As I mentioned in my last post, I’m having fun exploring the new Trader Joe’s in New Orleans. I asked everyone on Instagram to share their favorite products with me so I could sample the best the store had to offer and one item that was suggested multiple times was their frozen seafood paella. While the paella wasn’t bad, I was a little underwhelmed, and after glancing at the ingredient list I knew I could make something similar at home. And that’s how this super easy Seafood Rice Skillet was born.
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Inspired by Paella, but NOT Paella.
Why is mine a “skillet” and not a paella? Well, for multiple reasons, but the main reasons being that
A) I did not use saffron ($$$)
B) I used long grain rice, and
C) I made it in a skillet and not a paella pan. I like to change recipes to work for me and these changes were made to fit my budget, ingredient availability, and cooking style. But guess what? This Seafood Rice Skillet is still amaze-balls. Not a term I normally use, but totally fitting here.
What Kind of Seafood Can be Use for This Seafood Rice Skillet?
I used the frozen seafood mix from Trader Joe’s (shrimp, scallops, and calamari), but if you can’t find something similar near you, you can totally use just shrimp alone. If you can find a seafood broth, or maybe a little clam juice, you can sub some of that in for part of the chicken broth and have this be even more seafood-y.
What Kind of Rice Should I Use?
This recipe was written using long grain white rice, but using short grain is more in line with paella. If you happen to have short grain rice, you can use that in place of the long grain, but make sure to adjust the broth to rice ratio to match the directions on the package.
Alright, ready to see this super easy and impressive skillet meal??
Seafood Rice Skillet
Servings 4 1.5 cups eachIngredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.22)
- 1 onion ($0.25)
- 2 cloves garlic ( $0.16)
- 1 red bell pepper ($1.00)
- 1/2 Tbsp turmeric ($0.15)
- 1 tsp smoked paprika ($0.10)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.02)
- 2 cups uncooked long grain white rice ($1.12)
- 3 cups chicken broth* ($0.41)
- 1 cup frozen peas ($0.48)
- 1/2 lb frozen seafood mix ($4.00)
- 1 fresh lemon ($0.59)
- Handful fresh parsley, chopped ($0.20)
Instructions
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add the olive oil, onion, and garlic to a large deep skillet. Sauté over medium heat until the onions are soft and transparent (about 5 minutes). Meanwhile, dice the red bell pepper. Add the diced bell pepper to the skillet and sauté for 1-2 minutes more.
- Add the uncooked rice, turmeric, smoked paprika, and cayenne to the skillet. Stir to combine. Pour in the chicken broth, stir briefly, then place a lid on the skillet.
- Turn the heat up to high and bring the broth to a boil. Once it reaches a full boil, turn the heat down to low and let simmer for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, add the frozen seafood and frozen peas. Fold the seafood and peas into the skillet, then replace the lid. Let the seafood and peas cook over low heat until the shrimp turn pink (about 5-10 minutes). Stir once half way through to check the seafood buried in the rice for doneness.
- Once the seafood has finished cooking, top the skillet with chopped parsley and serve with lemon wedges. Squeeze the lemon juice over top of the seafood rice just before eating.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Love skillet meals? Check out my Greek Turkey and Rice Skillet, Chorizo Sweet Potato Skillet, or Creamy Salsa Chicken Skillet.
How to Make Seafood Rice Skillet – Step by Step Photos
Begin by dicing one onion and mincing two cloves of garlic. Add the onion and garlic to a large deep skillet along with 2 Tbsp olive oil. Sauté the onion and garlic until the onion are soft and transparent.
While the onion and garlic are sautéing, dice a red bell pepper. Add the bell pepper to the skillet and continue to sauté for 1-2 minutes more.
Add 2 cups uncooked long-grain white rice, 1/2 Tbsp turmeric, 1 tsp smoked paprika, and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper.
Stir until everything is well coated in spices.
Add 3 cups of chicken broth to the skillet, place a lid on top, and turn the heat up to high. Let the skillet come to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low and let simmer on low for 15 minutes.
This is the seafood blend that I used. It’s a mix of shrimp, scallops, and calamari. I used half of this bag, or 1/2 lb. If you can’t find something similar to this, you can use just shrimp.
