Gullah Gold Shrimp & Grits
Gullah Gold Shrimp & Grits the way it deserves to be made: yellow stone-ground grits with real corn backbone, Gulf shrimp seasoned and cooked in a spicy red Creole sauce built on the holy trinity. Finely chipped andouille runs through every bite of the sauce. The Gullah Geechee people of the South Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry made this dish before it ever appeared on a restaurant menu, a fisherman's breakfast that became one of the most beloved dishes in the South. This version leans into the city-Creole register: the tomatoes, the trinity, the heat.
Serves 4 · Prep 15 min · Cook 35 min · Total ~50 min
Ingredients
- 1½ lb large Gulf shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 2 cups stone-ground yellow grits (not instant)
- 4 cups water
- 1 cup whole milk
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
- ½ cup sharp cheddar, grated
- 8 oz andouille sausage, finely chopped
- 1 large yellow onion, finely diced
- 4 celery stalks, finely diced
- 1 large green bell pepper, finely diced
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 can (14 oz) crushed tomatoes
- ½ cup shrimp or chicken stock
- 2 Tbsp Gullah Gold, divided
- 1 tsp hot sauce, plus more on the table
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 green onions, sliced thin
- Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
Directions
- 1
Start the grits. Bring water and milk to a gentle boil in a heavy saucepan. Whisk in the yellow grits slowly. Reduce heat to low. Cook, stirring often, 20–25 minutes until thick and creamy. Season generously with salt. Finish with butter and cheddar. Keep warm on low, stirring occasionally.
- 2
Render the andouille. In a wide cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat, cook the finely chopped andouille until the fat renders and the pieces crisp up, 4–5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Leave the fat.
- 3
Cook the trinity. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion, celery, and bell pepper to the rendered andouille fat. Cook 7–8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until very soft and fragrant. The vegetables should almost melt into the pan. Add garlic and 1 Tbsp Gullah Gold. Stir 1 minute.
- 4
Build the red sauce. Add tomato paste and stir into the trinity for 2 minutes until it darkens slightly. Add crushed tomatoes, stock, Worcestershire, and hot sauce. Stir to combine. Return the crispy andouille. Simmer 10–12 minutes until the sauce thickens and turns deep red.
- 5
Season and cook the shrimp. Toss shrimp with remaining 1 Tbsp Gullah Gold and a pinch of salt. Nestle them into the sauce in a single layer. Cook 2–3 minutes per side until pink and just curled. Remove from heat the moment they're done.
- 6
Serve. Spoon the yellow grits into wide shallow bowls. Ladle the red shrimp and andouille sauce generously over the top, you want the sauce pooling around the grits. Scatter green onions. Hot sauce on the table.
Greer's Kitchen Notes
- Yellow stone-ground grits have a deeper corn flavor than white grits and hold up better under a heavy sauce. Don't substitute quick grits, the texture is completely different.
- Chop the andouille fine, almost like a mince. You want it distributed throughout every bite of the sauce, not sitting in big slices on top.
- The trinity is the backbone of this dish. Cook it until it's genuinely soft and almost jammy, that's where the sauce gets its depth. Don't rush step 3.
- Gullah Gold goes in twice: once to season the sauce base, once on the shrimp before they hit the pan. The second application gives the shrimp a light crust that holds up in the sauce.
- Watch the shrimp closely. A C shape = done. An O shape = overcooked. The difference is about 60 seconds.
Made with Gullah Gold, yellow grits, red sauce, the coast in every bite.