Easy Shrimp Cure for Steelhead and Salmon

Shrimp and Prawn Cure Ingredients

• White Sugar
• Kosher Salt
• Bait Cure
• Shrimp / Prawns (raw or cooked)

The largest ingredients in this recipe are sugar and kosher salt, the bait cure is strictly for coloring. My preference for bait cure is the Pro-Cure Redd Hot Double as I often use it for my salmon eggs as well.

Sugar to Salt is 5:1 Ratio 

This is a sugar based cure with five parts sugar to one part kosher salt. The bait cure should be a tiny fraction of the entire dry brine. To clarify, here’s an example amounts I might use for this dry shrimp brine:

• 1 cup of White Sugar
• 1/5 cup of Kosher Salt
• 2 teaspoons of Bait Cure

Step 1 – Measure out white sugar and kosher salt ingredients by a 5:1 ratio (see ingredients above). Add them to a plastic container to be mixed around.

Step 2 – Add a tiny amount of bait cure to the brine. If you’re mixing around 1 cup of white sugar the bait cure should be 1-3 teaspoons. See the ingredients and measurement examples above. 

Tip: I’d recommend using a storage plastic jar/container so you mix a large batch for future usage. Make sure to mark it so you know what coloring/cure you used. 

Step 3 – If you’re using frozen shrimp/prawns ensure they are thawed out. Then laid out on a paper towel to absorb any excess moisture from ice. They don’t have to be completely dried out.

Tip: Use latex gloves when handling the shrimp/prawns to avoid any transfer of scents

Step 4 – Add the shrimp into a Ziploc bag.

I personally like the large Ziploc freezer bags but it comes down to how many shrimp/prawns you’re curing. If you want to immediately freeze the shrimp/prawns in this same Ziploc bag it has to be freezer rated. 

Step 5 – Add the premixed dry brine into the Ziploc by lightly coating the shrimp. You don’t need a ton of excess brine shaking around in the bag with the shrimp. Mix the cure with the shrimp by gently tumbling the bag for 1-2 minutes ensuring all the shrimp has been coated. You should notice some moisture immediately starting to show now as the cure will begin extracting that from the shrimp. 

Step 6 – Place the Ziploc bag into the fridge for 24 hours. Over those 24 hours, I’d recommend tumbling the bag 2 or 3 times whenever you think of it to ensure the all shrimp is getting coated thoroughly.

Step 7 –  After 24 hours in the refrigerator pull out the bag(s) and you should notice there is additional juice in the bag. This is the moisture pulled out of the shrimp/prawn over the curing process.

Step 8 – This step is not mandatory but before I freeze or use them, I like to dry out the shrimp a little. To do this I remove the shrimp from the Ziploc bag with latex gloves and place onto a paper towel to dry out a little. You can quickly pat them dry with paper towel or leave to air dry for 15 minutes. 

Tip: Remember they’ll be quite wet with the excess juices and can stain your fingers if you don’t wear latex gloves.

Step 9 –  Store or use immediately. If you’re planning to fish these immediately, keep them in the fridge. Otherwise, freeze them in a dry freezer Ziploc bag, glass jar or shrink wrapped freezer bag. I’m a big fan of Food Saver’s so I like to shrink wrap them.

Tip: Freeze them in batches (amounts) that you would take to the water. Don’t freeze a massive bag together so you have to thaw out an entire bag each time you want to fish.