Shrimp and grits is a fascinating dish. On one hand, it’s popular and many people love it, partly due to the combination of textures and flavors. Using shrimp also makes the dish much more filling than grits would be otherwise and is a fantastic idea for seafood lovers.
Yet, there’s confusion too. For one thing, is shrimp and grits a type of breakfast or should it be served later in the day? The answer entirely depends on who you ask.
That’s not even the main point of contention. There’s also plenty of debate about whether shrimp and grits even tastes good. Of course, if you’re considering what to serve with shrimp and grits, you probably love the flavor profile. Even then, you may enjoy some sides more than others.
Because the meal already contains plenty of protein and carbs, the best sides for shrimp and grits are often vegetable focused, such as collard greens, green beans, or a vibrant salad. Of course, there’s always space for exceptions, especially when we’re talking about classics like cornbread or buttermilk biscuits.
P.S. There are many ways to change up the recipe for shrimp and grits. You can even use dried shrimp as an extra ingredient to boost the flavor profile.
What To Serve With Shrimp And Grits (10 Sides To Try)
Collard Greens
Dark leafy greens offer a ton of nutrients, while also nicely contrasting the flavor of your shrimp and grits. Sautéeing greens is one of the easiest approaches, as you just need the greens, plus some oil and perhaps some herbs or spices.
What’s more, sautéeing is a pretty fast cooking method, so much of the flavor of your greens remains intact. This means you actually get a flavorful side, rather than a bland pile of greens.
Of course, you don’t need to stick to collard greens. Plenty of other dark leafy greens can be cooked the same way, including mustard greens, kale, and spinach. You can choose based on your flavor preferences and the greens you have on hand.
Authentic Southern Collard Greens
Shrimp and grits is a classic Southern dish, so it makes sense to pair them with a Southern side, like Southern Collard Greens. These collard greens are cooked using a slower approach than sautéeing, one that leaves them simmering in a flavorful broth for an hour.
The recipe also relies on either smoked ham hocks or turkey wings, which provide the dish with much of its richness. The resulting greens are much more interesting than regular sautéed collard greens, so they give your meal even more flavor.
Green Beans
Green beans are another interesting vegetable to consider. Like collard greens, they can be delicious when prepared well. They don’t require much effort either, which is always helpful when you’re trying to get dinner on the table.
There are plenty of options for preparing the beans, such as steaming them, sautéeing them, or even serving them as part of a salad.
You can also experiment with different varieties of beans, including wax beans, purple string beans, and romano beans. While the varieties are often similar, there are subtle differences in flavor and texture.
Lemon Butter Parmesan Green Beans
These Lemon Butter Parmesan Green Beans live up to their name, as they rely on butter, lemon zest, and parmesan cheese. Those three flavors pair together well, with the saltiness of the parmesan contrasting the freshness of the lemon and green beans.
There are also pine nuts in the mix. These provide some fat and an interesting texture contrast. However, they’re an optional ingredient and are pretty expensive, so you can leave them out if you wish.
The extra ingredients bring this recipe to life. They make it much more exciting than a regular dish of green beans and give you more texture as well.
Garden Salad
In many ways, a garden salad is the perfect side for grits. The salad provides plenty of vegetables and fiber, which are the only components missing from your meal.
Salads also have exceptional versatility. You can experiment with the dressing, the add-ins, and even the base vegetables. Some salads actually skip leafy greens entirely and use ingredients like cucumber, beans, or even beets as the base ingredient.
When designing your salad, it’s important to consider how the different flavors work together and how well they pair with shrimp and grits. As a starting point, consider the herbs and spices used in the salad dressing and with your shrimp. If these match or are complementary, the meal should be stunning.
The Best Classic House Salad
This Classic House Salad is a great way to add vegetables without making things too complicated. The salad uses romaine lettuce as the base ingredient, which is then complemented by cherry tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, carrots, and croutons.
Then there’s the dressing, which brings all these ingredients together and makes the salad stand out. Red wine vinegar, maple syrup, dijon mustard, and oregano all feature here, each adding their own nuances to the salad.
That said, you could easily make this salad using a different dressing. Or, you could keep the dressing and change the base vegetables. That’s the joy of salads, there are so many possible changes, most of which taste fantastic.
Dark Leafy Green Salad
Delicious as they are, regular salads can get a little boring after a while. So, why not try a salad with dark leafy greens instead? Kale, collard greens, and spinach are the main choices here, but there are plenty of others too, like mustard greens, collard greens, arugula, and bok choy.
Such salads are often hardier than a traditional lettuce salad while also being high in nutrients. Beyond that, they offer a nice change (which is reason enough to try them out).
Plus, these salads are just as customizable as a regular lettuce salad. This allows you to play around with the ingredients and flavors until you find a version you love.
Parmesan Garlic Kale Salad
This Parmesan Garlic Kale Salad is one way to eat your kale and actually enjoy it. The salad is also straightforward, containing just eight easy-to-find ingredients.
In addition to the parmesan, garlic, and kale from the title, the salad also features olive oil, lemon juice, croutons (homemade or store-bought), plus salt and pepper for seasoning. The lemon juice is notable, as it makes the flavor of your kale much less intense. In some ways, it’s the lemon juice that really brings this meal to life.
As for the kale itself, the recipe creator recommends using curly kale, partly because it softens well. Of course, you’re not limited to this and can easily experiment with another type of kale if you prefer.
Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes contain a decent number of carbs, which makes them seem like an odd side for shrimp and grits. Yet, they’re also delicious and comforting. They could also be exactly what you feel like.
