If you can cook rice, then you can make this stunning Lemon Garlic Shrimp and Rice. It’s seriously easy, and impressive enough for serving to company (or date night!). This is definitely one of those recipes where I can’t stop asking myself, “how do so few ingredients make so much flavor?” as I shovel forkful after forkful into my mouth. :)
What Kind of Shrimp to Use
You definitely want to purchase raw shrimp for this recipe rather than pre-cooked, and you can usually get the best price when buying frozen shrimp. You can buy them peeled or unpeeled, tail on or off, it doesn’t matter. Most frozen shrimp already comes deveined, which makes peeling super fast and easy. Here is a great tutorial on how to peel and devein shrimp from Simply Recipes, if needed.
I used a medium size shrimp for this recipe, which I feel is a good size for this type of dish, where you’ll want it to fit on your fork. The shrimp I used were 41-60 size, which means that at that size you’ll get about 41-60 shrimp per pound. Smaller numbers mean larger shrimp (it takes fewer shrimp to equal a pound), and higher numbers mean smaller shrimp (it takes more shrimp to equal a pound).
Tail On or Tail Off?
It’s completely up to you whether you want to remove your shrimp tails or keep them on. Removing them makes the dish easier to eat, but leaving them on makes it prettier. Keeping the tail on can inject more shrimp flavor into the rice as they steam together, but this might be more subtle than most people will notice.
Can I Make This in a Rice Cooker or Instant Pot?
Yes, this should work very well in a rice cooker or Instant Pot! For the rice cooker, just add everything (except the shrimp) to the cooker and cook as you would regular rice. After the rice has cooked, add the shrimp on top, close the lid, and keep it on the “keep warm” setting and allow the shrimp to steam for 5-10 minutes, or until the shrimp is opaque and cooked through. For an Instant Pot, you’ll want to do a quick release after your rice has cooked, add the shrimp, close the lid, and then keep it on the “keep warm” setting, allowing the shrimp to steam for 5-10 minutes or until opaque and cooked through.
For both machines, avoid leaving the lid open for more than a couple minutes when adding the shrimp. You want as much steam trapped in the unit as possible to continue cooking the shrimp.
What to Serve with Lemon Garlic Shrimp and Rice
I like to make sure every meal has a variety of colors and at least a little veggie action, so here are some recipes that I think would make a great side to this dish and create a well rounded meal:
One Pot Lemon Garlic Shrimp and Rice
Servings 4 1.5 cups eachIngredients
- 12 oz. shrimp (41-60 size) ($4.99)
- 1 fresh lemon ($0.60)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.32)
- 2 Tbsp butter ($0.24)
- 1.5 cups long grain white rice ($0.93)
- 2 cups chicken broth ($0.26)
- 1/2 cup water ($0.00)
- 1 tsp Tony Chachere's seasoning* ($0.10)
- 2 Tbsp chopped parsley ($0.09)
Instructions
- If your shrimp is frozen or unpeeled, make sure you thaw and peel the shrimp before beginning. Juice half of the lemon (you'll need about 2 Tbsp juice) and slice the rest of the lemon for garnish.
- Mince the garlic. Add the garlic to a deep skillet along with the butter and sauté the garlic over medium heat for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the rice and continue to sauté for 1-2 minutes more. You should hear the rice begin to snap and crackle a little as it sautés in the hot butter.
- Carefully add the chicken broth, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, water, Tony Chachere's (or seasoning salt), and chopped parsley. Stir to combine.
- Place a lid on the skillet and turn the heat up to medium-high. Allow the broth to come up to a full boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low and let it continue to simmer for 10 minutes.
- After simmering for 10 minutes, most of the broth should be absorbed by the rice. Lift the lid briefly in order to scatter the shrimp over the surface of the rice. Replace the lid and allow the skillet to continue to cook over low for an additional 5 minutes.
- Remove the skillet from the heat and allow it to rest, lid in place, for an additional five minutes. After resting, lift the lid. The shrimp should be opaque and pink.
- Use a fork to carefully fluff the rice and partially stir the cooked shrimp into the rice. Add the leftover lemon slices and sprinkle with extra chopped parsley, if desired. Serve hot.
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Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Lemon Garlic Shrimp and Rice – Step by Step Photos
Thaw and peel 12oz. shrimp. You can leave the tails on or remove them if you prefer. Juice half of a lemon (you’ll need 2 Tbsp juice) and slice the remaining lemon for garnish.
Mince four cloves of garlic and add them to a deep skillet along with 2 Tbsp butter. Sauté the garlic in the butter over medium heat for 1-2 minutes. Add 1.5 cups long grain white rice and continue to sauté for 1-2 minutes more. You should hear the rice kind of making a snap-crackle sound as it cooks in the butter.
