Pesto Grilled Shrimp

Pesto is a sauce made of basil, pinenuts, parmesan, garlic, and olive oil and it gets brushed onto some grilled shrimp kabobs. I made some homemade pesto the other day and brushed it on these shrimp kabobs. So easy and good! 

Shrimp can be difficult to cook on the grill because it cooks super fast. That is why I placed them on some kabob sticks so that once one side is done cooking you can easily flip them over. If you don’t watch the shrimp, they can turn out to have a very rubbery texture, if they are too overdone and that is not good eats. 🙂 

Ingredients for  Homemade Pesto 

Are you wondering why I used a specific ingredient for a recipe? Check out this section for substitutes as well.  

Fresh Basil:  do not use dried basil here, always use fresh from a garden or the supermarket. 

Fresh Parmesan:  You can grate your own parmesan cheese or buy the stuff pre-shredded in the bag. 

Pinenuts  - These nuts can get a little spendy per pound. If you are looking for another type of nut that can be subbed instead of pinenuts, try walnuts, pecans, or almonds. 

Olive Oil - Stream the olive oil in after the above ingredients are well blended 

How to Make Pesto Grilled Shrimp  

Add the basil leaves, parmesan, pine nuts, garlic,  salt and pepper to taste to a food processor or blender.  Process half of these ingredients first before adding in the olive oil. 

Stream in the olive oil while the blender is processing the other ingredients.   Continue blending until well combined, adding additional olive oil if needed.

Store the pesto in a jar or plastic container with an airtight lid. It will last in the fridge for up to 1 week. You can also freeze homemade pesto in ice cube trays.  

Peel and devein the shrimp. Marinade the shrimp in a bowl with about 2 or 3 heaping tablespoons of pesto or just place the shrimp on wooden skewers and grill on each side until the shrimp turn pink. Then brush the pesto sauce on each side while grilling. The shrimp are ready when they turn pink on both sides. 

Other Great Pesto Recipes for Summer 

Pesto Pizza Recipe 

Kale Pesto with Toasted Pinenuts 

Homemade Pesto Recipe 

Italian Pasta Salad - Weight Watchers 

*If you make this recipe please comment and rate the recipe below to let everyone know how it is, or tag me on Instagram! If you want to upload a photo yoHow do you figure out points for recipes? 

How do you figure out points for recipes? 

The recipe builder app from WW is what I use to figure out points for all my recipes. It comes with your WW membership. I would suggest entering my recipes into the builder once you’ve tried it and liked it. That way you can easily track your day. It is also helpful to use if you have a question about the points regarding a recipe. 

Why am I still getting different points from what you have listed? 

This could be quite a number of reasons and here are a few that I have come across. 

• Number of servings 
• Low-Fat vs Fat-Free ingredients
• Zero Point foods are different for all 3 plans 
• Using the nutrition info calculator instead of the recipe builder 
  

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