Shrimp Rice Bowls – Slender Kitchen

These easy Shrimp and Rice Bowls made with delicious sauteed shrimp, the most delicious creamy cilantro sauce, veggies, and rice come together in less than 20 minutes! Add all your favorite toppings and vegetables for an easy healthy meal. 

You’ll want to make these amazing shrimp bowls as soon as possible. As we continue to cook at home, I am craving new flavors and have been really missing this amazing shrimp, rice, and veggie bowl I love from a local cafe. 

Inspired by those flavors, I whipped up these rice bowls last week. The real star of this dish is the amazing green cilantro and mint sauce.

It is inspired by Peruvian Aji Verde, a green sauce made with fresh cilantro, jalapeno, mint, garlic, and lime juice. It tastes good on everything. 

Now when it comes to serving this dish, you can customize these bowls with all different veggies, fresh herbs, and extra lime. You can even swap out the protein or grains. Just don’t miss the sauce! 

And if you love bowl recipes as much as I do, don’t miss this Asian Rice Bowl, Crispy Salmon Bowl, Thai Bowl, or Taco Bowl.

Ingredients and Substitutions

Here is everything you need to make these tasty shrimp rice bowls. 

• Shrimp: Any type of shrimp works in this easy bowl recipe, but medium to large shrimp are recommended. Make sure to buy shelled and deveined raw shrimp for the easiest option. Frozen shrimp are fine, just defrost them before cooking.
• Spices: To ensure the shrimp is full of flavor, give it a quick marinade in olive oil, lime juice, paprika, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper. Switch up the spices to match the flavor profile you want. These are delicious with taco seasoning, blackening seasoning, or lemon pepper.
• Rice: Use any kind of rice you like including white rice or brown rice. The bowls can also be made with quinoa or another grain. Add some fresh lime juice and cilantro to the rice for even more flavor.
• Cilantro sauce: This sauce is made with a combination of Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, lime juice, garlic, cilantro, mint, and jalapeno. Leave out the jalapeno if you don’t like things spicy. Swap in basil or parsley if you aren’t a fan of cilantro. 

Build Your Own Shrimp and Rice Bowls

When making any kind of rice or grain bow, always start with the ingredients that take the longest. Then while those cook, you can continue to prep everything else. 

1. Prepare the rice or grains

Start by making white rice, brown rice, quinoa, or other grain. This can be made on the stovetop, Instant pot, or a rice cooker. To speed up prep, consider using precooked packaged or frozen rice. 

For a lighter option, consider using a bed of greens or cauliflower rice. We love these bowls with this cilantro lime cauliflower rice. 

2. Prep the toppings and sauce

Now it’s time to make the amazing cilantro mint sauce. This sauce couldn’t be easier to make! 

Simply add the Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, cilantro, mint, lime juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper to a blender or food processor. Process the sauce until it is creamy and smooth. Taste and season as needed. 

Like most sauces, this cilantro mint sauce only gets better the longer it sits in the fridge, If you can, prep it a day in advance

A few notes on the ingredients in the sauce. This sauce can be made with Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, or sour cream. 

I like to use a combination of Greek yogurt and mayonnaise because it’s lighter but you still get that rich, creamy, mayo flavor that cuts through some of the tartness of the yogurt. Play around with the ingredients until it’s exactly what you like! This includes the amount of jalapeno, garlic, cilantro, and mint. It’s all customizable!

This is also the time to prep any other toppings or vegetables you plan to add. Slice up the cucumbers, carrots, or avocado. Prep any beans or corn. Chop lettuce or herbs. Get it all ready to go since the shrimp cooks so quickly. 

3. Cook the shrimp

Shrimp is a very fast-cooking protein, so don’t cook it until you are almost ready to eat. Here are three easy ways to cook shrimp.

• Sauteed: It’s so easy to cook shrimp in a skillet. Once the shrimp is seasoned with the spices, simply heat up the oil in a skillet and cook the shrimp for 2-3 minutes on each side until it is opaque, light pink, and has curled into a “C” shape. Make sure not to overcook the shrimp, the exact cooking time will depend on the size of the shrimp. 
• Grilled: Shrimp is really delicious on the grill. The easiest method is to do this in a grill basket or on skewers since the shrimp can fall through the grates. Cook it for 2-3 minutes on each side. 
• Baked: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the shrimp in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 4-6 minutes until cooked through or broil it for 3-4 minutes. 

When is shrimp done? Shrimp is done well it is opaque and light pink in color. It will also slightly curl into a C shape, but it shouldn’t curl into a circle. When shrimp curls too much, it is a sign it is overcooked. 

4. Assemble the bowls

Now it’s time to put the bowls together! Start with the rice or grains. Layer in the shrimp and vegetables. Drizzle on the cilantro sauce! 

If prepping these in advance, pack the sauce and any fragile vegetables or toppings separately. More on that is below.

Shrimp Rice Bowl Variations

These delicious shrimp bowls can be customized based on what you have at home in your fridge, freezer, and pantry. They can be made spicy or mild, with rice or a low-carb option, with shrimp or another protein – the options are endless. 

• Make it low carb: For a low-carb option, serve this over some cauliflower rice, greens, or zucchini noodles.
• Go Mexican: Add black beans, corn, and pickled red onions to turn this into a burrito bowl. 
• Add fun toppings: Get creative by adding this Salsa Criolla, Mexican Coleslaw, Mango Black Bean Salsa, or Corn Salsa.
• Add vegetables: This shrimp and rice bowl is delicious with cucumbers, carrots, edamame, red cabbage, Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, or any cooked veggies you have on hand. 
• Add beans: Add extra protein and fiber with black beans, pinto beans, white beans, or chickpeas. 
• Make it less spicy: For those who don’t like spice, leave the jalapenos out when making the cilantro mint sauce.
• Change the protein: If shrimp isn’t your favorite, this will work with chicken, pork, steak, salmon, or another fish or seafood. It also works with tofu or tempeh.
• Tropical twist: To add an additional layer of flavor, make coconut rice using canned coconut milk to replace some of the cooking liquid for the rice. Add shredded coconut and a touch of sugar to bring out the sweetness of the coconut.
• Change the sauce: Make these bowls with different sauces to change up the flavor. We love them with bang bang sauce (like in this Bang Bang Cauliflower), Chipotle Sauce, or Peanut Sauce.

Meal Prep Tips and Storage

These a great option for meal prep since the shrimp, rice, and sauce can all be made in advance. The shrimp bowls keep well in the fridge for 3-4 days. The sauce will keep for up to 2 weeks.

Make sure to let the shrimp and rice fully cool before packing them into individual containers. Then pack the sauce on the side along with any vegetables or herbs so that it can be added after heating up the bowls.