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Before you start eating this shrimp taco, politely apologize to your family that you’ll be unavailable for the next 15 minutes (5 minutes to wolf it down and 10 minutes of food coma). These Shrimp Tacos with Coconut Coleslaw & Mango Salsa are a yummy mouthful and you will not want to put them down.
This was inspired by the famous fish tacos at Coconut’s Fish Cafe that we tried twice in Maui. It’s a copycat recipe except for the shrimp part. Since it’s really hard to come by fresh Mahi and Ono in Idaho, we chose shrimp. To be honest, I think I loved the shrimp more; not a hint of fishiness and perfectly seasoned with a subtle spicy kick.
This Shrimp Tacos with Coconut Coleslaw & Mango Salsa recipe makes 6 towering, juicy shrimp tacos. They aren’t neat and tidy either; that’s intentional! I like having a fork nearby to clean my plate once I’m done with my taco. 😉
Did I mention they are GLUTEN FREE? Those are white corn tortillas you’re seeing! My oh my these were amazing.
Ingredients For the Shrimp:
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined (click for quick tutorial)
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground cumin powder
1/2 tsp salt (I used sea salt)
Coconut Coleslaw (click here for the recipe)
Mango Avocado Salsa
1/2 small Red Onion, finely diced
2 Tbsp of canned hot Jalapenos, finely chopped
1/4 bunch of cilantro
1 fresh Mango, diced
1 avocado, diced
3 Tbsp fresh Lemon Juice
To Serve:
12 Small white corn tortillas
1 medium tomato, diced
1 Lemon cut into 6 wedges
How To Make Shrimp Tacos with Coconut Coleslaw & Mango Salsa:
Prepping the Shrimp:
1. Combine 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/2 tsp cumin and 1/2 tsp salt and sprinkle over shrimp. Stir shrimp to coat evenly.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium/high heat. Swirl in 1-2 Tbsp olive oil and saute about 1 min per side, or until pink and cooked through. Remove from pan and set aside. Once shrimp are cooled, chop into large pieces if desired (they’re easier to eat if chopped).
Prep your Coconut Coleslaw:
Click here for the full recipe & tutorial. Don’t skip the coleslaw, ok? For goodness sake, DON’T!
Mango Salsa:
1. In a medium bowl, combine: diced red onion, 2 Tbsp jalapeños, 1/4 bunch chopped cilantro, diced mango and diced avocado then drizzle in 3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice and stir to combine.
Assembly:
1. When ready to serve, heat a medium skillet over medium heat and add 2 Tbsp olive oil. Stack 2 tortillas on top of each other and once the oil is hot, saute until the bottom is golden (no need to flip the tortillas). You’ll see the top one curl up; this is a good thing. The top one should be warm not toasted. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
2. Place 1/6th of the shrimp on each taco (I like to make it an assembly line and have everyone make their own taco, that way I can focus on what’s important; like eating my taco!)
Add 1/6th of the coleslaw (it seems like a lot but you’ll thank me later), top with 1/6 of the mango salsa and finally stud the top with some freshly diced tomatoes. Put a wedge of lemon on each plate because they are even more amazing with a good squeeze of fresh lemon juice over the top.
Shrimp Tacos with Coconut Coleslaw and Mango Salsa

Ingredients
- 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp salt, I used sea salt
Coconut Coleslaw
- Visit NatashasKitchen.com to print coconut coleslaw recipe
Mango Avocado Salsa
- 1/2 small Red Onion, finely diced
- 2 Tbsp of canned hot Jalapenos, finely chopped
- 1/4 bunch of cilantro
- 1 fresh Mango, diced
- 1 avocado, diced
- 3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
To Serve:
- 12 Small white corn tortillas
- 1 medium tomato, diced
- 1 Lemon cut into 6 wedges
Instructions
Prepping the Shrimp:
- Combine 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/2 tsp cumin and 1/2 tsp salt and sprinkle over shrimp. Stir shrimp to coat evenly.
- Heat a large skillet over medium/high heat. Swirl in 1-2 Tbsp olive oil and saute about 1 min per side, or until pink and cooked through. Remove from pan and set aside. Once shrimp are cooled, chop into large pieces if desired (they're easier to eat if chopped).
