If you love shrimp recipes, these shrimp cakes are for YOU! They are juicy, tender and so flavorful. These shrimp fritters always disappear fast! P.S. DO NOT skip the lemon aioli sauce.

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
This is a surprising way to use shrimp but it’s also the best way to make a pound of shrimp go a long way. Biting into juicy shrimp, fritter style, is a real treat. The cheese creates an irresistible cheese pull inside and forms a golden crust on the outside. Watch the Video tutorial and you will just know; these are GOOD!

Shrimp Calories / Shrimp Nutrition:
- Purchase wild-caught shrimp whenever possible.
- Avoid “Farm Raised Shrimp” or anything marked “Farmed,” especially coming from overseas where they may be produced in unsafe or unhealthy conditions and could lead to health problems.
- There are about 99 calories in 100 grams of cooked shrimp.
How to Devein Shrimp:
Deveining larger sized shrimp is especially important. Check out our video tutorial on how to peel and devein shrimp. You can use a small pairing knife or a deveining tool like this one from OXO.
Ingredients for Shrimp Cakes Recipe:
The ingredients here are so simple and come together quickly for an easy appetizer or side with dinner or lunch. Combining raw diced shrimp with a batter creates an irresistibly good shrimp fritter. I hesitate to call them ‘fritters’ because fritters are often deep fried but you don’t need much oil at all in this recipe. I usually use 1 to 2 Tbsp for the entire batch. Seriously though, don’t skip the lemon aioli sauce – it is everything with these shrimp cakes; dunk after dunk.


Watch How to Make Sauteed Shrimp Patties:
Watch Natasha make these cheesy shrimp cakes. You will be surprised by how easy this recipe is! If you haven’t already, to our and click the bell icon so you’ll be the first to know when we post a new video.
Cook’s Tips: Here are our favorite measuring spoons that I bragged about in the video. Also, a trigger release ice cream scoop makes it so easy to portion and and sauté these while keeping your hands clean. Also, a non-stick pan works best to keep the patties from falling apart while cooking.

Easy Shrimp Recipes to Explore:
- Coconut Shrimp with a ridiculously good 2-ingredient dip
- Shrimp Cucumber Bites – so easy and good. They fly off the plate!
- Shrimp Ceviche Salsa – we are obsessed with this shrimp salsa
- Creamy Shrimp Pasta (with our favorite Alfredo sauce!)
Print-Friendly Sauteed Shrimp Cakes Recipe:
Shrimp Cakes with Lemon Aioli (VIDEO)

Ingredients
For the Shrimp Cakes/ Fritters:
- 1 lb large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 4 oz mozzarella cheese, (1 1/2 cups shredded)
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 2 Tbsp parsley, finely chopped, plus more to garnish
- 1/2 tsp sea salt, or to taste
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, or gluten free flour
- 2 Tbsp light olive oil, or high heat cooking oil of choice
For the Lemon Aioli Sauce:
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 garlic clove, pressed or finely minced
Instructions
How to Make Shrimp Cakes:
- Pat dry shrimp with paper towels then dice into pea-sized pieces.*
- Transfer chopped shrimp to a large mixing bowl. Add 4 oz shredded mozzarella, 1 egg, 1/4 cup mayo, 2 Tbsp parsley, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp black pepper. Stir together then add 1/4 cup flour and mix until batter is creamy and well combined.
- Heat a large non-stick pan over medium heat and add 1 Tbsp olive oil. Add 1 heaping Tablespoon at a time (or a level ice cream scoop) and flatten out the tops of your fritters as you go so they are about 1/2" thick patties. Saute about 3 minutes per side or until golden brown on the edges and cooked through.
How to Make Lemon Aioli Sauce:
- In a small bowl, add mayo and stir to remove any lumps. Add 1 tsp lemon zest, 2 Tbsp lemon juice and pressed garlic clove and stir to combine.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen

