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!
Wow wow wow what a grand slam this was! Made my own seasoning salt from scratch and used two tsp dried parsley in place of the fresh (really wish they’d sell smaller bunches of the fresh; it is decidedly better but so wasteful for a recipe that only needs 2 tbsp!). Served with your Roasted Asparagus and Tomatoes as a side. Fiancé went back in for THIRDS. Will definitely be making both recipes again! Thanks Beth, you are doing God’s work on this website.
Another hit in our house. Super simple to make and loved it with the shrimp.
I doubled this recipe and I’m glad I did, it was delicious. Our whole family enjoyed the meal (served your lemon pepper zucchini on the side). I seasoned the shrimp with seasoning salt and added crushed red pepper to the adult’s servings. Both the rice and shrimp were beautifully cooked following these directions.
Tasted amazing, but the rice was incredibly undercooked. I added more water 3 times, covered, and let simmer and it was still crunchy. I thought maybe the rice would finish cooking after I added the shrimp, but the rice was still crunchy and then the shrimp was over cooked. I made this for guests and it was incredibly disappointing.
Operator error 🫶🏼
Honest, I’m not really a shrimp person. However this is one of my all-time favorite go to a recipes for friends over or even prepping meals for the week. Absolutely love it!
Looking forward to dishes for one ,, inexpensive,, for a pensioner,,,thanks
This Was Such a Great Recipe♥️♥️♥️ Loved it So Much!!! thanks For Sharing. I’ll Be Using it Always
Good dish but
1. Shrimp was bland. Recipe doesn’t call for seasoning shrimp before hand. Would definitely season shrimp next time
2. Needs more lemon
3. Needs more garlic
Where are you buying shrimp for $4.99?!
I literally lol at this comment because I was thinking the same thing!
I cannot express in simple words how easy this is to make. Do not be fooled by the simple and very few ingredients. This recipe packs a flavor punch and is quite filling and refreshing at the same time. Welcome to regular rotation for being relatively inexpensive and absolutely delicious. Thank you!
Two for two Budget Bytes! Just made your Cheesy Sausage Pasta. First of all, I’ve never been successful making a one pot dish with pasta. EVER. It turned out perfect! Usually, my family doesn’t like new recipes that I try, this is a nail on the head two nights in a row, and they want it again. Thank you!
This is one of my favorite recipes on the site, and it’s super quick to make as well!
Simply delicious, but for Instant Pot cooking I personally felt that using the residual heat to cook the shrimp after the fact did not work out so well. So I tried placing the shrimp in a steamer basket that rests on a tray that sits above the level that the rice will cook to in order to cook everything at the same time, and that I thought came out better. Also you might need to reduce the amount of water you add. At 4 ounces the rice came out a little too mushy. 2 ounces produce good results, but might be able to omit the water entirely (I just haven’t tried that yet).
This was amazing. Will do again. Probably often!
But should we hear the rice “pop” as well as snap and crackle, or should we not leave it on that long?
(Love this recipe by the way, but my family said “could be more spicy” so I’ll try it again adding a bit more Creole seasoning).
Easy and nutritious. I found the dish a bit bland. I used Cajun seasoning instead of the brand mentioned in the recipe. Maybe I’ll add more next time (or purchase the suggested ingredient). At any rate, with a little experimentation, I look forward to adding One Pot Lemon Garlic Shrimp and Rice to my go-to file.
Amazing!! College student here, and I love it! It’s my first time trying it, but it all turned out perfectly, plus I added extra of seasoning, parsley, lemon and an additional sprinkling of red pepper flakes! I will definitely be having this again, and not just for leftovers!