One fantastic aspect is the opportunity for variation. You could bake your sweet potatoes, turn them into fries, try mashed sweet potatoes, or do something completely different. Some people even scoop some mashed sweet potatoes on top of their grits before adding the shrimp.
Parmesan Garlic Sweet Potato Fries
What do you think of these Parmesan Garlic Sweet Potato Fries? The recipe takes the idea of sweet potato fries and kicks them up a few levels with the addition of olive oil, parmesan, and minced garlic.
The parmesan and garlic provide a surprising amount of extra flavor for just two ingredients. If you want more, try adding an extra herb like rosemary. This will boost the flavor profile without making the recipe too complicated.
Delicious Bread
Fresh bread is high in carbs too, yet it’s a fantastic choice with grits. Part of the reason is that the bread can be used to sop up juices from your meal, allowing you to get every last morsel of flavor.
Beyond that, bread simply tastes delicious. This is particularly true if you’ve made it yourself or picked a freshly baked loaf up from the local bakery.
Crusty bread is a popular choice here, like a French baguette or even just toast. However, you’re not limited to these. Most types of bread will be delicious, including many flavored versions.
Speaking of flavored bread, what about trying garlic bread with shrimp and grits? After all, garlic bread works well with almost any meal imaginable.
Sun-Dried Tomato Bread
This Sun-Dried Tomato Bread uses sun-dried tomatoes as the star ingredient, but that’s not the end of the story. The recipe also relies on asiago cheese, parmesan, and garlic, which all provide extra flavor complexity.
Interestingly, this isn’t sourdough bread, as no sourdough starter is required. Despite this, the texture and flavor are similar to what you would expect from sourdough.
The main limitation is that this is a traditional bread recipe, so it relies on all purpose flour. The recipe creator hasn’t tested the recipe with any other types of flour. You might be able to make a gluten free version with a bit of experimentation, but your version would probably be quite different than the original.
Buttermilk Biscuits
Buttermilk biscuits are an American classic, so it makes sense to serve them alongside your shrimp and grits. Biscuits also have the same appeal as bread, in that you can use them to sop up any excess liquids from your grits.
Of course, the approach works best if you have excellent recipes for your shrimp, grits, and biscuits. Doing so gives you the best possible balance of flavors and ensures that everything works well together. Poor quality biscuits or grits could throw off your entire meal.
Flaky Southern Buttermilk Biscuits
The difference between regular biscuits and Southern ones is sometimes thought to be the type of flour used. Other times, the distinction appears to come from the techniques.
With these Flaky Southern Buttermilk Biscuits, the Southern aspect comes from the techniques. You’ll notice this when you read the recipe, as there are plenty of very specific instructions about how to make your biscuits turn out perfectly every time.
Cornbread
Now we come to cornbread. It’s another delicious carb-laden treat to enjoy – one that’s a natural fit with grits.
There are probably thousands of basic cornbread recipes out there, often with just subtle differences in their flavor profiles and ratios of ingredients. Sometimes the difference isn’t even in the ingredients, but rather the shape, such as when you make cornbread muffins instead of a cornbread loaf.
Then there are the flavored versions, like bacon jalapeno cornbread. Even adding a few herbs or spices could bring the cornbread to life, making it much more exciting than before.
Gluten Free Cornbread With Honey
Cornbread recipes often include some regular flour, making them a poor choice for anyone with gluten intolerance. This Gluten Free Cornbread with Honey is a great exception, as it uses gluten free flour with cornmeal to create an entirely gluten free dish.
Then there’s the honey. This provides some sweetness, while also giving the cornbread a more complex flavor than normal. For the best effects, try using raw honey, preferably honey that comes from a single type of flower. This provides the most interesting flavor profile and should make the cornbread truly stand out.
Fried Green Tomatoes
Fried green tomatoes don’t sound particularly appealing, given that we don’t normally eat tomatoes when they’re green and unripe. Yet, when made well, fried green tomatoes can be surprisingly delicious.
Much of the appeal comes from contrast, as fried green tomatoes are crispy on the outside, yet soft and juicy on the inside. There’s also a distinct tang from the unripe tomatoes, something you don’t get with other types of fried foods.
Southern Fried Green Tomatoes
These Southern Fried Green Tomatoes are a fantastic place to begin with this treat. They’re a little different than normal, as the coating for the tomatoes includes cornmeal and flavorful breadcrumbs.
The use of cornmeal is undoubtedly what makes these fried tomatoes Southern rather than the traditional style. That combination of cornmeal and spices with the breadcrumbs makes the fried green tomatoes much more exciting than normal.
This recipe also includes substitution ideas, such as ways to make your green tomatoes spicier or to increase their crunch.
Okra
Okra is an odd vegetable, as it becomes somewhat slimy when cooked, allowing it to act like a thickener in soups and stews. This sliminess can be off-putting and might even stop you from using okra entirely.
Yet, okra can be delicious when cooked well. High-heat cooking methods generally work best for avoiding sliminess. It may also help to blanch the okra before cooking it.
Why go to all this work? Well, for one thing, you might find that you enjoy okra once you’re familiar with cooking it. Okra is also a popular ingredient in Southern recipes. This makes it a natural choice for pairing with a Southern main like shrimp and grits.
Crispy Fried Okra
This Crispy Fried Okra is a fantastic way to get past the potential sliminess of okra. The recipe uses a combination of cornmeal and flour to create a crispy exterior that gives the okra considerable crunch.
There’s actually no sliminess at all, making this a viable treat even for people who usually hate okra. The crunchiness also provides an excellent contrast to the textures of your shrimp and grits.
Even if you’re not normally a fan of okra, why not give this recipe a try? You might be surprised by how much you enjoy it.
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