Creamy Chopped Shrimp and Grits

Giving your shrimp a rough chop ensures a tender bite of shrimp with every spoonful of grits!

If you’ve ever wished every spoonful of shrimp and grits actually had shrimp in it, your wish has come true! This easy Southern-inspired dinner folds tender chopped Old Bay shrimp right into creamy cheddar grits so every delicious bite is packed with buttery, cheesy comfort.

Jump to:

• 🔎 A quick look at this recipe
• ⭐️ Why this recipe works
• 🤔 What are grits?
• 🍤 Ingredients you need
• 💡 Ingredient substitution ideas
• Creamy Chopped Shrimp and Grits

🔎 A quick look at this recipe

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⭐️ Why this recipe works

🦐 Every bite has tender shrimp. Chopping the shrimp means you get delicious shrimp in every single spoonful.

⏱️ Ready in just 35 minutes. Fast enough for busy weeknights but cozy enough for weekends.

🧀 Creamy cheddar grits. Butter and sharp cheddar make the grits rich, smooth, and irresistibly cheesy.

🛒 Only a handful of ingredients. Simple pantry staples come together to make a restaurant-worthy dinner.

❤️ The ultimate comfort food. Warm, creamy, and satisfying—this is the kind of meal that makes everyone happy around the dinner table.

We DO love us some shrimp and grits in this house. We love them in their classic form, which is regular shrimp served with regular grits.  We love them in their fancy forms, when you add things like artichoke hearts or sausage to the mix.

We love marinara shrimp with marinara sauce, when the grits part is actually polenta, which is close enough that I tell the trusting Southern husband that we are having shrimp and grits with marinara sauce.  (Close enough!)

They are the ultimate delicious comfort food, and for the longest time I thought there was no way to improve on the wonder that is shrimp and grits.  Then…I got an idea.

What if I cooked up the shrimp with some Old Bay, cooled them down a little and gave them a rough chop into bite-sized pieces? What if I then stirred them into the cooked grits so that every bite of the grits had a little bit of shrimp in it?

What if I also added cheese to the grits just to send them over the edge into grits comfort food perfection?

So I did all that.  With pepper on top.

🤔 What are grits?

Grits are a creamy Southern side dish made from ground corn that cooks into a smooth, comforting porridge, making them the perfect partner for shrimp, cheese, butter, and other savory flavors.

There are several kinds of grits:

• 🌽 Stone-ground grits: The most flavorful and traditional. They take longer to cook (30–45 minutes) and have a slightly coarser texture. Those are the kind we love best for this recipe.
• ⏱️ Quick grits: More finely ground, so they cook in about 5–10 minutes. These are great for weeknight meals.
• ⚡ Instant grits: Precooked and dehydrated for the fastest preparation, though they don’t have quite as much flavor or texture.

🍤 Ingredients you need

💡 Ingredient substitution ideas

Missing something or want to swap in something different? Check out the links below to find more ingredient substitution ideas. 👇🏻

I was happy.  The Southern husband was happy.  And I think if you give your next batch of shrimp and grits a try this way, you might be happy too!