The Only Type Of Tortilla You Should Be Using For Shrimp Tacos

A good shrimp taco is all about simplicity. When the mood strikes, all it takes is a few fresh ingredients and you can have dinner on the table in no time. While it's easy to get lost in the sauce when choosing taco fillings, like crunchy slaw, tangy crema, and diced onions, the base of the taco — the tortilla — can get a little short changed. There are plenty of arguments on both sides as to whether shrimp tacos should be in flour or corn tortillas, so to cut through all the noise we reached out to Marc Marrone, the executive chef at Arriba Abajo inside the Thompson + tommie Austin hotels in Texas, for a definitive answer. His choice? "I actually love a good flour tortilla for these," he said. "It's generally a personal preference. I think things that are more loaded up, and a build-your-own scenario like a fajita, is great with a flour tortilla because of its durability."

Yes, believe it or not, the difference between corn and flour tortillas, at least from a chef's perspective, often comes down to texture and durability as much as flavor. Corn tortillas, which are generally more often used for tacos, do not have the same stretchy properties of flour tortillas that come from gluten proteins. So when a corn tortilla is piled high with ingredients that have a lot of moisture, like shrimp with avocado corn salsa, it falls apart much easier than a taco with a flour tortilla.

Of course, just because flour tortillas have more structure doesn't mean you can never use a corn tortilla for making shrimp tacos. In fact we love corn tortillas for fish tacos here at Chowhound. Flour is just the better option if you know the tacos won't be eaten right away, like when you're serving a large group — or in Marc Marrone's case, serving multiple restaurant customers. Corn tortillas, however, have a sweeter taste than their floury brethren, which is very complementary to the sweet-and-savory flavors of fresh shrimp. Even Marrone agrees, and said, "if you are eating them hot right away a great fresh corn tortilla is always a winner."

If you're worried about the structure of shrimp tacos, but you still want to make them with corn tortillas, you have a couple of options. If you're serving a group, keep the tortillas and toppings in separate serving containers and let guests assemble the tacos themselves. This will cut down on the amount of time the ingredients will sit inside the tortillas. Or, if you want to serve the tacos assembled, consider going with hard shell tacos (you can make them right in the toaster) or serving the shrimp taco ingredients on baked corn tortillas as tostadas. You could also toss the ingredients together with crispy tortilla chips for a fresh take on nachos. This way you will still get all the flavor of the corn tortillas without sacrificing any structure.