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Easy Shrimp & Cilantro Lime Rice Salad Recipe

This post is sponsored by Zatarain’s. All opinions are my own.

School schedules are in full swing at Chez Perot and that means late nights and all the after-school everything. It’s rushed dinners and drive-thrus if I don’t menu plan like a boss. I’m forever looking for healthy meals like this easy rice salad recipe I can fast prepare when we door dash in at 8:30 p.m. because let’s be real, no one’s eating at 5 p.m. when we LEAVE for soccer practice, and if they do, they’re asking for second dinner when we get home so I’m still finding myself getting creative once that garage door lifts up and the backpack gets tossed inside.

When my friends at Zatarain’s asked if I had any ideas for a quick-prepare dinner idea (my everyday challenge, that’s where we live M-Th) for their Cilantro Lime Rice Mix, my wheels started rolling. I had once made a rice salad recipe for a team party and I – to this day – keep getting requests for it, so I was confident that the Zatarain’s Cilantro Lime Rice was destined for that same level of greatness. Why was I so sure? Primarily because we are a Louisiana family and there’s one thing we know about Zatarain’s and that it’s good cookin’. Every. Blessed. Time. You can’t mess it up when there’s 125 years of experience behind their spices and mixes. So I’m pretty much winning Monday if I can infuse some of that New Orleans flavor to my late night dinner – and make it healthy and in a flash.

What I really love about this recipe is that you can prepare 95% of it ahead of time, and the broiling takes less time than it takes your kids to get out of their cleats or into the shower.

shrimp cilantro rice salad recipe

Shrimp & Cilantro Lime Rice Salad Recipe

Serves: 4ish (I’d double it because that’s what we do down South)
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes + 7 minutes

Ingredients for shrimp and marinade:

  • 1 package frozen shelled and deveined shrimp – of COURSE you can use fresh shrimp for this, but if your life is like mine, and your schedule changes frequently, you don’t want fresh shrimp sitting in your fridge for days unexpectedly so I bought frozen.
  • 1 package Zatarain’s Cilantro Lime Rice Mix
  • 3 – 5 cranks of salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil
  • ¼ teaspoon + garlic

Instructions:

  1. If using frozen shrimp, thaw according to package instructions. If fresh shrimp, then you’ll need to devein.
  2. Mix remaining ingredients in plastic zip-close baggie
  3. Add shrimp and toss to coat
  4. Put in refrigerator for several hours to marinate

Prepare Zatarain’s Cilantro Lime Rice Mix according to package.

Additional ingredients for salad:

  • ½ red onion diced
  • 1/2 – 15 ounce can sweet corn
  • ½ of 10 ounce container grape tomatoes
  • 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • juice from ½ Lime
  • Salt
  • McCormick Garlic powder

While rice is cooking for 25 minutes (according to package),

  1. Dice the onion
  2. Open a can of sweet corn
  3. Slice the tomatoes into halves
  4. Mix together into a bowl:
  • 1 Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
  • ½ juice of one lime
  • dash salt
  • dash McCormick Garlic powder

This part of the prep will only take you about 5 minutes, so you’ll still have 20 minutes to check homework!

When rice is done cooking, fluff and mix in the vegetables and the olive oil mixture. Either serve warm and prepare shrimp now, or cover and refrigerate to make later.

When ready to prepare the shrimp, lay in a single layer onto a broiling pan (I couldn’t find ours so I covered a baking sheet with aluminum foil) and broil on high in your oven for 7 minutes or until the shrimp are opaque.

Serve on top of your rice salad and enjoy!

This was sooooo good. The hubs and I both went back for seconds and I even had it for lunch the next day. It’s good either warm or cold, and it would be great for a tailgate too. Throw it into your Yeti and bring it out for your next football game as your potluck contribution or as a side dish without the shrimp.

Here’s a copy of the recipe that you can print and put in your meal planning binder. 🙂

Yield: Serves 3

Shrimp & Cilantro Lime Rice Bowl

shrimp cilantro rice salad recipe

Gluten-free shrimp and cilantro lime rice salad

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Additional Time 3 hours
Total Time 3 hours 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 lb fresh shrimp or 1 package frozen shelled and deveined shrimp
  • 1 package Zatarain’s Cilantro Lime Rice Mix
  • 3 – 5 cranks of salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil
  • ¼ teaspoon + garlic

For the salad

  • ½ red onion diced
  • 1/2 - 15 ounce can sweet corn
  • ½ of 10 ounce container grape tomatoes
  • 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • Juice from ½ Lime
  • Salt
  • McCormick Garlic powder

Instructions

  1. If using frozen shrimp, thaw according to package instructions. If fresh shrimp, then you’ll need to devein.
  2. Mix remaining ingredients in plastic zip-close baggie
  3. Add shrimp and toss to coat
  4. Put in refrigerator for several hours to marinate
  5. Prepare Zatarain’s Cilantro Lime Rice Mix according to package.
  6. While rice is cooking for 25 minutes (according to package), mix together the diced onion, sweet corn and tomatoes in bowl.
  7. Mix together remaining salad ingredients together into a separate bowl.
  8. When rice is done cooking, fluff and mix in the vegetables and add the olive oil mixture. Either serve warm by preparing shrimp now, or cover and refrigerate to add shrimp later.
  9. When ready to prepare the shrimp, lay in a single layer onto a broiling pan and broil on high in your oven for 7 minutes or until the shrimp are opaque.
  10. Serve on top of your rice salad and enjoy!

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