This is the classic Ecuadorian shrimp ceviche recipe, it is one of the easiest and quickest ways to prepare shrimp ceviche or cebiche (big dispute on the correct spelling). I will share the more complicated but amazingly good shrimp ceviche recipe later.
Ingredients:
2lb of cooked shrimp (if you buy it raw, I suggest you cook it in beer or coconut milk for amazing flavor)
2 red onions sliced very thinly
4 tomatoes sliced very thinly
The juice of 10-15 limes
The juice of 1 orange
½ cup of ketchup
1 bunch of cilantro chopped very finely
Salt, pepper and oil (sunflower or light olive oil)
Preparation:
Soak the onion slices in salt water for about 10 minutes, rinse well and drain.
Mix all the ingredients together in large bowl and let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour (at least 2 hours).
Serve with chifles (fried green banana or green plantain chips) or patacones (thick fried green plantains).
Other ceviche recipes:
Other recipes:
Thank you so much for posting all of these delicious recipes! I love all the pictures too! They make my tummy hungry! My husband is from Guyaquil, and he has introduced me into Ecuadorian food and I not only love to eat it, but I also like to try to make new things for both of us. Finding this website has been a huge thing for me, and I’m so excited because my husband has been craving ceviche de camaron. I would be very interested in your more complicated but amazingly good recipe for ceviche. Thank you so much again. I love your recipes and wish I could come and eat your cooking.
Thanks for the recipe. I use a similar recipe, but I didn’t know about cooking shrimp in beer or coconut milk. I’ll have to give it a try. In Ecuador I have in some locations been served corn-nuts with the ceviche. They go pretty well together, but patacones are still better.
HI, THANK FOR THE RECIPE. I’M IN BUENO AIRES AND I WANT TO TRY TO MAKE MY FIRST CEVICHE DE CAMARON. THE BAD THING IS THAT MY SHIRIMP IS PRE COOK THE NEX TIME I’M GOING TO TRY COOK IT IN BEER
Hi Layla,
You mention the shrimp can be cooked in beer. Is there a particular beer you recommend we use? Also, is the shrimp cooked only in beer or do we add water as well. (Hopefully this isn’t a dumb question…I’m not much of a cook!)
Thanks for the help!
Sara
Ps. My dad is from Guayaquil. I lived there for about three years and parents are still there.
Hi Sara, any beer that isn’t too dark (avoid Guiness) or too light should be fine, I particularly like to use either a Pilsner type beer or a white beer. I also mix it with water, about half water/half beer. I lived in Guayaquil for about a year, I had some amazing ceviches there!
oh man…..I love this ceviche.
Don’t know why my last comment didn’t show up but I made this last night for Christmas eve dinner and it was delicious! I made it with beer. Thank you for a lovely recipe! I am going to make your mote recipe today.
I love your recipes Laylita!!!! everything is so delicious i just had one question for you, you mention adding half beer and half water to the shrimp so it can cook. How would it work if I was to use coconut milk? Do I use half water half coconut milk also??? what do I do with the liquid when the shrimp is done cooking??? Thank you so much again i love this website!!!
Hi Douglas – You can also use half water / half coconut milk, you can save the broth and use it for a soup, or someone also mentioned that they mix some of the broth with the ketchup and add it to the ceviche – personally I haven’t tried this yet so I don’t know how it will turn out but it sounded interesting.
Hi Laylita,
I think you forgot to mention a secret part of the recipe. In the coast of Ecuador where cebiche originates, we marinate the onion before adding to the cebiche. The way you marinate the onion is as follows: cut the onion in thin slices, let marinate in plenty amount of salt for no less than 1/2 hour or until tender, in this way the bitterness of the onion is released, wash the salted onion thoroughly and discard the water, add lime juice (about 1 small lime/onion). Let marinate in lime juice for about 15 min. Then taste it. It should be slightly salty and sour. Now you can mix the onion(without the lime juices) with the tomato and the cilantro. Doing this in this order will enhance the flavors. Once you add the marinated onion, tomato and cilantro and the other ingredients to the cebiche, the saltiness and sourness will be diluted so do not add salt to the cebiche. Let marinate the cebiche at least a couple of hours in the fridge and then adjust for salt if needed.
You can use this “salsa” made of marinated onion, tomato and cilantro to accompany the so called “mexican tostadas” and shrimp tacos as well.
Also, in Ecuador we call the lime “limon” which is different than the lemon in US. Our limon is small and brigh green. In US most limes are big. It is important not to add lemon instead of lime because lemon is slighly sweet and alter the final flavor of the cebiche.
Saludos,
Rafaela
How much salt & oil should I put
About 3-4 tbs oil, and salt just based on your preference, add some and taste until it is salty enough for you.
