Gulf Coast Restaurant-Style Shrimp and Grits Recipe
Mississippi Gulf Coast Shrimp and Grits is a rich, smoky-sweet harmony of buttery stone-ground grits crowned with tender Gulf Shrimp, Bacon and a silky pan sauce that tastes like Southern comfort with a seaside soul.
Make our Gulf Coast Restaurant-Style Shrimp and Grits Recipe at home. With our Secret Restaurant Recipe your Shrimp and Grits will taste just like it came from a Gulf Coast Restaurant.
Photo by ehpien
Gulf Coast Restaurant-Style Shrimp and Grits
A Gulf Coast Restaurant-Style Shrimp Copycat Recipe
Although this Gulf Coast Recipe does not come from a specific restaurant, it is a Traditional Favorite around the Mississippi Gulf Coast and will be instantly familiar to you from dishes you have enjoyed at Favorite Local Restaurants along the coast between Bay St. Louis and Gulfport.
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Savor the South by the Sea
The Gulf Coast is where Southern hospitality meets seafood heaven, with a menu shaped by crawfish boils, fish fries, and smoky pits. It’s a true melting pot of traditions—Mexican spice, Creole richness, Southern comfort, and coastal freshness. Every recipe is layered with heritage and heat, salt and soul. If you’ve ever dreamed of eating your way down a scenic shoreline, this is the place to start.
Mississippi Gulf Coast Comfort
From Bay St. Louis to Gulfport, this stretch of Mississippi coast serves up comfort with a crunch—fried catfish, oyster po’boys, hushpuppies, and fried crab claws. The seafood is fresh, the traditions are Southern, and the cooking leans both hearty and humble. It’s the quiet coast with big flavor and even bigger hospitality.
Gulf Coast Restaurant-Style Shrimp and Grits in Mississippi
Along Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, Shrimp and Grits isn’t just a dish—it’s a regional anthem. Rooted in both coastal bounty and Southern tradition, this comforting classic features plump, Gulf-caught shrimp nestled in a bed of stone-ground grits, usually enriched with butter, cream, and sharp cheese. Unlike versions found in the Carolinas that lean more rustic, Mississippi’s restaurant-style approach is often bolder and more indulgent, with smoky bacon, spicy andouille sausage, or even a lowcountry-style gravy adding savory depth.
In local institutions like Mary Mahoney’s Old French House in Biloxi, Shaggy’s in Gulfport, and The Chimneys in Gulfport, shrimp and grits gets the upscale coastal treatment. You’ll find shrimp sautéed in garlic butter, simmered in a silky roux or wine reduction, and finished with local twists—like a splash of hot sauce, fried okra on top, or a few Gulf crab claws tossed in for good measure. The dish balances richness with brine, smoke with sweetness, making it a perennial favorite for brunch, lunch, or supper.
What makes Mississippi’s shrimp and grits distinct is the emphasis on freshness and hospitality. Shrimp comes from the nearby bayous and harbors, often delivered straight off the boat, while the grits are slow-cooked and never rushed. Served in white-tablecloth dining rooms or breezy waterfront cafés, this dish speaks to the heart of Gulf Coast cooking: unfussy, full-flavored, and made to linger over.
Shrimp and grits in Mississippi is more than a meal—it’s coastal comfort on a plate.
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Gulf Coast Restaurant-Style Shrimp and Grits Recipe
Mississippi Gulf Coast Shrimp and Grits is a rich, smoky-sweet harmony of buttery stone-ground grits crowned with tender Gulf shrimp, bacon and a silky pan sauce that tastes like Southern comfort with a seaside soul. Make our Gulf Coast Restaurant-Style Shrimp and Grits Recipe at home. With our Secret Restaurant Recipe your Shrimp and Grits will taste just like it came from a Gulf Coast Restaurant.
Ingredients
Grits
- 1 cup Stone-Ground Grits
- 4 cups Water or 2 cups Water + 2 cups Whole Milk
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter
- 1/2 cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese shredded
Shrimp
- 1 pound large Gulf Shrimp peeled, deveined and tails removed
- 4 slices thick-cut Bacon chopped
- 1/2 cup Yellow Onion peeled and finely chopped
- 1/4 cup Green Bell Pepper seeded and finely chopped
- 2 cloves Garlic peeled and minced
- 1/2 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
- 2 tablespoons Butter
- 2 tablespoons Fresh Parsley chopped
- Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper to taste
- Hot Sauce and Lemon Wedges to serve
Instructions
Grits
- Bring water (and milk, if using) to a boil.
- Stir in grits and salt.
- Reduce heat and simmer, stirring often, 20 - 25 minutes until thick and creamy.
- Stir in butter and cheese. Reduce heat to very low and keep warm, stirring once or twice if more than 10 minutes.
Shrimp
- In a skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Remove and set aside, leaving drippings.
- In same pan, add prepared onion, bell pepper and garlic. Sauté in drippings until soft.
- Add shrimp, paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper, to taste. Cook 2 - 3 minutes until just pink. Do not overcook.
- Stir in butter and parsley to finish the sauce and remove from heat.
- Spoon grits onto serving plates.
- Spoon shrimp and pan sauce over grits.
- Top with bacon.
- Serve hot with lemon wedges and hot sauce.
Gulf Coast Restaurant-Style Shrimp and Grits
A Gulf Coast Restaurant-Style Shrimp Copycat Recipe
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Photo of “Shrimp & Grits” is by ehpien and is used by permission under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic Creative Commons License. Read the Full License Here – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.enlegalcode.en. Thank you, ehpien. Great Picture. Photos may be “representative” of the recipe and not the actual finished dish. All photo licenses listed were correct at the time of the posting of the page. Recipe is original to Secret Copycat Restaurant Recipes. Recipe created by Secret Copycat Restaurant Recipes based on information from the restaurant and other sources on the internet – many courtesy of the Wayback Machine. Additional Information is from original research done by Secret Copycat Restaurant Recipes and/or courtesy of Wikipedia and is used by permission.
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