There’s a lot to love about the convenience of cooking with shrimp. This oceanic protein is available year-round, nationwide. Its incredibly speedy cook time means you can rely on shrimp to get dinner on the table, stat. For example, simple scampi, sautéed corn and prawns, lemony shrimp risotto, or spiced shrimp and rice are all on that list. Oh, and did I mention that all of these dishes come together in about an hour or less?.
But many shrimp recipes have a annoying step that you might not even notice until all the ingredients are ready: they tell you to take out the dark “vein” that runs along the spine of the shrimp. Even though shrimp and prawns are not the same animal, they both have this vein, and recipes often say that both should be “deveined.” Someone from the most recent season of Top Chef was kicked off because they didn’t have time to devein their prawn. Veteran judge of the show Tom Colicchio quipped, “I still can’t get past, like, not deveining your prawn. But it made me wonder if it’s important to learn how to devein shrimp and, if so, what’s the easiest way to do it. Keep reading for the answers and some tips from the pros.
Shrimp are a tasty and versatile seafood ingredient used in everything from appetizers to main courses. But many shrimp recipes call for “deveining” the shrimp before cooking. This step can seem tedious, leading home cooks to wonder – must you really devein shrimp?
As a passionate home cook and seafood lover, I used to ask myself this same question. Through research and trial and error in my own kitchen, I’ve gotten to the bottom of whether deveining shrimp is absolutely necessary. Keep reading for a detailed look at what it means to devein shrimp, when you need to do it, and how to devein shrimp easily at home.
What Is Deveining Shrimp?
When raw shrimp are deveined, cooks remove a thin, dark thread that runs along the back of the shrimp. This string-like tract is often referred to as the “vein,” but it is not actually a vein in the circulatory system sense.
Rather, this dark thread is the intestinal tract or digestive system of the shrimp. When the shrimp eats, food passes through this tract, which can fill with grit and bacteria. This gives the tract its dark, muddy color.
The process of removing this intestinal tract is called “deveining.” It’s done for aesthetic reasons, to remove the unappetizing gritty contents, and for food safety, to reduce bacteria on the shrimp.
Some key facts about deveining shrimp:
- It does not remove an actual vein or circulatory system component
- It removes the digestive tract or intestine of the shrimp
- Shrimp veins appear as dark threads along the back
- Deveining is done for appearance and food safety reasons
Is Deveining Shrimp Necessary?
The big question many home cooks have is whether you really need to bother deveining shrimp. Is it an indispensable step or merely an optional one?
Here are the main factors to consider:
Food Safety
If shrimp are being cooked thoroughly to an internal temperature of 145°F or higher, deveining is not critical for food safety. Proper cooking will kill any bacteria present in or around the intestinal tract.
However, for raw preparations like ceviche or sushi, removing the vein may reduce risk of illness. Since the tract can harbor salmonella and other bacteria, removing it eliminates a potential contamination source.
Overall, thorough cooking negates the food safety need for deveining. But with raw dishes, it provides an extra layer of protection.
Appearance
Even when the vein is not visible through the shrimp flesh, some cooks choose to devein for appearance reasons. Removing the tract ensures the finished dish has a cleaner look without any dark spots.
For large shrimp, removing the tract is easy to do and improves aesthetics. But for smaller shrimp, deveining each individually is tedious and may not make a visible difference.
So for appearance, focus deveining efforts on larger shrimp where the impact is more noticeable.
Taste and Texture
The vein does not make shrimp taste bad or impart off flavors when eaten. However, the gritty contents can create an unpleasant bite. Removing it provides a smoother texture.
For this reason, deveining is recommended when shrimp will be eaten with shells removed. If serving peel-and-eat shrimp, the shells help encapsulate the vein during eating so it’s less intrusive.
Personal Preference
Some cooks find the appearance and idea of the digestive tract unappetizing and wish to remove it for their own preferences. This motivation for deveining comes down to personal choice.
When Can You Skip Deveining Shrimp?
For small shrimp where deveining is tedious. these instances make it fine to skip it
- Using shrimp in soups, stews, or dishes with heavy sauce: vein will not be noticeable
- Cooking shrimp with shells on: shells hide vein during eating
- Cooking shrimp thoroughly to 145°F or higher: kills bacteria for safety
- Personal preference: some cooks do not mind appearance/texture of vein
So if using shrimp in shell-on dishes, with sauce or stew, or cooking thoroughly, and the vein doesn’t bother you, then deveining is optional.
But for optimal texture, appearance, and taste, deveining larger shrimp is recommended.
How To Devein Shrimp
Deveining shrimp yourself can save money compared to buying pre-peeled, deveined shrimp. And it lets you control the deveining process for best results.
