How to Make Chef John's Garlic Shrimp in a Blanket

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In this video, get ready to impress with Chef John’s Garlic Shrimp in a Blanket—a crispy, golden, flavor-packed appetizer that’s as fun to make as it is to eat! Juicy, garlicky shrimp wrapped in buttery pastry create the perfect bite for parties, date nights, or just treating yourself. This easy yet elegant dish will have everyone asking for more!

Transcript

00:00Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Garlic Shrimp in a Blanket.

00:08That's right, we're making pigs in a blanket with shrimp.

00:12Or piglets of the sea, as nobody calls them.

00:16Or at least yet.

00:17All right, we'll see if that catches on after this video.

00:20But anyway, I thought this was an amazing twist on the party classic, and just about

00:25as easy.

00:26And to get started, we're going to need some peeled and deveined raw shrimp.

00:29All right, this really doesn't work with cooked shrimp.

00:33And of course, we always want to double check that they've actually been deveined.

00:36Which is not a vein, it's a digestive tract.

00:39Which means, well you know what it means.

00:42So make sure you check these are nice and clean.

00:45And then to our shrimp, we will add a fairly ridiculous amount of crushed garlic.

00:49Or of course, as much as you want.

00:52And then we will also add in a little bit of oyster sauce, which I will officially call

00:56optional.

00:57But I think oyster sauce always makes shrimp taste better.

01:00So if you have some, add it in.

01:02And then we'll follow that with a generous spoon of smoked paprika.

01:06Which as you know, I like to call the bacon of spices.

01:09We'll also want a little touch of freshly ground black pepper.

01:13As well as a pinch of salt.

01:15And then in a shocking plot twist, we will not add any cayenne.

01:19But we will add in a few drops of hot sauce.

01:22At which point we can grab a spoon or spatula and give this a thorough mixing.

01:26And as I've already admitted, I used a huge amount of garlic here.

01:29Or you could definitely back that down if you wanted something a little more subtle.

01:33I mean you are after all the Russell Crowe, of your garlic shrimp wrapped in dough.

01:37Oh and speaking of ancient Rome, I heard the first labor strike in history happened when

01:42Roman workers were denied garlic.

01:44Oh yeah, fun fact.

01:47But anyway, once that's mixed, we will wrap it up and pop it in the fridge.

01:51For I would say a minimum of an hour.

01:53And yes you can if you have to use it right away.

01:56But I do think it's better for marinades a little bit before we wrap it in pastry.

02:01And speaking of pastry, once we are ready, we're going to take a tube of ready to bake

02:05crescent roll dough.

02:07And we'll peel off the paper and then twist it open.

02:10Although I remember my mom always opened this by banging it on the edge of the counter.

02:14Which is probably more fun.

02:16And what we usually do is unroll this and start pulling off those perforated triangles

02:20of dough.

02:22But not this time.

02:24What we're going to do is kind of press that down a little bit and then cut it in half.

02:28Although we really should flour our surface and the top of this a little bit first.

02:31Alright, using just enough so it doesn't stick.

02:35And what we'll do once floured is cut this in half.

02:38And then we'll attempt to roll each of these halves into a rectangle that's about an eighth

02:42of an inch thick.

02:44And ideally about five inches wide by nine or so inches long.

02:48Alright, give or take.

02:49Where a shrimp and a blanket are not an exact science.

02:53And then once we get that close with our rolling pin, we can fine tune it with our fingers.

02:58At which point we'll grab our pizza cutter and we'll divide that in half.

03:02And then we'll divide each half into three strips for a total of six.

03:07And once we do both halves of the dough, we're going to have 12 strips total.

03:11Which is perfect because I'm doing 12 shrimp.

03:13Okay, it's just me and Michelle here.

03:16Now for a larger party, you can easily scale this up.

03:20And then to assemble these, we will take one strip and lay it down.

03:24And by the way, do not stretch the dough like I just did.

03:26Alright, that was a reflex and I quickly regretted it.

03:30Alright, for this, wider is better than longer.

03:33And no, you can't have both.

