I love beer-battered fish tacos and I love shrimp tacos, but I don’t like frying stuff in oil. So these air fryer shrimp tacos were born! The last thing I want to do after making and eating dinner is trying to dispose of the vat of oil from frying, so when I got my Cosori air fryer I was ready to (mostly) say goodbye to the traditional way of frying.
I wanted to know if it was possible to use a beer batter method in the air fryer. You’re not supposed to use wet batters in the air fryer, but I don’t always like to follow the rules.
When I was brainstorming how to achieve this I knew I would need to have something covering the wet batter. What I decided on was using the beer batter and then rolling the shrimp in a combination of regular, plain breadcrumbs and panko breadcrumbs. Panko provides that ultra crispiness, but by itself, it doesn’t always have the best coverage. So the addition of the plain breadcrumbs gives the shrimp full coverage so no wet batter drips into the basket while frying.
It all came together relatively quickly and these air fryer shrimp tacos were the bomb.
Air Fryer Shrimp Tacos Ingredients
Without the need for multiple cups of oil, this recipe is actually fairly easy.
- Shrimp: I used regular peeled and deveined shrimp since I couldn’t get any jumbo shrimp. I’m sure this would be awesome with jumbo shrimp though. I got 1 pound and it equated it 27 individual shrimps. Each taco can fit 2 large or 3 small shrimp each.
- Beer: You could use just about any beer, but steer clear of ones with lots of flavors, like chocolate (ew anyway), fruity beers or stouts. I used a wheat beer, but any lager would get the job done.
- Flour: I just used regular all-purpose flour.
- Breadcrumbs: To get the right amount of breadcrumb coverage I used half plain breadcrumbs and half panko. If you only have one and want to make these, I’m sure it will turn out fine, but the combination really gives it the right coating.
- Seasoning: Salt, pepper and garlic powder make an appearance in this recipe, which just makes it taste that much better.
How to Make Air Fryer Shrimp Tacos
There are just a few steps to making these delicious tacos.
1. Mix the breadcrumbs and salt and then mix the flour with the salt and garlic powder. Only add the beer when you’re ready to start dipping. You’ll want the beer to be cold because cold beer holds CO2 (the bubbles) better than warm beer and that’s what makes the batter do its magic. 
2. Make sure to remove the tails from your shrimp before you get started.
3. Mix up your beer and flour. It should be about the consistency of pancake batter.
4. Dip the shrimp into the beer batter and then let it drip for a few seconds to remove the excess, then dredge in the breadcrumbs. Give it a shake and add it to the air fryer basket. My air fryer held 9 shrimp at a time.
5. Make sure to spray the shrimp with an oil. I like using avocado oil since it’s fairly neutral. You’ll probably need more than you think you do so just spray until you can see a coating of oil on top of the shrimp.
6. Bake in the air fryer for 9 minutes. Make sure to keep the beer mixture refrigerated between your batches to ensure the beer doesn’t go warm.
To Prehead or to Not Preheat
A big debate in the air fryer world is whether to preheat the air fryer or not. I usually don’t, but for this recipe, I did one batch not preheated and one batch preheated. They both needed 9 minutes, so I wouldn’t bother.
What to Serve with the Tacos
Avocado Sauce
Mexican Cabbage Slaw
Both of these are perfect additions for these tacos and you definitely can’t go wrong.
Did you make this recipe? Make sure to post it to Instagram and tag me!
You May Also Like
- Vegetarian Mexican Stuffed Peppers
- Roasted Poblano and Black Bean Enchiladas
- Teriyaki Salmon in the Air Fryer
Air Fryer Shrimp Tacos
Equipment
- Air Fryer
Ingredients
Shrimp
- 1 pound shrimp I used regular size (not jumbo)
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup beer, plus 2 tablespoons
- 1/2 cup regular, plain breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 teaspoon salt for beer mixture
- 1/2 teaspoon salt for breadcrumb mixture
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder for beer mixture
- 10 taco-sized tortillas
Avocado Sauce
- See link above
Mexican Cabbage Slaw
- See link above
Instructions
- First, remove the tails from all of your shrimp.
- Mix the two types of breadcrumbs with the salt.
- Mix the flour, salt and garlic powder. Then add your cold beer.
- Dip each shrimp into the batter and then let it drip for a few seconds before coating in breadcrumbs and then adding it to the air fryer basket. *
- Coat all the shrimp in oil. I like to use avocado oil. Then turn on your air fryer at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 9 minutes. No need to turn them halfway through.
- Then assemble! I like to put the avocado sauce on the bottom and the cabbbage slaw on top.