Olive and preserved lemon poached shrimp are juicy and flavourful. This dish is super easy to make for a weeknight meal in 30 minutes.
My best tip for cooking shrimp is to not overcook it. Poaching is a great way to produce tender and juicy shrimp under low moist heat.
Poached Shrimp Ingredients
I bought green olives and preserved lemons to make a Moroccan chicken tagine. Then I had quite a bit of green olives and preserved lemons left. I thought they would be amazing to poach some shrimps with.
I used regular pitted green olives fresh from the deli. Alternatively, you may use canned green olives instead. The preserved lemons have a distinct flavour, so I would not replace them with fresh lemons. The brine the preserved lemons came in is salty and delicious; I added some of the brine in the poaching liquid too, be sure not to throw the brine away.
The green olives and preserved lemons add saltiness, tanginess and so much depth to the shrimp. This poached shrimp dish is simple and a burst of flavour!
Special Dietary Needs?
I used ghee instead of butter in the poaching liquid. Ghee is dairy free and paleo. If you can eat dairy, feel free to use butter in this recipe.
This olive and preserved lemon poached shrimp is a low-carb dish suitable for paleo, keto and gluten-free diets.
More dinner recipes under 30 minutes:
- Easy Stir Fry Kimchi & Pork Belly
- Sheet-Pan Keto Zucchini Noodles and Shrimp (Paleo, Whole 30, Keto)
- Coconut Pea Puree + Baked Sole Flowers {Video}
- Smoked Salmon Potato Salad with Pickle Juice Dressing (a Probiotic Twist)


Olive and Preserved Lemon Poached Shrimps
Ingredients
- 1 lb sustainable shrimp, shell removed
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 3/4 cup green olives
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 preserved lemon
- 2 tbsp preserved lemon brine
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 cup ghee
Instructions
- Devine the shrimps. Thinly slice the preserved lemons.
- Add all of the white wine, green olives, tomato paste, preserved lemon, brine, thyme, and ghee in a saucepan.
- Heat the saucepan until the ghee melts, and stir to combine all ingredients well. Divide the shrimps in half to be cooked in 2 batches.
- Bring the poaching liquid in the saucepan to a boil. Submerge the first batch of shrimps into the poaching liquid, then immediately turn off the heat, cover with lid and let it stand for 3 minutes. You may turn the shrimps over once half way through if the poaching liquid isn't enough to cover the shrimps entirely. Transfer only the shrimps to a serving dish, leaving the poaching liquid in the saucepan. Repeat the whole preocess again with the second batch of shrimps.
- Cook the poaching liquid for 10 minutes uncovered, to reduce it by half to a thicker consistency.
- Pour the sauce over the cooked shrimps and serve.
Notes
- There should be no need to add extra salt to this dish, because the saltiness of the olives and preserved lemon brine. If you don't find the sauce to be salty enough, add a pinch of salt to taste near the end.
Nutrition


This sounds like it would also be good chilled, as a salad, what do you think?
That’s a very interesting suggestion! I can see the leftover being good as a cold dish the next day. It will probably be better after soaking up all the flavours, and not reheated to overcook the shrimp. Thank you for the idea!
I keep thinking about buying a jar of preserved lemons and this recipe just convinced me! Thanks!
This reminds me so much of a recipe my mom used to make growing up. SUCH amazing flavors and perfectly textured shrimp. Love this kind of gourmet recipe that uses a fermented ingredient!
This is such a fab recipe. Never tried to make prawns like this before.
Oh my goodness, so flavorful! I am the biggest fan of preserved lemons! Thanks for sharing this delightful recipe!!!
I love how simple this is and the lemon wine sauce makes this extra tasty!
Yum – poached shrimp is so yum and I love the flavor on this one.
My husband loves shrimp so I’m very excited to try this out! The sauce sounds amazing.