Valerie's Home Cooking
Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeño Shrimp
with Cherry Cola BBQ Sauce
Back when we had a house in Park City, Utah, we frequented an Italian restaurant so often they put a sign above our regular table that said, “Wolfie’s Booth.” The reason we were at the restaurant so often? Their bacon-wrapped jalapeño shrimp. Sadly, the restaurant closed before I was able to get their recipe, so I developed this particular one on my own. The sauce is sweet with a hint of Cherry Coke, and once it connects with the jalapeño, it sits on the tongue with an exciting contrast of hot and sweet and savory. These will disappear quickly.
Cherry Cola BBQ Sauce
- 1½ tablespoons bacon drippings
- ½ large red onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon dry mustard
- 2 cups cherry cola soft drink
- ½ cup red wine vinegar
- 1 cup ketchup
Shrimp
- 16 extra-large shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails removed (about 12 ounces)
- 1 jalapeño chile, stem removed, seeded, and cut lengthwise into 16 thin strips
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 8 bacon slices, halved crosswise
Print Recipe
- Make the BBQ Sauce: Heat the bacon drippings in a small saucepan over medium-high. Add the onion, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the chopped garlic, and cook, stirring often, for 1 minute. Stir in the salt, garlic powder, and dry mustard, and cook, stirring often, until the spices are toasted and fragrant and the onions are a deep maroon color, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the cherry cola and vinegar, and cook, stirring often, about 2 minutes. Stir in the ketchup.
- Bring the sauce to a boil, and cook until reduced to about 2 cups and the mixture coats the back of a spoon, 12 to 15 minutes.
- Make the Shrimp: Heat a cast-iron skillet or grill pan over medium. Cut a long ¼-inch-deep slit in the inner curve of each shrimp; insert 1 jalapeño strip. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Wrap each shrimp tightly with 1 bacon piece. Set on a plate, seam sides down.
- Place the bacon-wrapped shrimp, seam sides down, in the hot skillet, and cook, turning occasionally, until the bacon is crisp and the shrimp are just cooked through, 5 to 6 minutes. Serve the shrimp with the BBQ sauce.
- Make Ahead: The BBQ sauce will hold up to 2 weeks in the fridge. If you’re prepping for a party, the shrimp can be wrapped ahead of time and cooked later.
- Trick Technique: If you’re someone who loves their bacon in the morning, start saving the drippings in a jar for uses like this one!
SERVES 16
Excerpted from Valerie’s Home Cooking by Valerie Bertinelli. Copyright © 2017 Oxmoor House. Reprinted with permission from Time Inc. Books, a division of Time Inc. New York, NY. All rights reserved.
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Share this succulent shrimp dish with family and friends—it’s bursting with flavors that will please everyone!
