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How to Peel and Devein Shrimp Video Tutorial

A shrimp size chart

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I used to pronounce Devein as “Devin”; and I was always  like, who’s Devin? I felt really smart when I learned it was pronounced “De-Vein” as in taking out the vein. #Genius over here. Peeling and deveining shrimp is quick and easy with these tips. I’m sharing two methods in this video. You’ll be a pro in no time!

Also, feel free to pin the handy dandy Shrimp size chart in this post. It’s a great reference for recipes. The shrimp I’m working with in the video are JUMBO and super meaty. They kind of taste like little lobster tails. Stay tuned for some more great shrimp recipes over the weekend!

Watch How To Peel and Devein Shrimp:

Shrimp Size Chart @NatashasKitchen

Deveining your larger shrimp is especially important because the vein can be gritty. I hope all this talk about shrimp digestive tracts hasn’t ruined shrimp for you forever. I’m also a nurse and we nurses could be eating snickers while we talk about,.. never mind.

If you’re a shrimp super fan, I strongly recommend you get an OXO shrimp cleaner (which I wasn’t paid to say). OXO sent me this little doodad as part of their “Shrimp showdown” project (more on that this weekend) and I loved it enough to make a video about it (which I was not paid to do). I appreciate time saving doodads. You’ll never mind cleaning shrimp again. If it’s a one-motion deal, is it really “peeling and deveining” anymore? Maybe we can just call it “peevening,”  or not. It’s also safer than a blade, so if you can’t be trusted with a knife, this is for you. You can find the OXO shrimp cleaner on Amazon for a whopping $6.99.

Thanks for watching and I hope you enjoyed this video. Thank you in advance for sharing it with your friends and fam. 🙂
Love, Natasha

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Natasha Kravchuk

Welcome to my kitchen! I am Natasha, the blogger behind Natasha's Kitchen (since 2009). My husband and I run this blog together and share only our best, family approved and tested recipes with YOU. Thanks for stopping by! We are so happy you're here.

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Read comments/reviewsAdd comment/review

  • Susanne McIntyre
    December 13, 2020

    Why do you say to “keep the shells” of shrimp after peeling? I searched the recipe post for an answer to that comment, but didn’t see an explanation.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      December 14, 2020

      Hi Susanne, I use the shells to boil shrimp if I am making boiled shrimp.

      Reply

    • Carol Briers
      March 5, 2023

      Susanne, I save the shrimp shells, lobster shells (if I am ever that lucky), and crab shells to make an amazing seafood stock for my seafood gumbo.

      Reply

  • Tamara Hawkes
    February 18, 2020

    Mine came out bad shape and staying together.. what did I do wrong? I did same as you were doing on video everything was fine until I tried cooking..

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      February 18, 2020

      Hi Tamara, It’s hard to say without being there but I’m more than happy to troubleshoot. Do you feel you hard trouble with the deveining?

      Reply

  • Marie
    February 9, 2020

    I don’t know how old this post is, but the shrimp cleaner gadget that you said is 6.99 on amazon, is actually 24.99 on amazon.ca, which would be about 19.00 US. Still looks like a good gadget though!

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      February 10, 2020

      This is post was way back 2014 but wow it has gotten so expensive!

      Reply

    • Randy Francisco
      December 26, 2021

      You can also use a fish fillet knife. Works well. Pretty cheap at variety stores.

      Reply

  • Janet
    March 5, 2019

    Making your shrimp dish tonight so I looked at your video on how to clean shrimp. It’s too late for the new doodad but I will be buying for next time.

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      March 5, 2019

      It saves so much time! You will love it!

      Reply

  • Nzinga
    August 26, 2018

    Your video is the best at showing the proper way of using the OXO Shrimp Cleaner. I wonder why OXO doesn’t have a video for doing this, so I searched and came across yours. Thanks!

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      August 26, 2018

      Thank you so much for watching, Nzinga! 🙂

      Reply

  • Olviya@servingsisters.com
    April 17, 2014

    I always pronounce words wrong…the English language is a bit strange with all of it’s rules and exceptions. 🙂 I think I used to say ‘devine’ instead of ‘devein’…tomato, tamato 🙂

    Thanks for the great video. I’ll have to pick one of those shrimp cleaners up…they look so easy/fun to use.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      April 17, 2014

      They are so handy! It’s a great tool for shrimp lovers for sure! 🙂

      Reply

  • veronika
    March 20, 2014

    wow, i didn’t know about the digestive tract thing, I guess I was eating it, thanks for sharing, I would like more videos though

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      March 20, 2014

      Yeah, I’ve learned that lesson the hard way too. lol. I know, I’m way behind on videos. I’ve been kicking myself over it, but not literally,… can’t reach. lol. I just had coffee and I’m laughing at my own jokes. It’s going to be a good day 😉

      Reply

  • Oksana
    March 20, 2014

    Great video. I surely thought there would be a shrimp recipe to go along with the video! :)) Good job. You’re definitely a natural.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      March 20, 2014

      Thanks Oksana! I’ll post 2 shrimp recipes before the weekend is over 🙂

      Reply

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