Red Lobster Parrot Bay Coconut Shrimp

Red Lobster Parrot Bay Coconut Shrimp is a long-time menu favorite at the Red Lobster. You can recreate this dish at home with this easy copycat recipe. This shrimp appetizer goes well with clam chowder!

Coconut shrimp with pina colada dipping sauce on a plate


Hands down, Red Lobster Parrot Bay Coconut Shrimp is one of my long-time favorite recipes from the Red Lobster. It seems that this dish has been renamed Parrot Isle Jumbo Coconut Shrimp. Whatever the name, you can get this simply irresistible shrimp dish either as a main dish or as an appetizer.

The shrimp is breaded with coconut, fried until perfectly crisp, and then served with a wonderfully light and flavorful pina colada dip. Red Lobster also includes salsa on the side. Now you can recreate this dish at home, and you won’t believe how easy it is to make.

Ingredients

Here’s what you need to make Parrot Bay coconut shrimp:

  • Large shrimp
  • Sweetened coconut flakes
  • Plain bread crumbs
  • Cornstarch
  • Pina colada mix
  • Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
  • Powdered sugar

How to Make Red Lobster Coconut Shrimp

  1. In a deep bowl, combine bread crumbs, cornstarch, and coconut flakes.
  2. In a small bowl, combine pina colada mix, powdered sugar, and rum.
  3. Place additional cornstarch in a separate small bowl.
  4. Heat oil to 375 degrees.
  5. Coat the shrimp twice as follows:
    • First Coating: Cornstarch, then in the pina colada mix, then in bread crumb/coconut mixture.
    • Second Coating: Pina colada mix and then the bread crumb/coconut mixture.
  6. Place the prepared shrimp carefully into the hot oil and fry until golden brown.
  7. Remove from the fryer and drain.

Recipe Notes and Tips

When choosing shrimp for this recipe, I personally like to go for the larger size just like Red Lobster. They cost a little more, but you will have less work in prepping your shrimp, and I personally like to devein my shrimp when I prep them. (If you watch the grocery store ads you can often find shrimp on sale.)

That thin black string down the back of a shrimp is not actually a vein but rather the shrimp’s digestive tract, and its dark color means it is filled with grit. Even so, the vein is not harmful if eaten. So the decision to devein shrimp is basically a matter of personal preference and aesthetics. And, with jumbo shrimp, it is fairly easy to devein them.

Devein your shrimp by using a sharp paring knife to make a slit along the back and lift out the vein with the tip of the blade. You can also use a shrimp deveiner, a knife-like kitchen tool made specifically for deveining shrimp with their shells on. This tool can be purchased at any kitchen supply store.

Butterflying your shrimp helps them cook more evenly and gives you an attractive presentation. Watch this video and see a three-step demonstration of how to devein and butterfly your shrimp.

  • Tip: To remove that shrimp smell from your hands, it seems that toothpaste works well according to Lifehacker.
A plate of jumbo coconut shrimp and pina colada dipping sauce

More Copycat Red Lobster Recipes

Love shrimp? Try these recipes

Be sure to check out more of my easy shrimp recipes and the best casual dining restaurant recipes.

Coconut shrimp with pina colada dipping sauce on a plate

Red Lobster Parrot Bay Coconut Shrimp

Recreate this Red Lobster shrimp at home. 
4.88 from 16 votes
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Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: Seafood
Keyword: Red Lobster Recipes, Shrimp
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4
Calories: 416kcal

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pound large shrimp (butterfly the shrimp)
  • 1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
  • 1 cup plain bread crumbs
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch (for mixing with coconut and bread crumbs)
  • 1/2 cup pina colada mix
  • 3 tablespoons Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
  • 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup cornstarch

Instructions

  • In a deep bowl, combine the bread crumbs, 1/4 cup cornstarch, and the coconut and set aside. 
  • Combine the pina colada mix, the powdered sugar and the rum in a small mixing bowl and set aside. Place 1/2 cup cornstarch in a separate bowl.
  • Heat oil for deep frying – oil should be at 375 degrees for frying shrimp. Coat the shrimp twice as follows:
    First Coating: Cornstarch, then in the pina colada mix, then dust in bread crumb/coconut mixture. 
    Second Coating: Pina colada mix, and then the bread crumb/coconut mixture. 
  • Place the prepared shrimp carefully into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. Remove from the fryer and drain. 

Nutrition

Calories: 416kcal | Carbohydrates: 62g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 142mg | Sodium: 708mg | Potassium: 174mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin C: 2.3mg | Calcium: 135mg | Iron: 2.9mg

About Stephanie Manley

I recreate your favorite restaurant recipes, so you can prepare these dishes at home. I help you cook dinner, and serve up dishes you know your family will love. You can find most of the ingredients for all of the recipes in your local grocery store.

Stephanie is the author of CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home, and CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home 2.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. kevin Simala

    5 stars
    Love your recipe for “Parrot Bay. Coconut Shrimp”!
    The sauce is OUTSTANDING. In fact I didn’t like Red Lobster’s coconut dipping sauce for years, but your recipe is 100X better.
    Years ago I noticed a change in the coconut shrimp at R L. I called the manager over and he said they had to change the recipe for cost effectiveness, most notably no more Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum. I’m sure they whammyed the dipping sauce too.
    But not your Shrimp. THEY’RE LIKE THEY USED TO BE AT RED LOBSTER.
    BETTER!
    So if you want the real and authentic Parrot Bay Coconut Shrimp, make these ones! MAKE THEM NOW!

  2. Chad

    Please email me the dipping sauce recipe for the shrimp after it’s cooked. My wife loves it. I can’t find it anywhere.
    Thanks

  3. Meliss

    Just made this and it came out great. Only thing is, you definitely need to add some salt to the bread crumb/coconut mixture. It came out tasting a little flat, but sprinkling some salt on after frying took it to the next level.

  4. Sharnese Coney

    This is my first time reviewing a recipe and this is point on! I was afraid to try this at first because i have tried copy cat recipes that came out horrible. But I tried this one because I LOVE Red Lobsters coconut shrimp. I get it every time my family and I go to Red Lobster. But now I never have to go back and its all because of this recipe. It tastes exactly like the coconut shrimp at Red Lobster.

    I did change the recipe a bit though. I butterflied the shrimp so that it cooked well and got the perfect golden brown color. I also used panko bread crumbs instead of regular bread crumbs and left out the rum. BEST COPYCAT RECIPE EVER

  5. Liz Nelson

    5 stars
    I love Coconut shrimp and this recipe was no exception I can’t believe it was so easy to make at home! We will be making this again!

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