds me the sauce poured over fried snapper or shrimp. I have used this sauce from this recipe on red snapper, mahi-mahi and few others. I don’t use this sauce with oily fish.
If you want to season the shrimp with a cajun seasoning, you can do that. However, I didn’t want to increase the carbohydrates’ count and keep seasonings to the bare minimum.
At 3g of carbohydrates per service, this is a great ketogenic option that will sure make you feel full for a long time. If you are like me, doing keto carnivore, then take the basil and mushrooms out of your sauce. Also, do not freak out by the amount of sodium listed below. Remember I do one or two meals a day. In addition, folks doing keto or carnivore need 5 to 7 grams of sodium and as much as 3 to 5g of potassium to keep electrolytes in check.
Please let me know your feedback. Enjoy!
Keto Low Carb Cajun Shrimp
Ingredients
- 2 lbs shrimp large
- salt to taste, for shrimp
- pepper to taste, for shrimp
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 4 tbsp butter Kerrygold
- 2 tbsp fresh basil chopped
- 1 cup baby bella mushrooms sliced, pan-fried in butter
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp xanthan gum optional
Instructions
- Season the shrimp with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside and prepare the mushrooms.
- In a skillet at medium high heat, add 2 tbsp of butter. Once it has melted and bubbling, add the sliced mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms turn golden on both sides. (I like mushrooms crispy before adding them to the sauce.) Set aside until sauce is ready for the mushroom and basil. If you want to cook the basil at the end of the mushrooms cooking, you can add them now until fragrant.
- In a new skillet at medium low to low heat, add the rest of the butter. Once is melted, add the heavy whipping cream very slowly, like a drizzle and combine with the butter with a flat whisk.
- You may need to stop pouring the cream until the sauce has a homogenous appearance. Once the sauce is homogenous again, continue drizzling the heavy whipping cream and whisking the sauce constantly. Do not let the sauce to bubble or boil so keep the heat as low as it can while still helping the sauce to thicken.
- Continue whisking the sauce with a flat whisk until it has thicken enough to see a bit of the skillet when the whisk moves around.
- If you are okay with xanthan gum or guar gum, you can add 1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp to help the sauce thicken quickly.
- Once the sauce has thicken, add the basil and cooked mushrooms. Mix the sauce and let it rest a few minutes on low heat for the flavors to combine.
- In a large skillet at medium high heat, add 1 tbsp of butter and heat up. Once bubbling, add half of the shrimp. Once the shrimp turns opaque turn to the other side. Once opaque both way, you can cook until slightly golden. This process may take 3 to 5 minutes per side depending if you are using fresh or frozen shrimp.
- Divide in 4 portions and pour few tablespoons of the sauce over the shrimp. You can combine with a salad or cauli-rice.