Prep your Coconut Coleslaw:
- Visit: https://natashaskitchen.com/2014/04/01/creamy-coconut-coleslaw-recipe/ for the full recipe & tutorial.
Mango Salsa
- In a medium bowl, combine: diced red onion, 2 Tbsp jalapeños, 1/4 bunch chopped cilantro, diced mango and diced avocado then drizzle in 3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice and stir to combine.
Assembly:
- When ready to serve, heat a medium skillet over medium heat and add 2 Tbsp olive oil. Stack 2 tortillas on top of each other and once the oil is hot, saute until the bottom is golden (no need to flip the tortillas). You'll see the top one curl up; this is a good thing. The top one should be warm not toasted. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
- Place 1/6th of the shrimp on each taco (I like to make it an assembly line and have everyone make their own taco, that way I can focus on what's important; like eating my taco!) Add 1/6th of the coleslaw (it seems like a lot but you'll thank me later), top with 1/6 of the mango salsa and finally stud the top with some freshly diced tomatoes. Put a wedge of lemon on each plate because they are even more amazing with a good squeeze of fresh lemon juice over the top.
Can you tell these are my favorite tacos? They can be your favorite too! 😉 Swoon…
This is Amazing!!!! We are In Maui now. We love Coconuts and after our visit, I found this recipe. Had to improvise a bit without my normal kitchen and spices, but OMG, This Is A New Favorite!!!! Thank you.
You’re welcome Donna! I’m glad you both love this copycat recipe. Thanks for sharing your fantastic review!
Natasha, you never seem to fail me!!!!😍 Been cooking your recipes ever since I’ve tried your turkey and trust me never used another recipe for a turkey since. Thank you been cooking since I was small and this recipe made me feel like a chef. Food porn for thought I’m a seafood lover and this is a must try!
I’m happy to hear how much you’re enjoying the recipes Shonta! Thanks for following and sharing your great review!
Delicious as expected by all the positive reviews! Shrimp can be substituted with anything I am thinking.Next time will mix in some scallops as well!
Hi Kathy, yes shrimp can be substituted with fish. In Maui when we enjoyed these at the restaurant, they were served with local ono fish. The same seasonings would work for fish.
Natasha, these are so great! I love light and flavory foods and these are my favorite tacos. In fact, if we go out, tacos are only good if they are like yours! Believe it or not but we found a restaurant who serves fish instead of shrimp but everything else is the same. I make these all summer long, and none of us is getting bored with it. Thank you so much!!! <3
My pleasure Rita! I’m happy to hear how much you enjoy this recipe! Thanks for sharing your fantastic review!
Delicious! Fresh. A little spicy for my kids, so I’ll cut back a little on spice, but outstanding!!!
Hi Melissa, I’m so glad you loved the tacos! You can definitely adjust the seasoning for more subtle flavors and it will still turn out great 🙂
Had company over today, and since it’s Tuesday I decided to make it taco Tuesday night, of course I went on your site and looked for a taco recipe. This one was so good! I doubled the recipe to make sure there’s enough for everyone. My husaband who’s into traditional beef/lettuce tacos was amazed by these. He’s not a shrimp lover so for half I did chicken with the same seasoning and it was delicious as well. Thank you for the recipe, I will definitely be making these again and again 😉
You’re welcome Sveta! I’m glad to hear how much everyone enjoys the recipe! Thanks for sharing your excellent review!
Hi Natasha! Will it turn out good if I use cooked frozen shrimp and just add spices when I preheat them.
Hi Dina, you will always get the best flavor using raw shrimp but you can still make it work the way you are describing, just be careful to just heat the shrimp and not re-cook them or they will be rubbery.
We do a good number of online recipes, and this is the first one in three years that my husband actually urged me to comment on. This is a wonderful dish, fresh, excellent flavor combinations and textures, and he even said “don’t mess with it, just make it again and soon”. We did have one variation, and served the dish on flat fried ‘tapatilla’ style corn tortillas instead of leaving them simply warmed, as being in the southwest, a taco usually would have a crispy shell.
