Yes. Cooked shrimp freezes well for about 2-3 months, but it turns rubbery fast if you reheat it with too much heat.
Shrimp is easy to overcook the first time around, and reheating frozen leftovers is where a lot of people make it worse. The freezing part isn't the hard part, the reheating is.
Because shrimp is already a delicate, quick-cooking protein, a few small habits make the difference between rubbery leftovers and shrimp that tastes freshly made.
Cool cooked shrimp within 2 hours of cooking, then pat it dry and pack it in a single layer in an airtight container or freezer bag. Removing extra moisture before freezing helps limit ice crystals, which are the main cause of a mushy texture later. A layer of parchment between shrimp helps keep large batches from freezing into one solid clump.
Cooked shrimp holds good quality in the freezer for about 2-3 months. It stays safe indefinitely at 0°F, but the texture starts to decline noticeably past that window, especially if it wasn't well sealed. Shrimp frozen with a light glaze of water, a trick used commercially, tends to resist freezer burn a bit longer than shrimp frozen dry.
Thaw shrimp in the fridge overnight, or for a faster option, seal it in a bag and submerge it in cold water for 20-30 minutes, changing the water every 10 minutes or so. Avoid thawing at room temperature since shrimp is a perishable protein and shouldn't sit out more than 2 hours, or 1 hour if the room is above 90°F.
Thawed shrimp works well folded into fried rice, pasta, tacos, quesadillas, or a quick shrimp salad, dishes where it's tossed in near the end of cooking rather than simmered for a long time. Just a minute or two of low, gentle heat, until it's warmed through and reaches about 165°F, is usually all it needs.
If reheating feels risky, skip it altogether: thawed shrimp is just as good served cold in a shrimp cocktail, a chilled pasta salad, or piled onto a sandwich, since none of those require it to touch heat a second time and lose moisture.
Cooked shrimp is fine to freeze and thaw as long as you keep the reheating short and gentle. Treat it like a finishing ingredient rather than something to simmer, and the texture stays close to fresh.
Yes, and raw shrimp actually freezes slightly better than cooked shrimp since it hasn't been through a cooking process yet. Most shrimp sold at grocery stores has even been frozen before you buy it.
Look for a strong ammonia-like smell, gray or white freezer-burned spots, or a slimy texture after thawing. Those are signs to toss it rather than eat it.
It's not recommended. Each freeze-thaw cycle pulls more moisture out and toughens the texture, and refreezing shrimp that sat out too long also raises food safety concerns.
Yes, shrimp frozen in the shell tends to hold moisture slightly better than peeled shrimp, though it means extra work peeling it after thawing.