Ceviche is so fresh and loaded with shrimp, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, cilantro, and avocados, all marinated in fresh lime juice. For this Mexican Shrimp Cocktail, you can use raw shrimp or cooked shrimp meat (if you want to cut the prep time way down). Watch the video, and you’ll see why I love this authentic ceviche so much!
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Helpful Reader Review
“AWESOME Recipe ! I have made Ceviche hundreds of times and Never Once used Clamato ! I Definitely WILL from now on! Thank You Natasha” – Patrick ★★★★★
What is Ceviche?
Ceviche is an appetizer my husband and I have probably made a hundred times, and it’s among my favorite appetizers, right up there with Cowboy Caviar and the wildly popular Guacamole.
We got this authentic Mexican ceviche recipe from one of our readers, Blanca Villasenor. The secret ingredient for the best ceviche is Clamato juice, which melds the flavors together and makes it one of the freshest and most satisfying appetizers you will try. Thank you so much, Blanca, for generously sharing your traditional family recipe with us!
Ceviche has many names including cebiche, seviche, or sebiche. The origin is debated, but it is thought to have its roots in Peru. Ceviche is a seafood cocktail and traditionally uses fresh fish that is marinated or “cooked” in a large amount of citrus juice.
Ceviche Video Tutorial
Watch me make this easy and classic Restaurant-style Ceviche. I have loved this recipe for years and have been fine-tuning it over the years. Also, it’s a true story that my husband and I can polish off the entire batch in one evening in lieu of dinner!
Ingredients for Shrimp Ceviche
- Shrimp – you can chop up raw shrimp and let it cook in the lime juice or use cooked shrimp meat, which I do all the time because it’s easier and faster (more on that below).
- Limes – get the larger limes since they produce more juice. You need about 6 limes or enough lime juice to cover the shrimp, especially if you are using raw shrimp.
- Veggies – We like to bulk up the ceviche with tomatoes, cucumber, and Avocado. I love the slight creaminess that that avocado adds to the sauce. It’s so satisfying!
- Aromatics – Onions and fresh cilantro add a crisp freshness to the ceviche.
- To Make it Spicy– We add seeded and minced jalapeno peppers and serve it with hot sauce – my favorite hot sauce brands for Ceviche are Tapatio, Cholula and Tabasco. Also if you’re adding hot sauce, there’s no need for salt.
- Clamato – this tomato cocktail juice is Blanca’s recommendation to make the marinade a little richer in texture and flavor. Lately we’ve been using the spicy variety for even more depth of flavor.
Can I Use Cooked Shrimp?
Traditionally, ceviche is made using raw shrimp, which is cooked in lime juice. I don’t like to wait for that process to happen, and I don’t like to wonder if it’s really done, so I use cooked shrimp meat. It’s so much easier! If you are starting with raw shrimp and you want to pre-cook it before adding it to Ceviche, see our Boiled Shrimp Recipe.
How to Make Ceviche
- Rinse the shrimp under cold running water and thoroughly squeeze or pat dry with paper towels to remove excess moisture so your cocktail isn’t watered down. Do this with raw or cooked shrimp.
- Marinate Shrimp – Put chopped shrimp in a large bowl and stir in 1 cup of fresh lime juice (this citrus squeezer is my favorite). Refrigerate and marinate (1 1/2 to 2 hours for raw shrimp and 15 minutes for cooked shrimp). If using raw shrimp, I like to stir a couple of times while marinating to make sure it’s well coated and it’s ready when it’s opaque and no longer transparent.
- Dice remaining vegetables– cucumber, avocado, tomato, onion, jalapeno, and cilantro.
- Combine and Serve – Once the shrimp are done marinating, toss in the diced vegetables and Clamato juice and gently stir to combine.
Natasha’s Speedy Tip:
The fastest way to make Ceviche is to dice everything up using a food chopper. My husband uses it to get everything chopped up in less than 5 minutes. After many years of making ceviche, it’s all about efficiency!
Variations for Ceviche
There are so many ways to make this, and it varies by region (i.e., Peruvian versus Mexican Ceviche). The biggest differences are in the types of seafood used.
- Fish Ceviche – instead of shrimp, you can try fresh white fish diced into small pieces. Some options include halibut, sea bass, snapper, or mahi mahi. Scallops are also a popular option. Always use the freshest fish, keep it on ice in the refrigerator, and make ceviche the day you purchase it.
