A mixture of long grain rice, cooked stovetop in chicken stock with green and sweet onion, garlic, parsley and a variety of seasonings with Wild American shrimp stirred in at the end.

Cajun Shrimp Bowl

I love simple, one pot meals like this, especially in the heat of the summer. And yeah, especially when my central A/C goes south and the part takes a week to get here from Houston. During the hottest month of southern summers too. 

Ugh. I am dying.

Thank goodness for backup portable air conditioners because we have several going at the moment, though they are pretty much intended for use during a hurricane power outage to be seated right in front of, so they can't really keep up and the house is at minimum in the low 80s - all day long. Better than nothing I guess.

Just a quick reminder.... if you aren't interested in the chit chat, info, photos, tips and such on a blog, as always, you'll find the complete recipe text with measurements and instructions, as well as a printable document, a little bit further down the page. Just swipe or scroll down to the bottom of the post!

Anyway, back to the recipe... I enjoy watching the cooking shows on PBS Create and through Passport and I have several favorites. 

Kevin Belton is one of those and he's actually got several shows available.

Note: As an Amazon.com Services LLC Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases linked in my posts and marked as #ad or #affiliate links.

I got the idea of this recipe from Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana: Flavors from the Parishes of the Pelican State (#ad). In fact, it's the recipe actually featured on the cover!

His food always looks so scrumptious y'all! The name of the cookbook comes from one of those shows and y'all know I do love cookbooks, because I get a lot of inspiration from them for things to share here on the site, so I purchased a copy.

This cookbook is actually pretty cool because it features a little history of the different parishes around the state, along with some of the common recipes from each area.

This Cajun Shrimp Bowl recipe looked so appetizing and sure seemed simple enough, so one day I whipped it up.

Delicious.

By the way, there are also some good chef dedicated channels on Roku too.

The first time that I made his Cajun Shrimp Bowl, I followed the recipe, which frankly is always a good idea, because once you alter a recipe that you're trying for the first time, you're no longer making that recipe. But, of course, the next time that I made it, I took some liberties and made it my own!

As is, this recipe is more of a pilaf than the typical bowl meal you see on the net these days, but, you can certain make some adaptations to meet that goal, including to change up the seasonings on both the shrimp and rice. Cilantro lime rice would be nice!

Just spoon the shrimp mixture into a bowl and add some rows of enhancements.

You could toss the shrimp with blackening seasonings or fajita seasonings and grill separately on skewers along with some mixed sweet pepper chunks, zucchini or yellow squash, thick sliced onion, then add in segments atop the rice bowl.

You could make it a Tex-Mex style bowl by topping with segments of:

• Sliced avocado
• Chopped fresh tomatoes
• Pico de gallo or fresh salsa or try my Fresh Tomato Relish
• Black or pinto beans
• Fresh corn grilled and scraped from the cob or well-drained canned or frozen, thawed and cooked corn
• Pickled jalapeno

You could make it a Caribbean-style bowl by adding:

• Add some broccoli slaw mix to the rice along with some chopped sweet red, yellow or orange peppers
• Toss in some Adobo seasoning
• Add a couple dashes of crushed red pepper flakes
• Stir in some pineapple tidbits and chopped fresh mango
• Stir in some chopped fresh cilantro

You could make it a Greek or Mediterranean-style shrimp bowl by:

• Tossing the raw shrimp in a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice and a dab of mustard
• Season with kosher salt, freshly cracked black pepper, dried oregano and/or Greek seasoning (#ad) (usually contains oregano, garlic and a wide variety of ingredients)
• Add some jarred roasted red peppers, coarsely chopped yellow bell peppers and zucchini
• Top with segments of a few of these - chopped raw cucumber, chickpeas, raw baby spring greens, pitted briny olives, crumbled feta cheese, a dollop of hummus and lemon wedges

I mean really, the possibilities to expand this dish are endless!

Bowls are so trendy right now, but also make for a great balance of nutrients too, so use your imagination to expand on this recipe.

Let us start here with the basics though!

For my Cajun Shrimp Bowl you will need:

• 1-pound large (21-25 count) raw Wild American shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 tablespoon Creole or Cajun seasoning, divided, or to taste, optional
• 4 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1 green onion, sliced
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley, divided
• 1 cup raw long grain rice
• 1 cup chopped sweet or yellow onion
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 2 cups salted chicken stock or broth

First things first, if your shrimp are still in the shell, you'll need to peel and devein them, rinse well and pat dry with paper towels. If using frozen shrimp, buy the ones already cleaned, but use Wild American shrimp. Just flip the package over to find the country of origin, and just so you know, in my little ole opinion, as a gal who grew up on the Gulf Coast, I find imported shrimp to be inferior.

Add shrimp to a bowl.

Toss with half of the Creole or Cajun seasoning. You can substitute good ole salt and pepper if you prefer though.

Add the green onion and 1 teaspoon of the parsley to the shrimp.

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter and add to shrimp.

Toss together and set aside.

Add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter to a lidded 2-quart saucepan and melt over medium heat.

Stir in the rice, onion and garlic.

Add the remaining Creole or Cajun seasoning and the rest of the seasonings. 

Cook and stir for 5 minutes.

Stir in stock. I'm using a salted chicken stock so be mindful of the sodium with other sources and if you are using an unsalted stock you may actually need more salt.

Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cover. 

Cook about 15 minutes, or until rice is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed.

Open pot, toss rice and stir in shrimp and the remaining teaspoon dried parsley, cover, and continue cooking for 5 minutes longer, until shrimp turns pink and opaque.

Remove from heat and set aside covered for 5 minutes longer,

Fluff, taste and adjust seasonings as needed and transfer to serving bowls. Garnish with additional parsley and serve.

For more of my shrimp recipes, check out this collection on my Pinterest page!

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