Caldo de Camarón (Shrimp Soup)

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This is the easiest shrimp soup that you will find on the internet (only 30 minutes from start to finish). Caldo de camarón has a lot of Latin American and Caribbean flavors.

Caldo de camarón is one of those beach soups that I used to order when I traveled to any beach in Venezuela. I know, soup at the beach. This may sound weird for people outside the caribbean, but we enjoy eating soup after a long day at the beach.

My dream beach day would end with two bowls of this spicy and fresh shrimp soup and a glass of agua de tamarindo. Delicious!

Also, this is a pretty healthy recipe that has some veggies (potato and carrot) and lean protein from the shrimps. You can use a low in sodium bouillon cube in case you have a specific medical condition like high blood pressure.

What is Caldo de Camaron?

Caldo de camaron is a mildly spicy shrimp soup with a mix of vegetables — usually carrots, tomatoes, and potatoes. It’s usually a bright red soup that is quite refreshing because of the tomatoes in there.

It’s served with fresh lime so you can adjust the acidity in your soup. I like around ½ lime for each bowl of soup.

Other things you can add to this shrimp soup

  • Zucchini
  • Corn cob
  • Chayote (vegetable pear) 
  • Avocado (as a topping at the end)

Is Caldo de camaron Mexican?

Well, like most Latin American recipes, people think that they all are Mexican.

Between the Caribbean, Centro America and South American countries, we share a broad variety of dishes.

Mexico has its own version of sopa de camaron that uses guajillo chili and dried shrimp. This is a thicker and heavier soup. Also, it is considerably more spicy than this version.

This recipe is more fresh and light that the Mexican version. This is a Caribbean sopa de camarones.

How to make this shrimp soup?

I promised you that this would be an easy recipe, and I intend to deliver.

Clean

The first step is to clean your shrimps properly. I highly recommend you to devein your shrimps — even when it’s not necessary — to avoid a sandy texture when chewing.

I highly suggest you use fresh shrimp but you can also use frozen shrimp properly thaws.

To thaw shrimps the right way, it’s better to let them soak in cold water inside the fridge. You don’t want to let it defrost at room temperature on the sink. This abrupt change of temperature can help bacteria grow and it will make the shrimp soft and mushy.

Cut

Peel and cut the potato and the carrot into same size cubes. 

Chop roughly the cilantro and the tabasco pepper. 

Mince the garlic and cut the onion into cubes.

Cook

In a big pan, heat the olive oil and toss the onion and garlic. Let it cook for 30 sec to 1 minute until the garlic is fragrant.

Add the fresh shrimp and cook for 2-3 minutes per side. Remove it from the pot. Save for later.

Toss the carrot, potatoes, tabasco pepper and the can of crushed tomatoes. Add about 500 ml of water and the shrimp bouillon cube. Boil until the carrot and potatoes are fork-tender (about 20 minutes)

Add the shrimp and chopped cilantro back to the soup. Boil for 5 minutes to integrate the flavors.

Serve with a lime wedge. 

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Caldo de Camarón (Shrimp Soup)

This is the easiest shrimp soup that you will find on the internet (only 30 minutes from start to finish). Caldo de camarón has a lot of Latin American and Caribbean flavors.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Course Soup
Cuisine Caribbean
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

  • 400 gr peeled deveined shrimps preferably 26/30 size
  • 1 can crushed tomatoes 400gr
  • 1 onion
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 big potato
  • 2 carrots
  • 1 shrimp bouillon cube
  • 1 tabasco pepper
  • 1 handful cilantro
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 Lime

Instructions
 

  • Peel, clean and devein the shrimp.
  • Peel and cut the potato and carrots into same size cubes
  • Chop roughly the cilantro and the tabasco pepper. Mince the garlic and cut the onion into cubes.
  • In a big pan heat the olive oil and toss the onion and the garlic. Let it cook for 30 sec to 1 minute until the garlic is fragrant.
  • Add the fresh shrimp and cook for 2-3 minutes per side. Remove it from the pot. Save for later.
  • Toss the carrot, potatoes, tabasco pepper and the can of crushed tomatoes. Add about 500 ml of water and the shrimp bouillon cube. Boil until the carrot and potatoes are fork-tender (about 20 minutes)
  • Add the shrimp and chopped cilantro back to the soup. Boil for 5 minutes to integrate the flavors.
  • Serve with a lime wedge.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

2 thoughts on “Caldo de Camarón (Shrimp Soup)”

  1. I wanted a simple shrimp soup recipe and this was it. I used 1 tablespoon tomato paste + water mixture and 2 whole tomatoes cut up instead of canned (didn’t have it on hand), plus doused it in cayenne pepper and it turned out amazing. I do think the potatoes need more time to become tender (25mins I think).

    Reply
    • Hi Sonia! SO glad you liked it. Yes, I think the potatoes will have a slightly different cooking time depending on how big (or small) you cut the pieces. The best thing to do is the fork test to make sure they are fully cooked 🙂

      Reply

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