Description
Chipotle Orange Shrimp with Cilantro Rice! Tender shrimp in a sweet-meets-smoky cream sauce piled high on cilantro-speckled rice with a side of tangy cucumbers.
Ingredients
Chipotle Orange Sauce:
- 1 chipotle pepper (or half of one pepper, for a less spicy version)
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- zest of one orange
Shrimp and Rice:
- a drizzle of olive oil
- 1 pound uncooked shrimp, tails removed, patted dry
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 1/2 cups white rice (I like jasmine rice or just plain long grain rice)
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Cucumbers:
- 2 small cucumbers (or one large), thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Cucumbers: Toss together all the cucumber ingredients. Set aside.
- Sauce: Blend sauce ingredients together until mostly smooth. But don’t overblend! See notes.
- Rice: Cook rice according to package directions. Stir in cilantro and salt to taste (+ add lime juice, or the juice of the zested orange, if you want some citrus goodness in there).
- Shrimp: Heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the shrimp and sauté for 2 minutes on each side, sprinkling with the cumin, plus some salt and pepper.
- Finish: Add the sauce and simmer for another 5 minutes or so. Serve shrimp over rice, with a salad or some fresh zippy cucumbers.
Notes
Blending: The heavy whipping cream will start to get a whipped texture the longer you blend it, so don’t over-blend! We just want the garlic and chipotle mostly smoothed out so they can incorporate into the sauce. I use a little mini-chopper for this. If you accidentally find yourself with a whipped texture that’s okay, it’ll settle down and loosen up once it warms up in the pan.
Shrimp: You do not want your shrimp to be watery, so if you’re using frozen shrimp be sure to fully thaw it and pat the excess water out before sending it to the pan. If there’s some moisture in the pan before adding the sauce you’ll want to drain that out (but that shouldn’t be an issue as long as your shrimp is thawed and dry when it goes into the pan). Also: the shrimp is also good with a pinch of sugar added to it for a little sweetness, or the juice of the orange squeezed in!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: shrimp bowl, shrimp and rice, shrimp recipe
