This easy lemon Garlic Shrimp Crostini is a delicious prep-ahead appetizer for a dinner party! Made with fresh shrimp, garlic, lemon, and dill and then piled onto a crispy crostini, these are the perfect cold seafood appetizer!
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Why you’ll love this recipe
- These shrimp crostini are served cold making it great for guests to graze on during a party!
- This appetizer can be prepped completely in advance! Make the crostini and shrimp topping up to the day before.
- This shrimp crostini is a hearty seafood appetizer! It is great to serve year-round but would be particularly special for a coastal summer dinner party.
Key Ingredients
- Shrimp: Look for raw peeled, and deveined shrimp at your seafood counter.
- Red pepper flakes: This recipe uses just a pinch of red pepper flakes to create a mild spice (even people who I know are sensitive to spice love it!). If you love spicy food, go ahead and double the amount of red pepper flakes.
- Lemon: the lemon juice and zest add a fresh flavor!
- Garlic: Just one medium grated garlic clove adds the perfect punch.
- Dill: Remove the leaves from the tough stem and finely chop the fresh dill.
- Greek yogurt: Look for plain, whole-milk Greek yogurt. The yogurt adds a creamy texture to the shrimp! You can substitute Greek yogurt for mayo, if you prefer.
- Dijon mustard: The Dijon adds a depth of flavor!
Making the oven-baked crostini
1. Line the baguette slices in a single layer on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper on both sides.
2. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees until golden brown. Keep a close eye on them! Oven temperatures can vary and crostini can quickly go from golden brown to burnt.
Making the shrimp topping
1. Season the shrimp all over with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Cook the shrimp over medium-high heat in a large skillet, flipping as needed, until the shrimp is fully cooked and pink.
2. Remove the tails of the shrimp (careful as the shrimp may still be hot!) and chop the shrimp.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the shrimp, Greek yogurt, Dijon, lemon juice and zest, dill, and garlic. Don’t forget to taste and adjust for seasoning as needed. Serve on top of crostini!
Serving Suggestions
To serve, either serve the crostini separate from the shrimp and allow guests to help themselves or pre-scoop the shrimp onto the crostini. If you are serving these as a passed appetizer at a party, I recommend pre-scooping the shrimp onto the crostini. For a more casual atmosphere, I like to allow guests to scoop it themselves.
This shrimp topping would also be delicious served on cucumber slices! If doing this, I recommend slicing the cucumber on a diagonal bias to give you enough space to top them.
Prep ahead tips
The crostini can be made up to 1 day in advance and stored in an airtight container in a cool dry place.
The garlic shrimp topping can be made up to the day before and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
More crostini appetizers you’ll love
📖 Recipe
Garlic Shrimp Crostini
Ingredients
- 1 lb peeled and deveined shrimp
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice about ¾ of a lemon
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 garlic clove grated
- 2 teaspoon finely chopped dill
- 3 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Crostini
- 1 12 oz. French or sourdough baguette sliced ½ inch thick
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- Kosher salt and pepper
Instructions
Crostini
- Preheat the oven to 400 and position the oven rack in the middle.
- Place the baguette slices in a single layer on a baking sheet. Brush each piece with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Flip the slices over and repeat on the other side.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool.
Garlic Shrimp Topping
- Pat the shrimp dry and season evenly with Kosher salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes all over. Heat a skillet (preferrably cast iron or nonstick) on medium high heat. Add the olive oil then the shrimp and cook 5-6 minutes, flipping halfway, or until pink all over and fully cooked. Remove the shrimp from the pan and onto a cutting board. Remove the shrimp tails (if not already off) and roughly chop the shrimp.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the chopped shrimp, lemon juice, lemon zest, grated garlic, dill, Greek yogurt, and Dijon mustard. Taste, adding more salt, pepper, and lemon juice as needed.
To serve
- To serve, either serve the crostini separate from the shrimp and allow guests to help themselves o,r pre-scoop the shrimp onto the crostini. Serve cold/ room temperature.
Jeff the Chef @ Make It Like a Man!
What a great make-ahead recipe. Thanks! I love the idea of serving the topping on a cucumber.
Caitlin Charlton
Thank you so much! 🙂