Asopao de Camarones is a comfort food dish that reigns supreme especially in the winter time. It’s hearty and full of flavors that melt in your mouth. This is also a ridiculously economical dish that will feed a village! In fact, one cup of rice will feed about 6 to 8 people. My favorite part, is that you can always add more water and create more soup instantly. Keep in mind that there’s a million and one ways to making this dish. Today, I’m sharing my version. Happy eating y buen provecho!
For full step-by-step video on How to Make Asopao de Camarones visit my YouTube Channel: Made To Order
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs Shrimp
- 1 tsp Adobo (for Shrimp)
- ¼ tsp Black Pepper (for Shrimp)
- 1 Sour Orange or Lime (for Shrimp)
- ½ Small Red Onion
- ½ Small White Onion
- ¼ Cubanelle pepper
- 3 Ajicitios
- 5 Garlic Cloves
- 1 ½ tbs Sopita/Chicken Bouillon Cube
- ½ tsp Oregano
- ¼ tsp Black Pepper
- 1 tbs Sazon
- 3 tbs Tomato Paste or Sauce
- 2 cups Water
- ¼ cup Recao
- 1 Large Carrot Diced
- ¼ cup Peas
- ¼ Auyama/Kabocha Squash *optional
- 1 cup White Rice
- 5 cups Hot Shrimp Stock or Boiling Water
- 1 ½ - 2lbs Raw Large Shrimp
- Shrimp Shells for Shrimp Stock
- Oil
Instructions
- Peel shrimp and set shells aside
- Season shrimp with adobo, black pepper, and sour orange or limes. Set aside.
- Dice onions, peppers, and garlic. Set aside.
- In a medium to large saucepan, add shrimp shells add 5 cups of water to shrimp shells and begin to boil
- In a separate large pot, heat up olive and add onion, peppers, and garlic. Saute until translucent
- Add black pepper, orégano, chicken bouillon cube, sazón and tomato paste. Mix until it creates a paste.
- Add 2 cups of water
- Once water begins to simmer, add carrots, peas, and recao (cilantro/culantro)
- Once that simmers as well, add in 1 cup of rice & stir
- Add auyama (kabocha squash) *optional & stir
- When the rice & water dry up, add hot shrimp stock & stir. Be sure to turn down the flame of the asopao so that you don’t burn the rice.
- Cook soupy rice for 20-30 mins until the rice is fully cooked. Feel free to keep adding water to shrimp shells to create more stock for soup. It’s important that you add hot water to the asopao. If the asopao thickens before it’s cooked, add more shrimp stock/boiling water
- Once the rice is cooked and asopao is nice and soupy, add shrimp along with its seasonings. Stir and cook for 5 minutes or until shrimp has turned orangey-pink
Notes
When making asopao, always make sure to add hot or boiling water. If you're not a fan of shrimp stock or if you're using shrimp that came without the shells, simply use plain boiling water. If you're using shrimp shells, boil water, vinegar, and cinnamon sticks in a separate pot to kill shrimp/seafood smell in kitchen. If you want to stretch out soup to feed more people, simply add more water. Enjoy asopao with tostones, avocado, lime juice, and hot sauce. Buen provecho!
