These easy Shrimp Burrito Bowls feature saucy seasoned shrimp served over a bed of crisp romaine lettuce and flavorful cilantro lime rice with a mountain of tasty toppings!
Shrimp Burrito Bowls
Sometimes I throw together a lunch that’s so flipping delicious I basically race to put it on the blog. This is one of those lunches.
These shrimp burrito bowls can be made as an easy peasy solo lunch if you’re working from home, or whipped up in larger quantities for a family dinner for a busy weeknight.
When you’re making it sharable you can pretty much just set out the toppings and let everyone customize their bowl, which is easily one of my favorite ways to dinner ever. Here’s the makings of dinner fam, now do it yourself!
I call this the salad bar method and I rely on this a LOT now that the kiddo eats almost everything we do.
She piles her shrimp burrito bowls high with rice, shrimp, guacamole, sour cream, black beans, and tortilla chips while I put literally every single topping I have on hand in my bowl because there is a very good chance the meal I had before that one consisted of bread and coffee and I need to eat some dang veggies, stat.
Burrito Bowl Topping Options
As always, get creative with your toppings and add as much or as little as you like. Pick and choose your favorites from for a tasty custom burrito bowl! Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Diced tomatoes or pico de gallo
- Sliced avocado or guacamole
- Shredded lettuce or cabbage
- Salsa or hot sauce
- Sour cream or Greek yogurt
- Black beans or pinto beans
- Fresh red onion or pickled red onions
- Corn or corn salsa
- sliced jalapeño peppers (fresh or pickled)
- Cilantro and/or green onion
- Lime wedges
- Hot sauce
You can also add some crunch to your burrito bowl by topping it with some crispy tortilla chips or tortilla strips.
I didn’t take a ton of process photos or make this post a mile long because, let’s face it, this recipe is easy peasy! If you feel like you need some step by step photos added to the mix, holla at me and I’ll try and snap some next time I make these baller burrito bowls.
In the meantime, let’s get our recipe on!
TASTY TOPPING OPTIONS: CHOOSE YOUR FAVORITES
FOR THE SHRIMP
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Clean and peel shrimp, defrosting if using frozen. Lately I’ve been buying frozen, deveined, easy-peel shrimp. All I have to do is defrost, peel, and cook! You can also buy your shrimp already peeled if you’d like.
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Pat shrimp dry and season with chili powder, paprika, garlic, and salt. Mix well to coat both sides.
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Heat a large pan or skillet to medium-high heat with 2 tsp oil. Cook shrimp on each side for about 2 minutes until shrimp start to curl and become opaque. The cook time will depend on the size of your shrimp, but regardless they’ll be perfectly cooked just a few minutes. Add a few teaspoons of your favorite hot sauce or taco sauce and mix to coat. I love using Sriracha or Valentina on my shrimp.
SHORTCUT CILANTRO LIME RICE
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Cook rice via desired method. (times will vary) You can take a shortcut with easy heat rice or leftover rice, or cook it from scratch on the stove, in a rice cooker, or in a pressure cooker.
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To cilantro lime-ify your rice, add half the cilantro to the rice and squeeze the juice of ½ a lime. Mix into the rice and give it a taste. Decide if you’d like the remaining cilantro (I add it all) and you can also bring out the flavors more with a pinch of salt.
ASSEMBLE THE BOWLS
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Add rice and lettuce to the base of each bowl then top with corn, tomatoes, jalapeno, and shrimp.
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Drizzle on your choice of sauces (I added sour cream and some extra Mexican style hot sauce to my shrimp) plus any of favorite toppings and extras from the list above. Dive in while it’s fresh and delicious! Enjoy!
This recipe was written to serve two but can easily be doubled or tripled for a larger family or halved to make a single burrito bowl.
Nutrition Facts below are estimated using an online recipe nutrition calculator. Adjust as needed based on extra toppings/swaps and enjoy!
Calories: 355kcal, Carbohydrates: 70g, Protein: 9g, Fat: 6g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 0.01g, Sodium: 312mg, Potassium: 642mg, Fiber: 6g, Sugar: 8g, Vitamin A: 4961IU, Vitamin C: 32mg, Calcium: 84mg, Iron: 3mg
Special Diets and Swaps:
If you find yourself without cilantro (or just aren’t a fan of the green stuff) you are welcome to either use plain white rice, brown rice, yellow rice (YUM!!) or even coconut rice for your shrimp burrito bowls.
For those who need a grain-free, paleo, whole30, low carb, or keto option, you know what to do: Cauliflower rice to the rescue! To amp up the flavor I highly suggest using my Mexican Cauliflower Rice as the base. It’s delicious!
In place of rice you could use fluffy quinoa or another grain of your choice, or go grain free and just make a big ole shrimp taco salad. Simply use this recipe as a guideline and have fun with it. There are no rules here as long as you eat your veggies. 😉 “I’m not like regular moms, I’m a cool mom.” Hah!
If you need assistance with any other swaps or special diets, leave me a comment below and I’ll be happy to make suggestions for you!
If you get a chance to try these tasty shrimp burrito bowls, let me know. Leave me a comment or review using the form below. I’m always so excited to hear from you!
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