I am so glad to hear your family loves it as much as mine does! 🙂
These are taaaasty! My friend made these for me and I liked em, so I decided to make them for me and my husbub, and now HE liked em. Maybe now he’ll go make em for someone else and continue the chain…Anyway, these are a fun and flavorful combination of ingredients. Thank you so much for sharing!
How awesome!! I totally love that your friend started the chain and you’re continuing it and that there is a chain in the first place!! 🙂 Thank you for sharing that with me 🙂
Do you think adding shaved coconut to the slaw would give it more coconut flavor i love coconut i thought it would be good with it and do u think it thw coconut slaw will be good on maui maui tacos
I haven’t tried it myself but shaved coconut will add different texture to the cole slaw which not everybody might like. Let me know how it turns out if you decide to incorporate it into the recipe.
I thought the same and did add the coconut-it was fabulous!
If I could give this 10 stars I would. Naturally, I had to make these tacos the moment I saw the recipe (because I had some avocados that were about to go bad). But most importantly, because we have this taco boutique, Capital Tacos, right around here, they are rated second in the nation by Business Insider. I go there for shrimp tacos but frankly they are underwhelming. Their shrimp is bland and the toppings have the heat. I love that with this recipe the heat is in the shrimp (just the right amount of it) and the toppings have an awesome splash of sweet and sour and coconut and texture. I had a jar of cranberry horseradish from the holidays, and used it in the coleslaw – I thought it really worked well. So long Capital Tacos! 🙂
Victoria, thank you for such a great review, It’s quiet a compliment 😊. I’m so glad you like them.
I finally made these tacos I used Mahi and it was fantastic. My husband says they are better than Coconuts!!!
Awesome, I’m so happy that you guys loved it :).
Is there a sub for cilantro, not our favorite?
Betty, use parsley instead or just try without it :). I hope you’ll love it!
The best compliment to mango is fresh mint. Try mint in your mango salsa.
Thank you for sharing!
Food coma!! Absolutely amazing! I tried so many different seafood tacos this one is by far the best I’ve tried. Followed the recipe exactly. Except I didn’t have avacado which probably would have been even more better. But honestly it was amazing as it was.
I’m so happy you loved the tacos :). I’m crazy about these too. They totally take me back to Maui 🙂
Made these last night and we absolutely loved this recipe. It is so delicious! Thank you for sharing, I will be pinning and making again! 🙂
I’m so happy you loved it and thank you so much for pinning! 🙂
Seriously the best meal I’ve had in as long as I can remember! The flavors all go so well together. The sweet with the spicy and the creaminess are heaven together. This recipe is going on our regular rotation. Thank you!
I’m so happy you loved it! We felt the same way and we were so happy with the final result. Its definitely a taste of Maui 🙂 Thank you for sharing your awesome review 🙂
Hi Natasha, do you think i can use a fish fillet for this recipe instead of the shrimp?
Yes! Actually the original tacos that we had in Maui were fish tacos and the same seasoning would work for fish. 🙂
Oh my goodness, thats perfect, thank you!!! 🙂
I had lunch at coconuts twice. Was the best food on the Island and we ate at Mama’s too.
I live in Baja and tried to get them to give me the recipe because it was the best fish tacos I have ever had. I sell fish tacos at my restaurant and that was the best ever.
Try cooking your shrimp in coconut oil makes them all that much better.
thanks you for you slaw recipe too. I could not remember what was in it beside coconut milk. best food ever.
thanks again
Irene thank you so much for the tip on using coconut oil on the shrimp. That sounds sooo good! What kind of restaurant do you have? Very cool!
If i want to make this recipe for a group but some dont like shrimp, would steak work ok with it?
Yes Kelly, steak would work as well. Reading your comment and visualizing steak tacos is making me hungry :).
I made these today, my fiance was quite impressed!
I’m so happy to hear that! 🙂 Thanks for sharing that with me 🙂
How spicy is this? Is it “spice friendly ” for kids, who don’t like too much spice?
The shrimp are not very spicy but you can cut the spices down by half if you need to. Also, omit the jalapeños in the mango salsa. That should do the trick! 🙂