Quick, easy, and totally flavorful, these chipotle lime shrimp bowls made with brown rice, black beans, tomatoes, and avocado have just the right level of adobo spice with a touch of honey to sweeten up meal prep for any lunch or dinner.
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“I made this just like the original recipe over the weekend. I wanted to see if it was worthy to serve to my son and daughter in law, both of whom are ‘foodies.’ I have to tell you that it’s a resounding YES!” -Cheryle, FoodieCrush reader
These Bowls Take Less Than 30 Minutes to Make!
This healthy chipotle shrimp bowl recipe comes from the new cookbook aimed at solving that dreaded meal-time dilemma of getting nutritious meals in the belly when time isn’t always on your side.
The Weekday Lunches and Breakfasts Cookbook: Easy and Delicious Home-Cooked Meals for Busy Families by Mary Younkin of the food blog Barefeet In the Kitchen, serves up super-simple breakfasts and lunches that work for everyone at the table. Or if you’re like me, easy to eat at the desk too.
Filled with recipes for quick, easy, and make-ahead breakfasts and lunches, this is the busy person’s cookbook with freezer storage suggestions and easy to reheat directions galore.
One of the things I love most about meals in a bowl is how creative you can get with them. I love all things chipotle-flavored and even created a chipotle shrimp burritos recipe (the avocado crema is the best!) a few years back. It’s time to return to the chipotle shrimp train.
Enjoy!
Heidi’s Tips for Recipe Success
Tame the heat by using fewer chipotle peppers. Chipotle peppers are smoked jalapeños that are most often found canned in adobo sauce and deliver an earthy, smoky, spicy bite and are found in Tex-Mex and Mexican flavored dishes. They can add some serious heat to a dish, but are easy to control your by adding less or more of the pepper to whatever you’re making.
Fresh or frozen shrimp, it doesn’t matter. I always prefer pink shrimp (usually from Key West) for their sweetness over Mexican or Indonesian black shrimp. To keep this a quick recipe, purchase your shrimp already peeled and deveined.
Don’t leave the shrimp in the marinade. It only takes 15 minutes for the marinade to flavor the shrimp, and you’ll definitely want to keep it under 30 minutes or the shrimp will begin to break down and become mealy when cooked.
What’s in This Recipe?
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
- Shrimp — Choose large 21/25 shrimp if possible, which are tougher to overcook than smaller shrimp.
- Chipotle lime marinade — Freshly squeezed lime juice and chipotle peppers in adobo sauce form the flavor backbone of this Tex Mex marinade. Garlic adds savoriness, honey adds sweetness, ground cumin adds earthiness, and a pinch of cayenne kicks up the heat.
- Rice — I prefer brown rice (I’ll often buy the pre-made packets to save time), but cilantro lime rice works great here too.
- Black beans — There are so many great ways to use up a can of beans, and these shrimp burrito bowls are one of my faves.
- Veggies — You can mix and match the fresh toppings to use up whatever’s on hand, but I stuck with juicy tomato, creamy avocado, and a mix of red and green onions.
- Fresh cilantro — A must for any Mexican-inspired recipe.
How to Make Chipotle Lime Shrimp Bowls
- Marinate the shrimp. The sautéed shrimp are first quick-marinated with lime juice, garlic, chipotle peppers and adobo sauce and sweetened with honey — chipotle’s favorite pairing.
- Chop up the veggies. I’ll typically tackle this while the shrimp are marinating.
- Cook the shrimp. Once the shrimp have had time to marinate, simply sauté in a little oil until they’re pink all over.
- Assemble. Divide the rice between bowls, pile on the shrimp and toppings, and dig in!
Meal Prep Tips
These Mexican shrimp and rice bowls are just begging to go with you to work, school, or wherever your day takes you because it tastes just as good chilled as it does warm.
I used my divided meal prep containers (shown above) to separate the fresh toppings from the heartier beans, rice, and shrimp. This prevents anything from browning too quickly or changing texture.
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on this recipe below and leave a comment, take a photo and tag me on Instagram with #foodiecrusheats.
Chipotle Lime Shrimp Bowls
Ingredients
For the shrimp:
- 1 pound large shrimp , deveined and peeled
- 3 tablespoons canola oil , divided
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice , divided (about 1-2 medium limes)
- 1 to 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce , finely minced (about 1 tablespoon)
- 1 teaspoon adobo sauce (the liquid from the can of peppers)
- 2 cloves garlic , pressed
- 2 teaspoons honey
- ¾ teaspoons ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
For the bowls:
- 4 cups cooked brown rice
- 1 15.5 ounce can black beans , drained and warmed
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes , sliced
- 1 large avocado , pitted and chopped
- 4 green onions , chopped
- ¼ cup red onion , chopped
- Fresh cilantro
- Lime wedges
Instructions
- Place the shrimp in a bowl or gallon freezer bag, and add 2 tablespoons of the oil, lime juice, chipotle peppers, adobe sauce, garlic, honey, salt, cumin, and pepper. Massage the ingredients into the shrimp and let the shrimp rest on the counter for 15 minutes.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the remaining oil to the pan and swirl to coat. Spread the shrimp across the pan and discard any remaining marinade. Add the shrimp to the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side or until they’ve turned lightly pink on the outside and the insides are turning white.