03:35But anyway, we'll place one of our marinated shrimps down in the middle, along with a generous

03:39amount of that crushed garlic and all the other attached goodness.

03:44And we'll fold over one end to trap everything in, and then fold the other end over.

03:49And as long as that's wrapped fairly tight, and we end up somehow with a seam on the bottom,

03:53we've performed this step successfully.

03:56Although if I'm being super picky, I'm not crazy about that exposed overlap.

04:01But anyway, the first one is the worst one.

04:03And once completed, we will place those on a Silpat lined baking sheet.

04:07And by the way, if you don't have Silpat, you can also use parchment paper.

04:11And if you're wondering if the slightly rounded end pieces are going to be harder to wrap,

04:15the answer is no.

04:17We'll place our shrimp in the middle, plus as much of that garlic mixture as we want.

04:21And then we'll go ahead and wrap that up as shown, again making sure we end up with a

04:26seam on the bottom.

04:28So I went ahead and did that to the rest of my shrimp, for a total of 12.

04:32And then once we have those evenly spaced on our sheet pan, I think we should give them

04:36a little brush with an egg wash, since I want to stick some sesame seeds on these before

04:40we bake them.

04:41And I know eggs are incredibly expensive these days.

04:44So after you brush these, make sure you cook that egg and make yourself a little sandwich

04:49and have a nice little chef snack.

04:51And if times are tough and you don't have the egg, you can just use a little bit of

04:54milk or even a little bit of water to do the same thing.

04:58But an egg wash is always going to give us the best color.

05:01And that's it.

05:02We'll go ahead and generously sprinkle these with sesame seeds, which is going to make

05:06these look even more gorgeous.

05:08And just flavor-wise, it's a perfect pairing with the other ingredients.

05:12And that's it.

05:13Once the tops have been seated, they're ready to transfer into the center of a 400 degree

05:18oven for about 20 minutes, or until they're beautifully browned and hopefully look like

05:23this.

05:24Oh yeah, now those look like something we want to eat.

05:28And if everything's gone according to plan, the bottom should be beautifully browned as

05:31well.

05:32And because of the insulation of the pastry, you don't really have to worry about the shrimp

05:36overcooking.

05:37So I would always err on the side of a minute too long in the oven versus pulling them out

05:41a minute too early.

05:43And that's it.

05:44We can go ahead and serve these up nice and hot, or warm, or at room temp.

05:48They are delicious in all three states.

05:51And while these are amazing on their own, I did whip up a quick mustard mayo sauce,

05:55since that's how I almost always serve my pigs in a blanket.

05:59And yes, I'll give you the ingredients for that in the written recipe.

06:02There was only three of them, I think.

06:04And that's it.

06:05After taking a few pictures, I went in for the official taste, and I used a little dainty

06:09spoon to transfer on some sauce.

06:12And that, my friends, if you're a fan of garlic shrimp and or garlic bread, is just gonna

06:16blow your mind.

06:18Okay, these have a huge garlic flavor, which is not surprising based on how much we added.

06:24But at least for me, it was definitely not too much.

06:27And unless you're gonna end your party with a game of spin the bottle, I think it was

06:30a fine amount.

06:31And I'm not sure if it's luck, or the universe rewarding us for putting such delicious things

06:36together, but by the time our dough is cooked to golden brown crispy perfection, our beautiful

06:41little piglet of the sea is also cooked perfectly.

06:45So we got that going for us.

06:47Which is nice.

06:48Oh, and by the way, some advice for you young recipe video producers.

06:54Never try to switch hands with buttery fingers, because that's what's gonna happen.

07:00But anyway, that's it, where we're calling garlic shrimp in a blanket.

07:04There's a reason pigs in a blanket are a party classic, and I'm always up for eating a few

07:08of those.

07:10But this was an extremely delicious, pork-free alternative, that I have to say, I think I

07:15might like even better.

07:16And whether you end up serving these at a party, or just throw some next to a nice big

07:21salad for a beautiful weeknight dinner, these beautiful bites are gonna get rave reviews.

07:27Which is why I really do hope you give them a try soon.

07:31So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much

07:36more info as usual.

07:38And as always, enjoy!

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