South America → Ecuador → Pichincha (Andes)
🥗 STARTER
Ceviche de Camarón (Ecuadorian Shrimp Ceviche)
Briefly poached shrimp in a cold, soupy marinade of lime and orange juice, tomato, red onion, cilantro and a little of their own broth, served with plantain chips, toasted corn and popcorn.
Ecuadorian · easy · serves 4
prep 25 min · cook 10 min · plus 1 h hands-off time
~213 cal · 32g protein · 14g carbs · 3g fat · 3g fiber · 7g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Ecuadorian is its own dish. The shrimp are cooked first, poached for no more than a few minutes, and then chilled in a generous, soupy mix of lime juice, a little orange juice, tomato, thinly sliced red onion, cilantro and a splash of tomato sauce or ketchup. A ladle of the cooled shrimp broth goes in too, and it is eaten with a spoon as a starter or a light meal.
What comes with it depends on the region. On the coast the essential partner is chifles, thin fried green chips; in the highlands, and in Quito especially, people add tostado, toasted corn kernels, and canguil, popcorn. Some cooks stir in a little mustard or a chopped bell pepper.
The onion is rubbed with salt and rinsed so it is crisp but mild, and the shrimp are pulled from the pot as soon as they turn pink, so they stay tender.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 500 g raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 each onion piece and a celery stalk, for the poaching water
- 1/2 cup cooled shrimp poaching broth
- 1 red onion, very thinly sliced
- 2 ripe tomatoes, finely diced
- 1/2 green bell pepper, finely diced, optional
- 1/2 cup (from about 8 limes) fresh lime juice
- 1 orange, juiced
- 1/4 cup ketchup or tomato sauce
- 1 tsp yellow mustard, optional
- 1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- to taste salt
- to taste chifles (green chips), tostado (toasted corn) and canguil (popcorn), to serve
Instructions
- 1Rub the sliced onion with a teaspoon of salt, leave for 5 minutes, then rinse well in cold water and drain.✎ Chef’s noteThis keeps the onion crisp but takes away its sharp bite.
- 2Bring a pot of salted water to the boil with the onion piece and celery. Add the shrimp and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, just until pink. Lift them out into a bowl of iced water, and keep half a cup of the broth to cool.
- 3Drain the shrimp and put them in a bowl with the onion, tomato, bell pepper and cilantro.
- 4Stir together the lime juice, orange juice, ketchup, mustard, oil and cooled broth, pour over the shrimp and season with salt.
- 5Cover and chill for at least 1 hour. Serve cold in bowls, with chifles, tostado and popcorn on the side.
Ecuadorian coastal and highland tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Pichincha (Andes). Altitude sets the menu. Quito sits around 2,850 metres up, where water boils below 100 degrees and everything simmered takes longer, and the potato does the work that rice does lower down. Locro is simply the Quechua word ruqru, meaning stew, and it arrives thick with potato, cheese and avocado.
🗺️
Ecuador. Ecuadorian ceviche is not a failed attempt at the Peruvian kind: the shrimp are cooked first and the dish is served swimming in its own tomato-and-citrus juice, often with popcorn or plantain chips tipped in. Encebollado, albacore tuna with yuca and pickled red onion, is the closest thing to a national dish and is eaten for breakfast.
🌍
South America. Migration reworked the plate within living memory. Japanese arrivals in Peru and Brazil produced Nikkei cooking, Italians made pasta and pizza entirely ordinary in Argentina, Uruguay and Sao Paulo, and West African cooking carried into Bahia by the slave trade gave Brazil dende palm oil, okra and a whole ritual repertoire.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Ecuador
LlapingachosGolden potato patties with melting cheese centers, griddled and served with peanut sauce and pickled onions.
Bolón de VerdeA ball of mashed green plantain stuffed with cheese, pan-crisped golden, the filling coastal breakfast of Ecuador.
EncebolladoA brothy tuna-and-cassava soup topped with a tangle of pickled red onion, Ecuador's midday cure-all.
Browse all Ecuador recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Soup keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and freezes well. Reheat gently and loosen with a little water or stock if needed.
Make it an Ecuador meal
Colada MoradaDrink
Higos con QuesoDessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Ceviche de Camarón (Ecuadorian Shrimp Ceviche)?
Briefly poached shrimp in a cold, soupy marinade of lime and orange juice, tomato, red onion, cilantro and a little of their own broth, served with plantain chips, toasted corn and popcorn.
Where does Ceviche de Camarón (Ecuadorian Shrimp Ceviche) come from?
Ceviche de Camarón (Ecuadorian Shrimp Ceviche) is an Ecuadorian dish from Pichincha (Andes), Ecuador.
Can Ceviche de Camarón (Ecuadorian Shrimp Ceviche) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Ceviche de Camarón (Ecuadorian Shrimp Ceviche) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Ceviche de Camarón (Ecuadorian Shrimp Ceviche) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Ceviche de Camarón (Ecuadorian Shrimp Ceviche) take to make?
About 1 h 35 min in all: 25 minutes prep and 10 minutes cooking, plus 1 h of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 4.
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