- Assemble the bowls with the rice, black beans, veggies and sprinkle with cilantro. Drizzle with more adobo sauce and a squeeze of lime if desired.
Notes
- These fresh and healthy bowls can be mixed and matched with other Mexican-inspired veggie ingredients as desired such as corn, jicama or bell peppers.
Nutrition
Ways to Customize This Recipe
Assembling the shrimp bowls is incredibly easy and super adaptable to whatever you have in the fridge, freezer, or pantry. All you need is a grain, protein, and vegetables. Here, the chipotle marinade carries the flavor and so no additional dressing is even needed, except of a squeeze of fresh lime for that fresh flavor hit.
- Swap the brown rice with cauliflower rice, white rice, or cilantro lime rice
- Use refried beans or pinto beans instead of black beans
- Sub the tomatoes for homemade salsa, pico de gallo, or mango salsa
- Instead of avocado, use avocado salsa verde
- Add corn (Mexican grilled corn or regular grilled corn would be great here)
- Add jicama, bell peppers, or blistered shisito peppers
- Add crunchy lettuce, such as romaine or even shredded iceberg
- Swap the red onion with pickled onions
- Add fresh or pickled jalapeño
- Dollop with sour cream or cotija cheese
More Easy Bowl Recipes
More Healthy Shrimp Recipes to Try
See more recipes from Barefeet In the Kitchen and purchase The Weekday Lunches and Breakfasts Cookbook here.
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Lynne Naman
It’s a keeper, very good quick and healthy dinner.
Cheryle
I made this just like the original recipe over the weekend. I wanted to see if it was worthy to serve to my son and daughter in love, both of whom are “foodies.” I have to tell you that it’s a resounding YES!
I’m glad you all enjoyed Cheryle!
Sam Roberts
It seems to me I can smell this dish. Every recipe containing shrimp becomes my favorite. And this one is easy to cook. Thank you for it.
Karen
Oh my goodness…this looks so good BUT… 1900 gms of sodium? :O. I will make cauli rice instead & leave out the black beans
Nancy Garousi
The nutrition is based on a total of 3 servings . So that 875 calorie etc would be divided by 3 correct? It looks amazing!
Fran
Best shrimp marinade ever.
Ashley @ Foodie Crush
Thanks Fran!
Patricia
Made this for my family and they loved it. In fact, they’re asking when I’m planning to serve it again.
Ashley @ Foodie Crush
yay! Glad it was a hit.
Lindsay
Do you have the nutritional information for this recipe?
Ashley @ Foodie Crush
I don’t! I usually recommend plugging it into a calorie app such as MyFitness Pal
Beth
I’d love to try this recipe. Can you please tell about how many calories are in each serving.
Ashley @ Foodie Crush
Hi beth, I currently do not take the time to figure out the calorie content for my recipes.
Marilyn
Why can’t I save this page?
Ashley @ Foodie Crush
You should be able to. There is a printable recipe at the bottom of each blog post.
Rebecca Y.
Hi there! This looks amazing! Do you have to use canola oil or can you use olive oil inside?
Thanks!
Ana
The marinade for the shrimp and the resulting flavor was so good! I will need to remember to get some sour cream next time because I feel that all this dish was missing is a nice cream sauce of some sort. Thanks for sharing!
Ruchika
This recipe is really great. I would really like to make it at least once. Thanks for this yummy recipe.
John
Last weekend we made this recipe with the girl, we really liked it, she does not like sea food, but even she was just delighted with this dish. I wonder how much this dish is high in calories? Because I try not to consume more than two thousand calories a day. I understand that there are a lot of vegetables in this dish, so this dish probably contains few calories, but I still want to clarify, for assurance.
Laura | Tutti Dolci
Prettiest bowls I’ve ever seen! :) Love the chipotle-lime flavors!
teektalks
I Loved this recipe!
sabrina
these have everything I love, and even the variety of shrimp, agree wholeheartedly that what you call pink and butcher calls Key West are much much better than other varieties, also prefer over the tiny bay shrimp!
Phi - The SweetPhi blog
Omg yum yum yum! I made banana bread from Mary’s cookbook and I made it for the third time this week, so if that tells you anything about her recipes lol. I cannot believe I didn’t see these in the book, I am adding these to the menu next week, your photography, as always, makes me wish I could just reach inside my screen and grab whatever it is you’re making to eat!
They really are delicious Phi, and the thing about using shrimp is the whole dish comes together really quick. Sounds like I need to try the banana bread too! XO
Feestzaal
Loved this recipe! Will definitely make it again!