Meow Recipes: Chipotle Orange Shrimp with Cilantro Rice

Holy yummm.

I love all of the SOS series recipes but I REALLY LOVE THIS RECIPE, all caps necessary.

First of all, juicy, tender, sweet, and delicate shrimp is just automatically really SOS-friendly because it’s so fast to cook (like, five minutes fast) and tastes like you live at a fancy restaurant. So there’s that.

But secondly, that creamy chipotle orange sauce. WUT. It’s so good. Who even knew?! It’s creamy and smoky and sweet – the flavor combination of fresh orange zest and a bold chipotle pepper is a total surprise and yet feels comforting and familiar at the same time. It packs some heat, for sure, but it’s also really luscious and cozy because heavy whipping cream takes everything to the next level (♡) and also because a pile of hot steamy rice will never not be comforting. The zippy cucumbers wake the whole thing up and cut through the richness of the sauce with a little zap and zing and crunch, and just, wow. I love this recipe. Did I say that already?

There are a few elements at play here which makes it rank just a little higher on the SOS scale – similar to the Harissa Meatballs with Whipped Feta. But never fear: nothing is difficult. Nothing is overwhelming. Our ingredient list stays short and sweet.

shrimp
orange
chipotle
cream
cilantro
cucumbers

A few pantry staples like salt, garlic, oil, and vinegar round it all out into a complete and total spicy shrimp miracle.

If you need even more shortcuts – skip the cucumbers in favor of an easy no-cutting-board-required side salad. Or use cauliflower rice or pre-cooked rice. But if you can spare the extra five minutes to slice up a cucumber and cook your own rice, you will not be sad about it.

I could cry tears of joy just looking at this saucy, creamy, spicy goodness.

Treat your people! Treat yourself! I mean, because seriously. This one is a TREAT.

Source notes: I got this idea from my old beloved Cooking Light cookbook Fresh Food Fast which now feels so retro! But man, I love that old thing. There’s a recipe for chipotle orange shrimp in the book – I made a few changes based on some of my preferences, but the flavor idea came from that cookbook. Thank you, CL!

Chipotle Orange Shrimp with Cilantro Rice

Author: Lindsay
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 2-4 servings (I can definitely eat half of this by myself)

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Chipotle Orange Sauce:

1 chipotle pepper (or half of one pepper, for a less spicy version)
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
zest of one orange

Shrimp and Rice:

a drizzle of olive oil
1 pound uncooked shrimp, tails removed
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 1/2 cups white rice (I like jasmine rice or just plain long grain rice)
a big handful of chopped cilantro
optional, for serving: salad, slaw, zippy cucumbers (see notes)

Instructions

Sauce: Blend sauce ingredients together until mostly smooth.
Rice: Cook rice according to package directions. Stir in cilantro and salt to taste (+ add lime juice, or the juice of the zested orange, if you want some citrus goodness in there).
Shrimp: Heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the shrimp and sauté for 2 minutes on each side, sprinkling with the cumin, plus some salt and pepper.
Finish: Add the sauce and simmer for another 5 minutes or so. Serve shrimp over rice, with a salad or some fresh zippy cucumbers.