Give the classic dim sum dish a very fun update by turning prawn (shrimp) toast into smash prawn toast tacos. Blitz your topping, spread onto mini tortillas and pan-fry until golden. They’re super quick to make, easy to prep in advance AND packed with light, fresh flavors. Serve with sweet chili jam and garlic aioli for a wonderful twist on the smash taco trend, perfect for entertaining and weeknights.

Prawn (or shrimp) toast is a classic Cantonese dim sum dish and on paper, it promises SO much. It’s hard to see how a gorgeously spiced topping slathered onto fluffy bread and deep-fried until super crispy can go wrong, but whenever I’ve ordered it out, it’s generally been a big disappointment. So often the topping lacks both prawns AND flavor, plus the bread is overly greasy and not crispy.

But, these prawn toast inspired tacos are anything but lacking in flavor! This is a lovely, light twist on the smash taco trend, and one of my favorites to make for a quick weeknight meal or easy entertaining. It’s as simple as blitzing your prawns with a few lovely aromatics, then spreading onto mini tortillas and pan-frying until golden.

They’re super quick to cook (I’m talking less than five minutes) and you can prepare the topping in advance to save time. For summer entertaining, I also LOVE to cook them on an outdoor grill and that’s EVEN faster as you can cook more at once.

Love a smash taco? Try these smash dumpling tacos, lahmacun (Turkish pizza) tacos, banh mi inspired tacos or the classic smash burger tacos next.

Ingredients

• Prawns (shrimp). They need to be raw for this recipe. I find it’s a lot more affordable to buy frozen raw prawns, so that’s what I’ve used here. Just make sure they’re properly defrosted before using them and that you pat them dry, or your mixture could be too wet.
• Fish sauce. I know this can be divisive as it’s a strong flavor, but I highly recommend using it here. It brings a beautiful, deep umami flavor to the tacos that salt alone can’t match. If you don’t want to use it, just use more soy sauce.
• Mini tortillas. I’ve used flour tortillas, but you could use corn tortillas if you like. Or use gluten-free flour tortillas.
• Cornflour (cornstarch). This (along with the egg) acts as a binder and will stop the prawn mixture from becoming too watery. It also keeps it light and fluffy. You could use regular plain flour if you don’t have cornflour.

How to make them

Add everything (except the sesame seeds) for your prawn topping into the bowl of a food processor or mini chopper and blitz until smooth.

Spread a thin layer of the prawn mixture on top of each mini tortilla, then scatter with the sesame seeds. Pan-fry until golden, then top with aioli, sweet chili jam, more herbs and serve.

Got a question?

Like this recipe? Try these easy taco recipes next

If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can leave a recipe rating and a comment below. And remember to tag @DishedByKate on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok if you’ve made one of my recipes. Seeing your recreations really makes my day 😊.

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