Aguachile — Print Recipe — The Culinary Codex

A vibrant Sinaloan dish of raw shrimp cured in a fiery green chile and lime juice mixture, served with cucumber, red onion, and tostadas.

Ingredients

1 lb large raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, and butterflied
1 cup fresh lime juice (about 10 limes)
4 serrano chiles
1 large cucumber, thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 bunch fresh cilantro
1 tsp salt
Tostadas for serving
1 avocado, sliced

Instructions

1 Butterfly the raw shrimp by slicing them down the back almost all the way through, opening them flat, and arranging them in a single layer on a chilled serving plate.
2 Blend the lime juice, serrano chiles, half the cilantro, and salt in a blender until completely smooth, creating the vibrant green aguachile sauce.
3 Pour the chile-lime sauce over the butterflied shrimp, ensuring each one is fully submerged, and refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes until the shrimp turn opaque and pink from the acid.
4 Arrange the cucumber slices and red onion rings around and over the cured shrimp, then garnish with the remaining cilantro leaves and avocado slices.
5 Serve immediately with crispy tostadas on the side, as the shrimp will continue to "cook" in the acid and can become tough if left too long.

Did You Know?

Aguachile literally means "chile water" and originated as a fisherman's snack in the coastal state of Sinaloa, where fishermen would cure their fresh catch right on the boat with chiles and lime.