Aguachile

Use the freshest shrimp possible. Slice shrimp butterflied for more surface area. Make the green sauce just before serving. Traditionally served on tostadas with cucumber and red onion.

Aguachile — literally "chile water" in Spanish — originated in the state of Sinaloa on Mexico's Pacific coast, where fishermen prepared fresh raw shrimp with a simple, fiery sauce of water blended with green chiles, lime juice, and salt. Unlike ceviche, which uses extended citrus contact to denature the proteins of the fish, authentic aguachile is dressed and consumed immediately, meaning the shrimp retains a raw, translucent quality that makes ingredient freshness critical. The dish belongs to the broader category of marisco crudo (raw seafood preparations) that developed along Mexico's Pacific coast, where proximity to fresh catches made such preparations practical and natural. Traditional aguachile uses serrano or chiltepin peppers, the latter a small, intensely spicy wild pepper native to northwestern Mexico that has been gathered by Indigenous communities in the region for centuries. Regional variations have developed throughout Sinaloa and Nayarit, with some versions using cucumber, red onion, and avocado as accompaniments, and black aguachile preparations that use squid ink or dried chiles. The dish gained recognition outside Sinaloa from the 1990s onward as Mexican regional cuisine became more widely celebrated, and is now served at seafood restaurants throughout Mexico and in Mexican restaurants internationally.