After simmering on low for 15 minutes, most of the broth should be absorbed by the rice. Add 1/2 lb. of the frozen seafood mix and 1 cup frozen peas. Seafood cooks very quickly, even from frozen, so you don’t want to add it before the rice is cooked. Over cooking seafood makes it very tough.
Fold the seafood and peas into the cooked rice, place the lid back on top of the skillet, and let it cook over low heat for another 5-10 minutes, or until the shrimp have turned pink and opaque. You may need to stir once halfway through to check the doneness of the shrimp buried in the rice.
Once the seafood is cooked through, top the Seafood Rice Skillet with chopped parsley and lemon wedges.
Squeezing fresh lemon over the top of your bowl really gives this dish a nice fresh POP, so don’t skip it! :)
don’t have turmeric, can I substitute an ingredient??
No, unfortunately that is one of the cornerstone flavors in this recipe, so I wouldn’t suggest substituting it.
Can this be made with Cauliflower rice? I’m a Type 1 diabetic and have to watch my carb count.
It would have to be altered quite a bit to work with cauliflower because rice absorbs moisture as it cooks, whereas cauliflower releases moisture as it cooks.
I love your recipes!
I would like to make this for 30 people and I don’t have a really big skillet to cook it in, what would be your recommendation?
Yikes, I’m not sure. Unfortunately I’ve never cooked anything in that large of a batch.
Hotel pan like they use in restaurants
Great meal!!! Really enjoyed it, thank you!
If I wanted to reduce the amount of rice, how would I reduce the amount of liquid? I.e. could I cook 1 cup of rice with 1 cup broth? Thanks.
I usually do a 1:1.5 ratio of rice to liquid, so if you’re doing 1 cup rice I’d do 1.5 cups broth.
Loved it so did hubby it was simple and easy to make thank you
Going to make with rice cauliflower
Going to have to lower cooking time
Will report back.
Made this twice now, once with seafood and once with just the rice as a side dish. Very tasty!
I made this last week, and it is fantastic. I added a chopped up chicken breast (and began cooking that a couple minutes before the onions went in), and I used Better Than Bouillon Lobster Base rather than Chicken. Otherwise I followed the recipe exactly. I’m making it again today. I may add a bit more seafood than called for.
8ounds great
I saw a comment on the brown rice. What about quinoa?
never mind! I saw a quinoa one too! I will try it with rice!!
can you please give instructions on cooking times wihen doubling the recipe? Thank you! My family loves this.
That’s tricky. It will probably take a little longer to come up to a simmer, but once it does the cook time should be about the same. It’s hard to say exactly without testing it.
I doubled the recipe and used long grain brown rice. I found that I needed to give an additional 10 minutes simmer time before adding the seafood. That may have been because of the brown rice or the doubling not sure.
Delicious recipe, but it needed acid, so I added some diced cherry tomatoes along with the pepper, and I also added some chopped up sausage. Yum!
Another great recipe! I made this on Friday for a casual get-together/kitchen hangout. It was so easy and came together really quickly. Best of all, cleanup was super fast since it’s just one pot! Dishes are my least favorite part of hosting, so the fact that I did minimal cleaning and got to spend more time enjoying the company was great.
We used tricolor frozen bell peppers from Trader Joe’s, which was a nice little time saver. At $2 a bag, and about 3+ peppers’ worth, it’s also a bit cheaper than buying them fresh. We also threw in some grape tomatoes, which gave the dish a nice pop of flavor every few bites. I thought it needed some salt although I didn’t use a low sodium broth. A drizzle of soy sauce did the trick.
I will definitely be making this again–maybe I will try making it with brown rice next time, of course adjusting the liquid and cooking time.
You should do a Trader Joe’s challenge like you did with your food stamp one. It would be great to see what you would put together, on a budge, from Trader Joe’s. They have some great stuff but I am at a loss sometimes on how to pull it all together.
Seconding this idea!
I like a lot of their stuff, but I don’t think I could do ALL my shopping there. They just don’t have enough variety and they have far more “convenience” products than from-scratch type ingredients.
Yum! What a smart dinner. It’s not too complicated and it’s healthy. Thanks for sharing!