Cajun Shrimp & Rice
Dinner doesn’t get much easier—or bolder—than this Cajun Shrimp & Rice. It’s an easy weeknight dinner and the spices hit all the classic Cajun notes since that’s why you’re here! Paprika, oregano, thyme, and just enough cayenne for heat, which of course you can adjust to your own heat tolerance.
It’s a great weeknight dinned because the sauce and shrimp cook in the same skillet, you can cook rice at the same time or use leftover rice, and the whole dish is ready in about 30 minutes. My favorite part, aside from the great flavor, is the crispy bacon bits on top!
If you want to variate the dish a little, you can always use grilled Cajun shrimp, especially during summer months.
Ingredient Tips Before Shopping
Shrimp – make sure that shrimp is peeled and deveined! You can either do it yourself at home or buy ones that are already cleaned.
Tomato sauce – don’t confuse it with tomato paste, they are different. Tomato paste is much thicker and more concentrated. Use tomato sauce.
Honey – if honey is not available, you can use agave syrup or brown sugar.
Cajun seasoning – if you don’t want to make your own, you can use store-bought Cajun seasoning mix, just check the salt on it. You may need to add salt to your dish.
Rice – you can use white rice or to make it healthier, try brown rice, wild rice, quinoa, couscous, farro, or cauliflower rice.
How To Make This Cajun Shrimp Dish
- Cook chopped bacon until all the fat is rendered and set them aside.
- Sauté seasoned shrimp in the bacon grease left in the pan. Set shrimp aside.
- Cook veggies in the same pan until softened and add ingredients to turn it into sauce.
- Simmer the chunky sauce and add back the shrimp.
- Serve with rice, crispy bacon, and scallions.
Variations and Add-Ons To Try
There are a few things you can try like changing protein or adding more veggies:
- Protein – you can easily make this dish using chicken. Use chicken breast or chicken thigh meat, chop it into pieces, season, and cook same as shrimp. You can also use firm tofu to make this dish vegetarian.
- Vegetables – additional vegetables can include chopped celery, carrots, collard greens, mustard greens, chopped green beans, and corn.
- Make it creamy – this Cajun sauce would be great made creamy, similar to my creamy Cajun shrimp and grits. To make it creamy, simply add about 1/3-1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream during the last couple of minutes of cooking the sauce (before adding shrimp).
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Cajun Shrimp and Rice Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/4 lb bacon
- 1 oz shrimp peeled and deveined
Cajun Seasoning:
- 2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper to taste
Cajun Sauce:
- 1/2 yellow onion
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 bell pepper
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1/4 cup chopped scallions
- 1/4 cup tomato sauce
- 1 cup vegetable or chicken broth
- 1 Tbsp honey
To Serve:
- 2 cups cooked rice
Instructions
- Tip: dice the bacon while it's still cold, it's much easier to cut when it's cold.Prep all the ingredients first: measure the seasoning and mix it. Set rice to cook in a slated water or half water and half broth (for more flavor.) Cut bacon into small pieces, dice the vegetables, smash and mince the garlic, and measure the tomato sauce and broth.
- In a small bowl bowl, add the shrimp and sprinkle about half the seasoning. Mix shrimp with seasoning to coat it well.
- Preheat a large cooking pan over medium heat and add a little oil. Add bacon pieces and let them cook, stirring from time to time, until all the fat is rendered. Once bacon bits are nicely browned, take them out but leave the bacon grease. Set bacon bit aside to top off the cooked dish at the end.
- Add the seasoned shrimp to the pan, spread them so they are not overlapping. Let them sear until they turn opaque and flip. Let them sear until opaque on the other side as well. (Shrimp take 1.5 – 2 minutes per side to cook, depending on size.) Take them out and set aside.
- Add diced onion and bell peppers. Let them cook for a few minutes until softened. Make a well in the center of the pan and add minced garlic. Let it cook until fragrant and mix it with the veggies.
- Add diced tomatoes and turn down the heat a little. Let the vegetables cook for a couple more minutes.
- Add tomato sauce, broth, honey and remaining spice mix, stir everything together and bring to simmer. Simmer, stirring often for about 5 minutes.
- Add back the shrimp and let it stew for just a couple of minutes. Take off heat.
- When serving, add rice to a bowl, top of off with shrimp and vegetables, and add some bacon bits and scallions of top.
Notes
Nutrition
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Categories:
30 Minute Meals, Dinner Recipes, Rice Dinner Recipes, Seafood Dinner Recipes, Shrimp Dinner Recipes,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
Lyuba, I’ve been following you for a long time now and always use your recipes. I’m a mother of two reading your recipes has literally made my life much easier 🙂
Thank you,
Sarah
Really delicious ! I made it for my mom 🙂 the sauce was a bit wet for me but I didn’t measure the amount of tomatoes and added mushrooms to the mix. Still came out great!
I’m SO glad to heat it, Mike! Thank you 🙂
All lovely recipes. Thanks so much and have a great weekend.
Thank you so much, Liz!
This looks delicious!! Can’t wait to make it!
I hope you will and let me know how you like it! Thank you, Anele!