Would YOU try these sauteed shrimp fritters? We think you will be impressed 😉



Made these tonight and they were delicious! A keeper for sure!
Hi Debbie! That’s so great! Thank you for the great feedback!
Tweaked this a bit to allow for low carb. Coconut and almond flour worked well. They were delicious.
I’m so happy you enjoyed this soup, Donna! I love that you were able to make it low carb!
I can’t have shell fish, but salmon works well, too. Many thanks for your work to promote fish in the diet!!
You’re so welcome John! I’m so happy you enjoyed these!
Holy Moly! These were amazing! I will definitely be making these again. And sharing the recipe with my boss, the chef.
That’s so awesome! Thank you so much for the great review and sharing our blog with others, Melissa!!
I have made these DELICIOUS Shrimp cakes several times and they are always a big hit. The garlic-lemon aioli is so good and can be used on more than just these shrimp cakes. I am thinking of using lump crab in place of the shrimp to see how it turns out. Mine crab cakes. Also on top of the aioli, I sprinkle smoked paprika and I think it’s a great, but subtle addition. Thanks for this recipe!
You’re so welcome, Dave! I’m so happy you enjoyed these. Yes crab should work just fine, several of our readers have reported great results.
can you substitute sour cream for the mayo in the shrimp cake recipe
Hi Marina, I haven’t tried substituting but some of my readers have. They used sour cream and even avocado instead.
Could you substitute canned crab meat for the shrimp? If so, how much
Hi Julie! Our readers have reported great results using crab meat! I have asked for more information hopefully they will update us as I have tried this myself. If you experiment I would love to hear how you liked that!
Hi Natasha
Made these tonight and they were tasty. We didn’t have parsley so I used greens onions
Thank you for the great review, Neal! I’m so happy you enjoyed that!
Forgot to mention that I added a 1/2 tsp of Old Bay seasoning and a pinch of cayenne
That sounds amazing!
Cooked these on the BBQ. Outstanding!!
That sounds amazing! Thank you for sharing that with us, Martin
258 calories per serving?
How do you compute the calorie per serving
Hi Lolita. We use this nutrition analyzer – you can plug in the ingredients from any recipe, select the serving size and it will give you nutritional info, calories, etc. I hope that is helpful to you
What a great recipe. Thank you so much for sharing. I made as is, and was a great hit!!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
We are making these shrimp cakes tonight for dinner. Just wondering what would be good sides for these? Was thinking about grits and maybe green beans.
That sounds like a great combinations Karen! Many of our readers have served this with a nice salad! Enjoy
They were DELICIOUS! I had some Salmon left over from the night before so I added the salmon with the shrimp and it was a hit! My very picky 11 year old ate and loved them….
That’s so great Nancy! Don’t you love it when kids eat what we moms make? Thank you for the amazing review!
Is there a mayonnaise substitute such as sour cream that would work?
Hi Heath, here is what one of our readers says in regards to omitting the mayonnaise. “My sister-in-law has to watch her sodium intake, so I changed a few things. Instead of mayonnaise I used Greek yogurt and for salt I used Mrs. Dash. I will definitely be making these again.” Hope this helps!
Looks so yummy! Making these tonight! LOVE YOUR VIDEOS!!!
Aww! Thank you Debra! You’re so nice!
Could I used lump crab in place of the shrimp?
Hi Lee, I haven’t tried it with crab meat but some of our readers have and liked it!
Thank you. I am going to give it a go tonight with the crab so I’ll let you know how they turn out.
I look forward to it Lee.
My word, these fritters made with the crab were awesome!!! I used very little olive oil to fry them in and they were fabulous! When my kids were little we had this thing…if I tried some new recipe and they loved it they would say “mom, put a star by it”. When we sat down to eat this evening, my hubs took his first bite, then looked up at me and said, “put a star by this one!”
That is fantastic and thank you so much for sharing that with us! Did you use imitation crab meat or lump crab meat? I can’t wait to try it!! 🙂
I used lump crab meat.
Awesome!
That is awesome Lee! I cannot wait to try them with crab! Thank you for posting. 🙂
Lee, that sounds delicious! I tried them with scallops and a mix of vegan mozarella and cheddar and they were GREAT! Would you mind posting how they turned out with crab??
*Natasha, I know you have mentioned that someone baked them. I would love to bake them also, do you know what temperature they baked them on? thanks.
Dee, they did not specify unfortunately.
Thank you, I will try it and thanks for always replying so quickly Natasha! 🙂
My pleasure!
They were fantastic and i5 will be a new lite lunch favorite for sure…
That’s so great Barbara! I’m so happy you found a new favorite.
I made these and they were amazing and easy.
Hi Kim! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the wonderful review!
I made this recipe last night and wow!, it was delicious. I am planning to make them with scallops tonight because I want to use the parsley. I added some cilantro and, added a bit of maple syrup to the sauce and garlic…WOW!! Made watermelon mojitos to go along with it 😉 Thank you for the recipe Natasha.
I only have 1 question. They were falling apart a little bit, should I add more flour??? Thanks again.
Hi Dee! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review! Did you possibly cut your shrimp too big? Possibly check the proportions in the recipe to make sure you have enough shrimp to batter and also it helps to dice the shrimp smaller to help them stay together. Also, I only flip them once. You want them to get golden brown on one end before flipping which also helps them stay together. I hope that helps!
Yes, that is what I did, cut the shrimp too big. After cutting, I realized that I could off pulsed them! No biggie. Made them with Scallops. This time I pulsed the Scallops and they came out perfect!!! I used vegan mozzarella and cheddar cheese because I did not have much mozzarella left and they were delish! Thanks again. LOVE this recipe!