Add 2 cups chicken broth, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, ½ cup water, 1 tsp Tony Chachere’s seasoning (or your favorite seasoning salt), and 2 Tbsp chopped parsley to the skillet. Stir to combine.
Place a lid on the skillet, turn the heat up to medium-high, and allow the broth to come to a full boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to low and let the rice simmer on low for 10 minutes. After ten minutes most of the broth should be absorbed.
Lift the lid just briefly enough to scatter the shrimp over the surface of the rice. Replace the lid and continue to simmer over low for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, remove the skillet from the heat and let it rest, lid in place, for 5 more minutes.
After resting, the shrimp should be pink, opaque, and cooked through.
Use a fork to gently fluff the rice and partially stir the shrimp into the rice. Add the remaining lemon slices and an extra pinch of chopped parsley.
Serve hot and enjoy!
Third time I made this recipe, this time exactly as written since I was happy to find Paul Cachère’s seasoning in my grocery store. I had frozen raw shrimp in the freezer and all the other ingredients on hand. This is such an easy and delicious recipe, fast and uncomplicated and satisfying meal! I did add a smidge more liquid and used all broth instead of broth and water. My guests were delayed, so I stopped the recipe just before adding the shrimp, and when they arrived, popped my skillet back on the burner, added about 1/2 cup more broth, brought it all back to a simmer, nestled the shrimp in, and finished the instructions as written. It was perfect and really appreciated by all. Thank you!
sorry to say I didn’t love this dish. It’s possible the substitutions I made were the problem (I don’t eat chicken so I used vegetable broth, and couldn’t find the seasoning listed so used Emeril’s) but the flavor was blah and the textures were just passable (rice a teensy bit underdone and shrimp barely cooked.)
This was so good! I love how quick and easy it was!
Yummmm!! Rice was just ever so slightly undercooked – not so much that we didn’t gobble it up – but next time I’ll add a little more liquid and cook it a little longer.
Made this with seasoned salt and regular white rice. My teenager loved it! Looked fancy but easy enough for a weeknight.
The dish worked out really well but I think the lemon was a bit strong. I’d probably add less of it next time, and add a little more of the cajun seasoning.
Thank you!
This turned out amazing! A little too lemony though so next time I will use less lemon juice
Had to add more liquid because the moisture ratio is off. 1.5 cups of rice, in my experience, needs 3 cups of liquid, rather than 2.5.
Haven’t eaten it yet (still cooking!) But it SMELLS. DIVINE. Pairing it with buttered squash! Can’t wait to eat it!
Fantastic. Only changes were to cook the rice for 20 mins. And we added some orzo pasta
The flavor is good but the ratios/timing are off. The rice doesn’t cook enough. Next time I’m gonna try adding another half cup of liquid (which would achieve the right 2-1 ratio) and cook it for longer before adding the shrimp.
My rice ended up pretty chewy instead of fluffy – any advice for avoiding in the future?
Hmm, it’s hard to say without seeing and feeling the texture you experienced in person, but it sounds like maybe there wasn’t quite enough moisture? I’m just not sure because I’ve not had that experience.
Hey Allie,
I did mine using parboiled rice and the texture was incredible for me.
I had the same issue, I will try again sometime with more broth or using the quick-cook rice.
This was incredible. Throwing the shrimp in with the rice to steam is genius; I’ll never saute them separately again. Very flavorful and delicious and I will definitely be making it regularly!
Making this tonight w/larger butterflied shrimp and fresh tarragon instead of the parsley. Thanks, looks delicious!
Made it for my family of 7 and we all loved it! Doubled the recipe and used brown rice – used 6 cups of broth but next time will use 5 cups broth + 1 cup water because it was a bit salty. The brown rice needed 45-50 min of cook time. Accidentally bought frozen cooked shrimp but ended up thawing it and adding it at the end with lid covered but off of the heat for 5 minutes just to warm through. Paired great with roasted broccoli!
My husband is not a shrimp fan. Do you think chicken breast or thigh would work in this recipe?
Yes, but you’ll probably want to brown the chicken in the skillet first and then let it cook the rest of the way through with the rice as the rice cooks. :)
This recipe looks so easy and delicious, thank you for sharing it, Beth! I can’t wait to add this to an upcoming meal plan. I’ll have to comment back with a review once I get the chance to make it but based on all of the other recipes you’ve created that I’ve tried, I have no doubt this one will be stellar. :)
How vital is the seasoning salt to the overall flavor of the dish?
I find it to be pretty important. It really adds dimension to the flavor, otherwise it’s just lemon and garlic alone which can be kind of flat. And the extra salt helps the flavors pop.
Can I use brown rice or a whole grain rice? So that it is healthier.