Shrimp and Grits with Bacon Recipe

This recipe for shrimp and grits is easy and flavorful, with sharp cheddar cheese, smoky bacon, and seasoned shrimp.

This week I saw a recipe posted by Bon Appétit for “Shrimp and No-Stir Grits” and I was baffled. “How do you have ‘no-stir’ grits?” I thought to myself. I clicked on the link to see what kind of new sorcery they discovered only to learn that it was all a lie—there was, in fact, still some stirring involved. (Bon Appétit‘s recipe calls for you to whisk as you add the grits to the liquid—necessary to prevent lumps—but then put them in the oven to finish cooking, similar to the traditional method for rice pilaf.) They tricked me with a clickbait title. Rude.

Their version also seemed to be lacking in the spice department. Granted, it was for their “Basically” section, so perhaps they wanted to cut down on ingredients a bit, but my version has a similar number, so . . . yes, I am posting my recipe for shrimp and grits partly out of spite. However, I actually developed this recipe well before I read of any “no-stir” (more like “less-stir”) methods for cooking grits.

I wanted to come up with a shrimp and grits recipe that primarily used pantry staples as ingredients. Outside of the shrimp itself (and maybe one or two other items), there’s a good chance that you already have everything else you need in your kitchen. Lots of other recipes call for fresh herbs and other produce, but the reality is that I don’t always have those things lying around. However, my pantry is always well-stocked with all manners of spices and dried goods, so this recipe is for people like me who don’t want to buy a bunch of fresh herbs only to use a handful.

This recipe for shrimp and grits is easy and flavorful, with sharp cheddar cheese stirred into white corn grits (I used Bob’s Red Mill), and shrimp seasoned with paprika, garlic powder, and black pepper, and smoky bacon. It’s big bowl of both comfort and flavor, which we could also use in our lives from time to time.