- Raw Shrimp – If using raw shrimp, it should be super fresh and purchased from a trusted source and enjoy the ceviche the first day it is made.
- Cooked Shrimp – I’ll be the first to admit that I love using cooked shrimp meat for ceviche. With a 15-minute marinating time, it’s a no-brainer for me. I also love that shrimp meat is often wild-caught and typically comes at a lower price tag than whole shrimp, plus there is zero peeling or deveining required. Sign me up!
How to Serve Ceviche?
Ceviche is meant to be served as an appetizer with either tortilla chips or over tostadas. You can also serve it over mini lettuce cups for a low-carb version, or for a fancy presentation, spoon it over avocado halves.
Helpful Reader Review
I love this recipe. A helpful tip I’ve learned is to mash avocado and spread on the tostada shell and then spoon on the ceviche. It helps to hold it on when you are eating.” – Glenda ★★★★★
Is Ceviche Safe to Eat?
If you’re new to ceviche, you may be wondering – is ceviche still raw? Marinating shrimp in fresh lime juice essentially cooks the shrimp due to the high acidity of lime juice. Here’s more info on how ceviche works.
Personally, I prefer to use cooked shrimp salad meat, which you don’t have to dice; it saves marinating time, and it’s in line with USDA guidelines (plus, it will taste just as good).
Make Ahead and Storage
We usually polish off our ceviche the day it’s made, but on the rare chance we have leftovers, they do keep really well.
Refrigerate leftovers right away. Refrigerate for up to 1 day if you used raw seafood and refrigerate for up to 2 days if you used cooked shrimp.
I am always so giddy when my husband surprises me with a fresh batch of shrimp Ceviche – it’s just mouthwatering good I hope this becomes a new favorite for you! Let me know if you make your salsa differently. Do you use cooked or fresh shrimp or another type of seafood?
Ceviche Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb medium shrimp, (raw or cooked*), thawed, peeled, deveined, and diced
- 1 cup lime juice, from 6 limes
- 1 cucumber, peeled and diced
- 2 avocados
- 3 roma tomatoes, diced
- 1 red onion, diced
- 1/4 bunch cilantro, chopped
- 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
- 1 cup Clamato juice, (use "picante" version for spicier salsa)
Options To Serve:
- 16 Tostadas , (or tortilla chips)
- Hot Sauce, (Tabasco or Cholula)
Instructions
- Prep the Shrimp: Rinse the thawed shrimp under cold running water and thoroughly squeeze or pat dry with paper towels to remove excess moisture so your cocktail isn't watered down. Do this with raw or cooked shrimp.
- Marinate Shrimp: Dice shrimp if large and place it into a large glass (non-reactive) bowl. Use a citrus squeezer to get 1 to 1 1/4 cups lime juice from 6 limes over shrimp. Stir to combine then cover and marinate in the refrigerator (marinate 1 1/2 to 2 hours for raw shrimp or until no longer translucent and marinate 15 minutes for cooked shrimp), stirring halfway through.
- Chop the vegetables: cucumber, avocado, tomatoes, red onion, jalapeno, and cilantro. A food chopper will make this process much faster.
- Combine: When shrimp are done marinating, add vegetables to the bowl along with clamato juice and stir to combine. Serve with hot sauce if desired along with tortilla chips or over tostadas.
Notes
*Nutrition label only calculates the ceviche and not tostadas or tortilla chips for serving.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
More Shrimp Appetizers
Can you tell we love Shrimp Recipes by now? These are some of our top-rated Shrimp Appetizers that we make on repeat:
- Shrimp Cocktail with the Best Sauce
- Shrimp Spring Rolls
- Coconut Shrimp
- Shrimp Cakes with Lemon Aioli
- Avocado Shrimp Cucumber Bites
- Stuffed Shrimp
- Hot Shrimp Dip
can I store this in the fridge? If so how long?
THANKS FOR THIS AWESOME RECIPE!
Hi Geneva! You’re welcome! This recipe is best fresh!
I make a big batch and eat it for 3 days. I also add scallops. Omitting the Clamato. Better fresh but still really good the next day.
Is there a replacement for Clamato juice? I only see the one brand that has MSG in it. Recipe looks like it would be delicious!
