A fast and healthy dinner of Fajita-Spiced Shrimp Tacos topped with Dragon Fruit Salsa can be ready in under 30 minutes. Never tried dragon fruit before? Me neither until now, and these tacos are a great way to try your first dragon fruit.
I consider myself pretty adventurous when trying new foods.
While I was in college, there was a local farmer’s market set up in the bank parking lot right off of campus every Saturday morning.
It was roughly a 45 minute walk round trip from my apartment, but it was a walk I looked forward to on the weekends when time permitted.
Although the market was quite small, I discovered new-to-me produce: butternut, acorn, and spaghetti squash; habanero peppers; fresh beets; Swiss chard, the list goes on.
Over the years as I shop at various farmer’s markets and stores, I’ve tried rhubarb, cactus pear, tamarinds, blood oranges, fingerling potatoes, kale, kumquats, tomatillos, all produce that I never had as a kid.
Recently I was given the chance to try dragon fruit, a fruit that isn’t found anywhere near me in good ol’ south central PA. One of my goals for 2014 is to eat more vegetables, but let’s pretend I said fruits too.
So what does one do with dragon fruit for the first time?
After some recipe research, I noticed salsa was quite popular.
Considering I made shrimp tacos with mango salsa last year, why not branch off of that and make Fajita-Spiced Shrimp Tacos with Dragon Fruit Salsa?
There’s no need to marinade anything, so you can have these tacos on the table in under 30 minutes.
Dragon fruit is a cactus family fruit that has this beautiful magenta tone with green on the outside and white with black edible seeds on the inside.
First impression – I was thinking it was tropical like a mango, so I expected it to be much sweeter. However, dragon fruit by nature is juicy and mild, much like a kiwi or pear.
If you are hesitant in trying new foods, the flavor isn’t very assertive and won’t overpower your taste buds.
To read more about this tropical fruit, you can check out this dragon fruit demystified article from Eating Richly.
You can eat dragon fruit as is, but personally I’m not a huge plain fruit fan; I’d much rather make something with it than snack on it.
As I said earlier, salsa came to mind. I didn’t want to add other fruit for the fear of overshadowing the dragon fruit, so I went very basic – dragon fruit, lime juice, green onion, and cilantro.
The cubed fruit reminded me of dice, so if you ever have a casino-themed party, definitely add this salsa to your menu.
Although you can stop there and eat the salsa as is with chips, I wanted to make a meal out of it and knew tacos would be the perfect vessel.
I wanted the shrimp to have a spicy kick without much effort, so I tossed them with homemade fajita seasoning then cooked in some olive oil.
Because shrimp cooks so fast and the salsa takes maybe 15 minutes to chop and toss, you can easily have dinner on the table in under 30 minutes. How’s that for fast and healthy?
Fajita-Spiced Shrimp Tacos With Dragon Fruit Salsa
Ingredients
- 1 cup cubed dragon fruit (roughly 1 dragon fruit)
- 1/2 cup chopped green onion (roughly 1 green onion)
- 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro or cilantro paste
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- Half a pound raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, and patted dry
- 1 tablespoon fajita seasoning (homemade or store bought)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 flour tortillas
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, mix together the dragon fruit, green onion, cilantro, and lime juice. Chill in the refrigerator while you cook the shrimp.
- Toss the shrimp in fajita seasoning. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil until hot. Add the shrimp and cook for 3 minutes. Flip the shrimp over and cook for another 3-5 minutes or until the shrimp are pink and completely cooked through. Remove from the heat. Fill each tortilla with the shrimp then top with the salsa.
Taylor @ Food Faith Fitness says
I love me a good shrimp taco! I have always seen Dragon fruit and thought it was gorg…but had no idea what to do with it! Can’t wait to try this creative dinner! Pinned!
Kelly @ Kelly Bakes says
Your timing is impeccable. I’ve been engaged in an on-going facebook thread with one of my friends from grad school about unusual fruit or fruit that I’ve never tried before. It’s crazy that we can try fruits from all around the world now that our parents may never have heard of or that we didn’t grow up eating. I love what you’ve done with dragonfruit; you’re making me want tacos at 7:30 am (not an easy feat!)
Carla Cardello says
Oh my parents don’t know about 75% of the stuff I make and/or eat. Even with my coworkers I have to explain a lot of what I eat (ganache was a fun subject to teach lol)
How to Philosophize with Cake says
I’ve tried dragonfruit plain, but never in a dish. That salsa looks awesome, I’ll have to try it next time I see dragon fruit at the grocery store.
Oakley @ Friedas says
What a wonderful thing you’ve made with Dragon Fruit! Thank you for sharing your recipe. #FearNoFruit
sue/the view from great island says
This is right up my alley! I’ve been experimenting with exotic fruits for a while now, and dragon fruit was next on my list. I bought some at the end of last summer and didn’t get to use it before it spoiled. Now I can’t wait to find more. (Mine as shocking pink inside!) I think you’re brilliant to pair it with shrimp.
Carla Cardello says
Yes some variations are pink on the inside while others are white! I imagine they taste very similar.
Shawn @ IWYD says
Dragon fruit is so pretty! I bet these tacos taste amazing!!
JanetFCTC says
Those have got to be the coolest looking fruits ever. I had heard of them, but never actually seen one. I highly doubt I will be able to find any in my rural part of the country, But I’m bookmarking this recipe just in case I ever am lucky enough to get my hands on them!
Carla Cardello says
Yea I don’t have them near me either, but I bet I could find some next time I’m in Pittsburgh. If you come across any Latin markets at some point, try there :)
Stacy says
I love that you are so adventurous, Carla. Those shrimp tacos look beautiful with the dragon fruit salsa! My favorite variety of dragon fruit is the one that’s fuchsia inside, still with the little black seeds though.
Carla Cardello says
I’ve seen pictures of the fuchsia ones and was really hoping the ones I got were white inside (which obviously they were but I didn’t know that until I cut in). I love the color contrast of the white better.
Carol at Wild Goose Tea says
Dragon fruit is completely new to me. I am enchanted with the look of it. It looks like a fruit that Pixar would have come up both inside and outside. I would love to serve that just from the point of view of a conversation piece. Shrimp tacos—I haven’t gone there either. Albeit I am a major fish taco fan. This is great. Thank you.
Carla Cardello says
It does look very enchanted, doesn’t it?
Anna (Hidden Ponies) says
These sound amazing! I’ve never worked with dragonfruit before either…partly because I never knew what to do with it. This looks like a foolproof first recipe :)
Becca from ItsYummi! says
I just LOVE LOVE these tacos! So glad you faced that ol’ dragonfruit head on!
Run DMT says
Can you believe I tried Dragon Fruit for the first time this summer? This looks like another winning recipe!