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Buffalo Shrimp Tacos

Name: Buffalo Shrimp Tacos
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Ingredients: 1- pound thawed shrimp (peeled/deveined/tail removed (medium/large size U36/40)); 10 ounce bag of vegetable slaw (green cabbage, red cabbage, broccoli, & carrots); 2-3 tbls Franks Hot Buffalo Sauce + additional for serving; 4 tbls Bolthouse Farms chunky blue cheese yogurt dressing; Salt; Pepper; 1 tsp avocado oil or extra virgin olive oil; Celery sticks; 8 corn tortilla shells or Bibb lettuce for lettuce wraps

Buffalo shrimp tacos are a quick meal that you can cook in 15 minutes. With a few smart choices these are very healthy and the buffalo sauce packs in a great flavor punch!

What makes these buffalo shrimp tacos healthier?

Let’s talk about buffalo sauce. Buffalo sauce is a great condiment to keep on hand in your pantry. It’s super flavorful, with a vinegary/cayenne kick, and very low calorie (next to zero). Who doesn’t love a mound of buffalo wings? We recently travelled through Buffalo, NY, where the first buffalo wings were created and served. You can read the history of the buffalo wing here. The classic bar food version takes skin-on chicken wings and deep fries them. Next, they are coated in a delicious mix of butter and buffalo sauce. No wonder they are so delicious! My version uses lean shrimp (a 4 oz. serving of shrimp comes in at only 67 calories with 28 grams of protein and 0 grams of fat) and skips the butter.

Now that we have trimmed out the extra fat from the chicken skin and the butter, let’s keep it going with getting that blue cheese dressing in check! Traditionally, blue cheese dressing comes in at 160 calories per 2 tablespoon serving. This 160 calories is made up of 17 grams of fat, 1 gram of protein, and 1 gram of carbohydrate (I used Marzetti brand for reference). You can find this in the refrigerated section in the produce department, usually next to the bagged salads/slaws.

I am a huge fan of Bolthouse Farms dressings, and I use the Chunky Blue Cheese dressing in this recipe. Bolthouse Farms dressings are yogurt based (rather than canola oil) and come in at a fraction of the calories for the same 2 tbsp serving size. The Bolthouse version comes in at 35 calories made up of 2.5 grams of fat, 2 grams of protein, and 1 gram of carbohydrate.

What makes these buffalo shrimp tacos fast and easy?

Well, we take some help from the grocery store on this one. The slaw is a pre-mixed veggie slaw that you can pick up in at the produce section at most any grocery store. Not only does this save you time, but it also saves you a huge mess from shredding, and it saves you from wasting if you can’t eat through that much veggies if you buy them whole to make your own. There are many versions of veggie slaws out on the market now. I like to pick out the bag that has the most colors in it. Usually this will have carrot, red cabage, green cabbage, and broccoli. This color variety also equals micro nutrient variety (yayyyy!).

The shrimp is so quick cooking, it only takes a few minutes in the pan. Also take advantage from options at the store and pick out a bag that is already peeled, deveined, and tail removed. Now all you have to do is make sure you remember to take it out of the freezer and put into the refrigerator the day before to unthaw it. That part is on you!

Wash and chop up some celery sticks to serve on the side for that crispy cold crunch. You won’t even miss the chips!