Shrimp Bacon Sliders

Forget bacon wrapped shrimp. This slider made with shrimp, bacon and poblano peppers is mouthwatering. It’s sandwiched in an earthy corn whole wheat tortilla and a butter garlic lime aioli.

I woke up this morning and David from A Bachelor & His Grill challenged the members of the BEST Food Blogger Recipes Pinterest board to a Burger THROWDOWN. It’s pretty hard to compete with David. He is the 2012 Char-Broil All-Star, after all.

I opened the fridge and saw a 2-lb bag of shrimp that had been begging for me to cook it. I had been stumped the past two days on how I could make something different. Burgers were the last thing on my mind, because past seafood burgers I have tried are dry, and not all that great.

I wasn’t ready to quit. I kept searching through the fridge and found a pound of bacon and a poblano pepper hidden in the back of the veggie drawer. I was onto something here. Bacon would surely juice up this burger.

I cooked the bacon in the oven for about 15 minutes. I didn’t want it crispy, but it needs to be somewhat cooked because the shrimp patties are going to cook quickly, and you don’t want raw bacon in your patties.

I peeled and deveined the shrimp and tossed it in the food processor to grind it up. Then, I did the same thing with the bacon. I took the stem off the poblano and seeded it and tossed it in the food processor to mince it up, as well. Then, I minced some red onion and garlic.

Next step was seasoning the patties. I usually put soy sauce in my burgers, but for this recipe, I used ponzu sauce because it is citrus-based, and citrus goes great with seafood.

Finally, I added the zest of half a lime and salt. I cooked one patty in a pan with a little butter, and it was spot on. Since I was grilling these, I still wanted the butter taste, so that’s when I decided to add some butter to the patty mix. Why not?

I grilled a couple up, and was so happy…as were my facebook followers.

You could stop at this point, add a little ailoi and still have a great appetizer…or you can continue on for something even better…something that might win a THROWDOWN challenge

I looked around the kitchen for bun options, and decided on corn whole wheat tortillas, because I knew they would be light and earthy. I cut out rounds with a cookie cutter.

Next step, the aioli. I love shrimp with garlic butter, so that was the start point. Then, I mixed in a little mayo, limejuice and heat.

I had a few grilling and assembly issues at first. I tried to include a slice of tomato on the patty during the grilling process, and God rest their souls, a few slipped through the grates when I performed the flip.

I finally realized it was easier to add the slippery tomato at the end, off the grill.

I didn’t expect to wake up this morning and end the day loving seafood burgers, but hey in this fun foodie world, anything’s possible. Enjoy!

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Shrimp Bacon Sliders

Servings: 20 sliders

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 2 lbs. shrimp
• ▢ 8 slices bacon, partially cooked
• ▢ 1 poblano, seeded
• ▢ ¼ cup red onion
• ▢ 1 clove garlic
• ▢ 1 tablespoon ponzu sauce
• ▢ zest of ½ lime
• ▢ ½ tsp. kosher salt
• ▢ 2 tablespoon butter, softened
• ▢ 8 Artisan Corn & Whole Wheat Tortillas
• ▢ 3-4 tomatoes, thinly sliced (optional)

Garlic Lime Aioli

• ▢ ¼ cup mayonnaise
• ▢ 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• ▢ juice of ½ lime
• ▢ ¼ tsp. salt
• ▢ ¼ tsp. garlic powder
• ▢ pinch of cayenne, optional

Instructions 

• 
• Peel and devein the shrimp. Separately process the shrimp, bacon and veggies in a food processor, until the meat is ground and the veggies are minced.
• Combine the ingredients in a large bowl, and add the ponzu, lime zest, salt and butter.
• 
• Shape the mixture into 20 slider-sized patties.
• 
• Using a round cookie cutter, cut 5 rounds out of each tortilla. You should end up with 40 rounds.
• 
• Spread aioli (recipe below) on each tortilla round.
• Light the grill on high. Prepare the sliders in batches by grilling 10 at a time. Place patties on a hot grill for 3 minutes. Flip. Grill for 3 more minutes.
• 
• Place a tortilla round, sauce side down on top of each patty and flip. Grill for about 30 seconds.
• 
• Place another tortilla round, sauce side down on each patty and flip. Grill for about 30 seconds.
• 
• Remove from the heat and add a tomato slice under the patty. Serve immediately.
• Alternate Cooking Method: You can also cook these in a hot skillet with a little melted butter, following the same technique.

Garlic Lime Aioli

• 
• Combine all ingredients, until smooth.

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

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