Sweet and Spicy Shrimp Bowl

My family has been loving a version of Sweet and Spicy Shrimp Bowls for years, but it was never quite right.  The original recipe was lacking vegetables and the sauce would escape from the rice and run all over the plate.  Then I discovered a remedy…put it in a bowl!

Bowling Anyone?

If you’re like me, you might be eating more and more of your meals from bowls. Do you find that you exhaust your supply of clean bowls, while there seems to be plenty of clean plates in the cupboard?

There are a lot of advantages to “bowling” whether you are feeding a busy family or in my case, living on a boat with limited dishes.  I like one-dish meals served in a bowl because…

• Portioning the food is easier.
• People can balance a bowl with one hand – very handy while sitting on a stool or camp chair, and especially while eating on a rocking boat.
• Food is appealing when colorful ingredients are nestled together in a bowl.
• Portions can be managed by serving smaller servings of protein with grains and vegetables.
• Fewer dishes!

Make this Recipe in Stages

Sweet and Spicy Shrimp Bowls can be made in stages so that the final assembly takes less than ten minutes. Simply prepare the sauce and rice in the morning for a quick dinner. This one-bowl meal has a delicate sweet sauce, nicely rounded with rosemary and a zing of red pepper.

In this updated version, you pour the hot cooking liquid over the spinach and rice, then watch the leaves soften while the spicy, albeit thin, juices mingle with the rice and gather in the bottom of the bowl.

Give it a try and let me know what you think in the comment section.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Sweet and Spicy Shrimp Bowl

Light and flavorful, this shrimp dish is perfect for a quick, yet spectacular one-dish meal. I serve it in a bowl to capture all the flavorful cooking juices poured over the top.

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Passive Time2 hrs

Total Time40 mins

Course: Main Dish - with meat

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Servings: 4 servings

Calories: 344kcal

Ingredients

• ½ cup lemon juice
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup brown sugar lightly packed
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 2 cups slivered fresh spinach
• 1 cup uncooked rice
• 1 lb. raw shrimp peeled and deveined

Instructions

• Several hours before you plan to prepare the shrimp bowl, combine the sauce ingredients to let the spices soften and blend. Using a medium saucepan stir together the lemon juice, oil, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, Italian seasoning, rosemary, garlic, pepper and red pepper flakes.
• Cook rice according to package directions.
• Ten minutes before serving time, bring spice mixture to a boil; add shrimp and cook until shrimp are opaque (3-5 minutes).
• To serve - divide the rice evenly between the four bowls and then top each bowl of rice with ½ cup spinach. Top with even amounts of shrimp and sauce.

Notes

Combine the sauce ingredients the morning before, or at least a few hours before making this dish so the rosemary softens. If you try to rush this step, your guests will be picking stiff twigs of rosemary from their teeth during dinner…not good. If you make your rice ahead time, this dish can come together in ten minutes.

This recipe was adapted from The Best of Simply Colorado Cookbook - Colorado Dietetic Association