Laylita, doesn’t the acid eventually cook the shrimp (if you wanted to do it this way instead of cooking through heat) – do you know how long this takes? I think 2 to 3 hours is ideal.
You can also boil 2 qts. water, throw in a big pinch of salt and the juice of one lime. Then shut off the heat once it reaches a rolling boil and add the shrimp with shells on, waiting about 4 minutes until theyre cooked inside. Then you can chill them over an ice bath and remove the shells.
Chef Rob – Yes, the acid will cook the shrimp, but this is the typical traditional recipe that is used in Ecuador for making shrimp ceviche and in that recipe the shrimp are always boiled and then marinated, instead of cooking them in the lime juice.
I understand. I like knowing a variety of ways to do things like this. Thank you for your recipes. I briefly cooked the shrimp as I described earlier (water, salt, and lime) then mixed it with the mango salsa.
Hi
I just wanted to tell you i made this yummy cevishe recipe and my husband (who is from ecuador ) absolutley LOVED it …..he said it was better than any of the ecuadorian restuarants he ever ate it from so that made me very happy! This recipe was very easy to make and a great hit! Thanks so much for posting these great recipes!
o and if you put some cubed avocado omg it’s DELISH!!!
Laylita you are now my favorite recipe website of all time. Please don’t forget about the more complicated but amazingly good shrimp ceviche recipe you promised to post later.
Hi Joe – Thank you! I will post it soon, waiting for more daylight hours and better weather to get better photos of that recipe.
Hi there I make a similar recipe. I make the salsa the cebolla (onion marinade) first. I make stock from the shrimp shells. When the stock is done I add a little bit of fresh pepper and about 1/4 cup of ketchup (for about 2 lbs of shrimp) and mix. I cook the shrimp let it cool then I combine the onion marinade & shrimp. Then I add about 1/2 cup – 1 cup of the stock (depending on how soupy you like it)to the ceviche mixture. Serve over white rice and add some of the fantastic juice on top! Yummy.
thank you so much for this recipe! it is amazing!
Forgot to mention that a great ceviche is topped with some tabasco sauce. Only true way to eat it!
i just wanted to thank you for this recipe i am a culinary student and i used this for one of my finals and got told it was a fantastic ceviche i changed some things but the base ingredients were the same. so thanks this is a great recipe
This dish should always be served with PATACONES or CHILFLES… which are fried green Plantains. Patacones are a thicker cut.. and Chifles is the thinner kind.. If you search both things in this site you can find them.. I never heard of ceviche with tabasco, instead true Ecuadorians eat it with AJI, which is a hot sauce made with onions, tree tomatoes, and Hot chilli peppers, but never Tabasco, that would ruin the flavor… PEace!!!
I lived in Quito until I was 18 and my family moved back to Canada. Ceviche de camarones is my all time mouth-watering favorite thing to eat. We always ate it with popcorn or sometimes with toasted corn kernels on top. I could eat this every day forever! I am so glad I found your blog!
I love how this is considered a hangover cure. There have been many Saturday mornings I’ve shown up at the ol’ ceviche restaurant during my time in Ecuador. Thanks for this recipe. I think I will make my mom proud when I make it because she has been the one and only ceviche maker in our family!
Great site! I was looking for a recipe for guatita and found your site. I have now browsed the majority of your posts, with more time to log. I was born in Quito and my family moved from the sierra to the coast annually it seems. My grandfather had a sugar cane plantation outside of Santo Domingo de Los Colorados. I’ve been in the states for over 30 years now but still remember the food vividly. I am the chef in my household, and every once in a while I will introduce an Ecuadorian dish to my Gringa and our friends. Never have had a complaint. BTW, I make ceviche for every dinner party or get together per everyone’s request : ) A variation of yours, but then again I have yet to meet two Ecuadorians that make it the same. I just wanted to thank you for taking all the time to preserve these recipes for all expats and fans of our regional cuisine.
Thank you for the excellent ceviche recipe. My father was from Ecuador and my first bite of this took me right back to the playas of Atacames eating freshly made ceviche under a beach hut. Look forward to trying some of your other recipes.
Good morning,
I’m looking at this recipe and it does look really easy…going to try it this weekend! I’d love to get the more difficult recipe as well…are you going to post that soon or is it already posted in another section? Would love to try it!!
Laylita! You Rock! Please don’t make us wait any longer for your “more complicated but amazingly good shrimp ceviche recipe”! If it is any better than this one it will be out of this world! Thanks again for all these great recipes!
This ceviche dish is amazing. Everytime I take it to a party it gets devoured on the spot. Peope have started to ask me to make it at all the gatherings we are invited to. It’s the perfect blend of citrus, tomato, onion and shrimp. I add minced aji peppers for flavor too. Love it!