Hi Lisa, if we don’t have it on hand, we have often left out the clamato juice and just used lime juice and served with hot sauce (Tabasco is our favorite for ceviche).
I want to make your ceviche but we don’t get clamato juice in our shops. What can I use instead?
Hi Maryke, if we don’t have it on hand, we have often left out the clamato juice and just used lime juice and served with hot sauce (Tabasco is our favorite for ceviche).
Tomato juice is just as good. I’ve done it this way several times.
That’s great to know, thank you!
I made this Ceviche but it turned out to have way too much liquid although the flavor was great. Should I have drained some of the lime juice?
Hi Gwen, you can certainly drain some of the liquid.
We made it last night according to recipe and it was very wet. We poured off at least half and it was still too wet.
If there is a lot of liquid pour it out and put it in a glass with some vodka. Excellent summer drink.
Have made this several times. I always drain some of the liquid.
heyy I recommend you to do a Peruvian ceviche recipe and I hope you could put Mexican ceviche as title because you can confuse 🙁
Hi Ari, thanks for your suggestion.
Hm this isn’t ceviche, is more like a salad. Real ceviche is peruvian and doesn’t contain tomatoes or cucumber. The peruvian ceviche is fish, lemon, salt, pepper, cilantro, onion and you can put sweet potato and corn as an extra. Natasha, I hope you put a real ceviche recipe or edit the title as “mexican styled ceviche” bc this isn’t the original. PD: a guy in the comments put that in Peru we “cook” the fish 2 minutes and no… is a little more, you don’t want to get a bacteria lol! Maybe 15 minutes if you cut the fish in medium pieces
Do you have a go to recipe for mediterranean cold lentil salad?
Hi Kelly, I don’t have a recipe for that yet but thanks for the idea and suggestion. I’ll try to add that to our list.
It came out quite acidic….I only used 5 limes!
Hi Ana, that is expected with ceviche. You need enough lime juice to cover the shrimp usually, but if you have larger very juicy limes, you can get away with using less.
This is almost identical to how I’ve been making Mexican ceviche for years except that I skip the Clamato and add hot sauce and a splash of Worcestershire to the lime juice. Every time I serve it at parties, it is gone in no time! For parties, I usually use the pre-cooked rock shrimp as it is more affordable and it seems to hold longer. I will also make a Peruvian style ceviche for just our immediate family but that one has Hominy and sweet potato in it and no tomato or cucumber. It is very different but still delicious.
Thanks for sharing that with us, Nancy! Good to know that you also use a similar recipe to this one.
The best ceviche is from Peru to me it’s not ceviche but turns to a salad when you add tomatoes and cucumbers and avocado
Thank you so much for sharing that with me. I hope you give our recipe a try!
We don’t like avocado. Any suggestions for a substitute?
Hi Laurie, you could still make this without avocado and just add a little more of everything else.
What are the best corn tortillas to toast? This recipe sounds fabulous and I can’t wait to try it for guests next week!
Hi Elaine, we enjoy the yellow corn tortillas. See how we toasted them to make tostadas.
As a keen follower of Natasha, I truly look forward to and enjoy her presentations, I’m happy and love them😛
I’m glad you’re enjoying my recipes!
Is there anything else besides Clamato juice to put in the Seviche?
Hi, we have often left out the clamato juice and just used lime juice and served with hot sauce (Tabasco is our favorite for ceviche).
(non-metamixing bowl.
great recipe!
Editing not so much!
This is a great recipe! I love ceviche made with Argentinan shrimp and scallops so I modified it a tad. Rather than adding avocado to the veggie mix, I added it on top of the ceviche and an air fried tostada with a smear of mayo. Yum yum for Cinco de Mayo!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
Thank you for your recipes,
I made the shrimp ceviche, it was delicious, my neighbors couldn’t enough, it was Fantastic!
Isn’t it the best! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe, Richie!
We are having this tonight. Can’t wait to get the family’s review. We have a restaurant in town with circus on the menu. We hope it is that good!
I hope you love this recipe, Janet!
It should be noted that the lime juice should be drained prior to mixing with the veggies. But don’t rinse the shrimp.
For the authentic mexican way of making ceviche you actually don’t empty out the lime juice.
Omg! Love this recipe 🙂
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review!