Brown Rock Shrimp: The Little Shrimp With a Big Lobster Taste

Some seafood wins you over with size. Brown rock shrimp win you over with flavor. These small, wild-caught shrimp come from waters off the U.S. East Coast and in the Gulf, and people who try them for the first time usually say the same thing: it tastes like lobster.

What They Taste Like

Rock shrimp have sweet, succulent meat with a firm bite. The texture and flavor land much closer to a miniature lobster tail than to the shrimp most of us grew up eating. That makes them a good fit anywhere you'd want a little richness, from pasta and tacos to a simple sauté with butter and garlic.

Because they're small, they cook quickly. Watch them closely in the pan and pull them as soon as they turn opaque.

When to Find Them

Rock shrimp are available year-round. The peak harvest runs from July through October, so late summer into fall is a great time to seek them out.

A Clean Source of Protein

A 110-calorie serving of rock shrimp provides 21 grams of protein with very little fat. They also supply selenium, vitamin B12, iron, niacin and phosphorus.

Caught With Care

At Shoreline, sourcing matters to us, and U.S. brown rock shrimp come from a well-managed fishery. The harvest is regulated by NOAA Fisheries and the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, and the species is not subject to overfishing.

Fishing boats in this fishery use Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) and Bycatch Reduction Devices (BRDs) to keep other marine life out of their nets. Certain areas are also closed to fishing to protect fragile deepwater coral habitat.

The Shell That Kept Them a Secret

The name comes from the shell. Rock shrimp wear a hard, rigid exoskeleton that made them a real chore to clean by hand, so for a long time almost nobody harvested them commercially. That changed in 1969, when specialized peeling machinery was developed. Today nearly all brown rock shrimp reach the market already peeled, sold as raw or cooked meat. For the home cook, that means the hard part is done before they ever reach your kitchen.

If you have questions about cooking rock shrimp or pairing them with a wine from our market, stop by and talk with our team.