Cauliflower Rice Bowls are a filling, low-carb, high-vegetable, high-protein weeknight dinner for two. The cauliflower is mild, so it doesn’t compete with the garlic shrimp in this dish.
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Our Cooking for Two series is for those of us who love good food but need smaller amounts. Maybe you are single or couple but without children (no children, before children, after children). Whatever the reason, you don’t necessarily want a lot of leftovers hanging around. We thought of you when developing these recipes.
A tasty, low-carb meal needs to be at the top of your weeknight dinner list. The emphasis here is on tasty.
Cauliflower Rice — finely chopped raw cauliflower that looks like a seed — makes a great backdrop for the other fresh flavors in this recipe. It gets a hefty punch of lemon, both zest and juice, plus a bonus of barely wilted spinach and cherry tomatoes.
Topped off with garlic shrimp, this weeknight dinner has a huge yum factor.
Where can you get cauliflower rice
Cauliflower rice has become a popular grain substitute for people who suffer from allergies or just want to reduce their intake of starchy grains. You can either buy it already rhymed in the frozen section or make it yourself.
How to buy shrimp
Since there are almost no “fresh” shrimp, since almost all shrimp are frozen immediately after harvesting, I almost always use frozen shrimp.
Those shrimp in the supermarket fish box? It’s simply frozen shrimp that has been thawed.
Shrimp are fairly perishable, and there’s no way of knowing how long it’s been since they were thawed. Therefore, I like to buy frozen shrimp and thaw them myself when it’s time to cook. Just submerge it in a bowl of cold water for 15 minutes and it’s ready to cook.
For this recipe, I prefer jumbo shrimp (21/25 per pound) over small ones because I like the statement they make on the plate (plus there’s less to shell, too!).
Ways to Customize Cauliflower Shrimp Bowls
- Swap the cauliflower rice: You can swap out any cooked grains you like in this recipe if you’re not in the cauliflower craze, or just want to change it up.
- Swap green: I used baby spinach here, but kale or Swiss chard would also be a nice change.
- Swap shrimp: I can imagine topping this with canned tuna or some leftover sliced meat like steak or pork chops. Pretty soon you’ll have a whole different dish, but that’s the beauty of cooking!
- Double? Yes please do it! It would make an easy, simple meal worth sharing with friends.
More great bowl recipes
- Grilled Shrimp Taco Bowl
- Salmon Avocado Poke Bowl
- Black Bean Burrito Bowl
- Quinoa bowls with sweet potatoes, black beans and spinach
- Bulgogi bowls with sous vide beef
Cauliflower Rice Bowl with Garlic Prawns
This recipe is easy to double if you want to make more servings.
ingredients
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1/4 cup olive oil, divided
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1/4 cup chopped red onion
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3 cups frozen cauliflower rice, store bought or homemade
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1/4 cup lemon juice, divided
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1/4 teaspoon salt
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1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
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Finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
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2 handfuls of baby spinach leaves (about 2 cups, packaged)
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8 cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered if large
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2 tablespoons chopped parsley
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1 garlic clove, peeled and thinly sliced
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8 to 10 extra large shrimp, peeled and deveined
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1/2 teaspoon paprika
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1/2 avocado, sliced (for garnish)
method
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Cooking Onion Cauliflower Rice:
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add 2 tablespoons oil. When the oil is shimmering, add the chopped onion and cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes or until the onion softens.
Add the cauliflower rice and 1/4 cup water to the pan. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes or until the cauliflower loses its raw flavor. Stir in 2 tablespoons lemon juice, salt, pepper, and lemon zest.
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Add spinach and cherry tomatoes:
Stir the spinach into the cauliflower and cook for 3 minutes or until the spinach barely wilts. Stir in tomatoes. Taste and add more salt and pepper if you like. Remove from the heat and set aside while the shrimp cook.
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Cook shrimp:
In a nonstick pan large enough to hold the shrimp in a single layer, add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil and the garlic. Place the pan over medium-high heat and cook for about 30 seconds, or just until the garlic is sizzling. (First, heat the garlic and oil in a cold pan at the same time to avoid burning the garlic.)
Add the shrimp in one layer. Sear 1 to 2 minutes on each side or until shrimp are opaque in center. (The exact cooking time depends on the size of the shrimp.)
Remove pan from heat and sprinkle with paprika. Stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and the parsley. Toss the shrimp to coat them well in the lemony, garlic-like oil.
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Assemble bowls:
Divide the cauliflower rice between two shallow bowls. Top with half the shrimp and garnish with avocado slices. Serve warm or at room temperature.