Here is a simple process for deveining shrimp at home:
Supplies Needed
- Sharp paring knife
- Cutting board
- Paper towels
- Large bowl of cold water
Steps
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Start with raw, shell-on shrimp. Rinse under cold water.
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Using a paring knife, make a shallow cut along the back of the shrimp. Cut just deep enough to expose the vein.
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Use the knife tip to lift out and remove the vein. Discard the vein.
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Optional: Remove shells by peeling from head to tail. Leave tail shell intact if desired.
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Place deveined shrimp in the bowl of cold water to rinse.
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Lay shrimp on paper towels to pat dry. Refrigerate until ready to cook.
Tips
- Only cut deep enough to lift out vein to avoid excess shrimp damage
- For small shrimp, consider leaving vein intact due to difficulty
- Work over a bowl to catch any drips while deveining
- Rinse after deveining to remove any residue
- Dry thoroughly before cooking for best texture
- Chill and cook deveined shrimp within a day or two for safety and quality
With the right technique, you can quickly devein a batch of shrimp at home with minimal waste or damage. This helps highlight the delicate seafood flavor.
Frequently Asked Questions About Deveining Shrimp
Here are answers to some other common deveining questions:
Do you have to devein shrimp for shrimp cocktail?
For shrimp cocktail, deveining is recommended since the shrimp will be eaten without shells or sauce. Removing the vein gives the best appearance and texture.
Can you cook shrimp with the vein still in?
Yes, it is safe to cook shrimp without deveining. Thorough cooking to 145°F will kill any bacteria present. The texture may be gritty but flavor will not be affected.
Do you have to devein shrimp for shrimp scampi?
For shrimp scampi, deveining is ideal since the shrimp is typically shelled. Removing the vein prevents an unsightly appearance and gritty bites.
Do you have to peel shrimp before deveining?
It’s easiest to devein shrimp when the shells are still on for holding. You can then remove the shells after deveining if the recipe calls for it.
Is it OK to eat shrimp vein?
While not harmful if fully cooked, the vein can create a gritty mouthfeel. Removing it provides better texture and appearance. Some cultures do consume the vein intact.
Can I buy pre-cleaned deveined shrimp?
Yes, peeled and deveined frozen shrimp can offer convenience. Check for sales and quality when choosing this option.
Conclusion
While not strictly necessary from a food safety standpoint, properly deveining shrimp provides good reasons for the small effort involved. Removing the intestinal tract or “vein” improves the look, mouthfeel, and taste of the finished dish.
Focus on deveining larger shrimp where the impact is most noticeable. For shrimp that will be eaten shell-on or cooked in sauce, it becomes an optional step based on your preferences.
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What does it actually mean to “devein” shrimp?
This is an important question, if not a tad misleading. Deveining shrimp refers to removing the dark-colored membrane you see along the outermost curvature of the shrimp. That said, you’re not actually removing a vein at all, rather the intestinal tract of the shrimp. Most people do this because they don’t want to eat what’s already on their shrimp, if you get my drift. However, this makes me wonder if deveining shrimp is really necessary. If I skip this step, will the people I’m cooking for get sick or the dish I make taste bad?
Do you need to devein shrimp?
No! If you’re cooking your shrimp fully (to an internal temperature of 145°F, according to the FDA), you likely do not actually need to devein shrimp from a safety perspective. If you are planning on eating the shrimp raw, the advice gets a little more complicated. Because the shrimp’s intestine contains some bacteria, some experts say that eating it raw will expose you to the risk of foodborne illness. By removing the tract, you reduce your risk of exposure. If the recipe you’re cooking calls on you to steam, boil, roast, sear, or grill, the vein is not likely to pose a health risk.
Eric Ripert, the chef and cookbook author of the soon-to-be-released Seafood Simple, makes the point that the size of the shrimp determines how he handles the cleaning. “If the shrimp is very tiny, it is not necessary to devein them because there’s usually nothing visible to remove,” he tells me.
Andrea Nguyen, the author of, most recently, Ever-Green Vietnamese, resoundingly agrees, noting that the size of the shrimp has everything to do with her choices around shrimp preparation: “Sometimes with Vietnamese cooking we use those very small shrimp, like 51–60s, and we’ll use them with the shell on. I don’t devein those, because we’re eating those shell-on. It’s not a big deal to me tastewise.”
In her cookbook Rambutan, Cynthia Shanmugalingam leaves the option to devein entirely up to the reader in recipes like her shrimp and seafood kool stew and her prawn curry with tamarind. While acknowledging that it is a common practice, she herself doesn’t bother with it, writing, “I’m usually too lazy to devein them, and the membrane isn’t harmful.”