What's the best/easiest way to de-vein king prawns?

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I often buy raw king prawns (maybe they're called shrimp where you are, they're about 3-4 inches long) - they are already shelled and beheaded, but they've still got the blue vein running down the middle of them. My current technique is to put the point of a sharp knife just under parts of the vein and then pull it out, kind of like unpicking a thread of cotton. This takes quite a while, there must be a better way..? Is butterflying a way to achieve this?



Best Answer

Have you tried the basic cheapo shrimp deveiner? A little practice, and it's actually quite effective.

Shrimp deveiner




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Quick Answer about "What's the best/easiest way to de-vein king prawns?"

  • To peel prawns, remove the head and legs. ...
  • To devein a prawn, use a small sharp knife to make a slit along the middle of the back to expose the dark vein. ...
  • To devein a prawn without cutting the back, use your fingers to carefully pull the vein through the opening at the head end to remove.


  • What is the easiest way to devein prawns?

    It's not harmful to eat, but the prawn looks better without it, and it can be a bit gritty. Removing it is called 'deveining'. Using a small, sharp knife, make a shallow cut along the length of the black line, then lift it out using the tip of the knife.

    Should I Devein king prawns?

    To clean prawns, start by rinsing them in cold water and discarding any that are discolored or slimy. Next, hold the body of the prawn with one hand and firmly twist off the head using your other hand. Then, pull off the tail, peel away the outer shell, and pull off the legs from the underside of the shell.




    More answers regarding what's the best/easiest way to de-vein king prawns?

    Answer 2

    I usually slit the prawn flesh just above and along the line of the vein to expose it and to make it easier to then pull out.

    This is different from butterflying a prawn, which involves a deeper cut (but not all the way through) of the prawn along most of its length along the same line as the de-veining cut, but also leaving the tail on usually.

    This video shows the de-veining technique and the butterflying.

    Answer 3

    Score across the back as you mention and then scrape out the vein under cold running water using either a knife or your thumb.

    Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

    Images: Joshua Welch, Nour Betar, Tim Douglas, Allan Mas