I’m Heidi and I love Mexican food. It’s 100% true and I am 100% good with owning up to the fact that if you can give me something spicy to eat I’ll be more than happy to choose it over a mundane turkey on white bread sandwich. Unless that turkey on white bread sandwich also comes with a layer of sweet cranberry sauce and avocado slices with a sprinkle of kosher salt. Then we are in business. Add pickles and I might be in heaven.
But for as much as I love Mexican food, from the tacos and gooey enchiladas to tomatillo salsa and citrusy guacamole, I’m not much of a burrito buff. So many flavors packed into portions that could feed a village resulting in the embarrassing wipe down of my face with half a dozen napkins—while searching for more—and the overwhelming kerfunkle of feeling like I just ate a house once I’m finally finished.
Heaven forbid I should have to save half of a burrito for another meal. That would be like getting a foot massage but the masseuse does only one foot. You can just feel the neglect can’t you?
That’s why I LOVE this burrito recipe.
First of all I love spice. Secondly I love Avocados from Mexico. And thirdly I love shrimp that’s been doused in spice and cooked just for a minute or two so it’s still tender and succulent. Okay, and fourthly I love it slathered in a lightened but creamy sauce that leaves me feeling just filled, not overloaded.
A few notes to about the recipe:
This recipe is one I love using a cast iron skillet for. It gives a nice sear to the shrimpies and I leave the pan for my husband to clean. He says I don’t ever clean our cast iron correctly so let’s share the love with him right? When I cook he cleans. When he cooks he cleans. It’s a fair trade off, right? I have a feeling I’m going to be getting a lesson in cast iron cleaning soon. Please, please use wild shrimp rather than farm raised. I really like the wild Key West Pinks that I find at Whole Foods Market, but a sustainable wild Mexican shrimp is also going to deliver far more taste than a shrimp that’s been farm raised.
The secret to this avocado crema sauce is in its simplicity. Just 3 ingredients for all that flavor. The secret ingredient is canned green chile enchilada sauce. I like the Hatch chile version because they’ve been roasted and give off a fantastic spicy kick with another layer of slight smokiness. Depending on your heat barometer, feel free to try a different enchilada sauce if you’d like.
You might have leftover avocado crema, great for a topping on a mexican inspired salad of romaine, chicken and corn or to top that turkey and cranberry on white bread sandwich.
To store the avocado crema in the refrigerator, place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the crema to keep discoloration from occurring. It will last for 3 days.
If you happen to have leftover shrimp, try this as a morning treat with a few scrambled eggs. I did. Divine.
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 Shrimp Burritos with Simple Avocado Crema
These delicious and filling Chipotle shrimp burritos are stuffed with smoky chipotle shrimp (with just the right amount of heat), rice, and a cool and refreshing avocado crema that ties everything together.
Servings 4
Calories 569kcal
Ingredients
For the Chipotle Shrimp
- 1 pound medium shrimp , shells and tails removed (51-60 shrimp per pound)
- 4 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- 1 tablespoon adobo sauce
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil , divided
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 cups cooked white rice
- ½ cup cilantro leaves plus more for garnish
- 1 lime , juiced
- 4 flour tortillas
For the Avocado Crema
- 2 Avocados from Mexico
- ½ cup Mexican crema or light sour cream
- 1 cup Hatch green chile enchilada sauce , (15-ounce can)
Instructions
- Blend chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, garlic, honey, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and cinnamon in a food processor until smooth. Place shrimp in a gallon Ziploc freezer bag with chipotle mixture and marinate in fridge for 1-2 hours.
- Meanwhile, place avocado halves, crema and Hatch green chile enchilada sauce in a blender and mix to combine. Add a tablespoon of water or more enchilada sauce to desired consistency. Refrigerate until ready to assemble burritos.
- Cook rice according to package directions. Fluff rice and add the juice of one lime and cilantro leaves. Keep warm on low heat.
- Bring a heavy bottom skillet or cast iron skillet to medium high heat and add remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Once hot add shrimp in batches taking care not to overcrowd pan. Cook for 2 minutes each side then flip and cook for an additional minute. Remove from pan and continue until all shrimp are cooked.
- To assemble burritos, microwave tortillas for 30 seconds. Place ¾ cup cliantro lime rice on warmed tortilla, add 10-12 shrimp per burrito and top with avocado crema. Squeeze fresh lime and garnish with additional cilantro leaves. Roll into burrito and top with additional avocado crema as desired.
Nutrition
Calories: 569kcal | Carbohydrates: 72g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 19g | Sodium: 1713mg | Potassium: 609mg | Fiber: 12g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 1451IU | Vitamin C: 17mg | Calcium: 84mg | Iron: 3mg
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I like this but am not much on white rice. What about subbing refried frijoles for the rice? Would that destroy the recipe?
I was trying to come up with a portable version of shrimp fajitas that could be eaten while sitting on the beach without the juices running down the front of everybody. No such thing. So then I thought maybe more like a burrito? Rice works just like Sta-Dri. So I googled shrimp burrito and found this. Not too wet but plenty of kick. It should work stuffed into a pepper popper too. Thanks for the inspiration.
Made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious!! Love your blog.
Made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious! I cut the chipotle by half and felt it was a nice mild heat. Felt a little smug knowing we had a delicious dinner at home instead of a long wait at our favorite Mexican restaurant. :-)
Hi Jan, that’s great that you made it a homemade cinco de mayo. Nothing better than feeling like you one-upped the rest of the crowd.
I am genuinely thankful to the owner of this website who has shared this wonderful piece of writing
at at this time.
Just tried your recipe and my whole family loved it! Thanks for sharing. I will definitely be making this again!
This looks so yummy, and at first glance I thought the shrimp was fried, so I was outta here, but glad to see it’s not. What I might do is just leave off the burrito, add some lettuce, and make it like a burrito bowl to cut some carbs and bread. Love it!
I have to be honest. This was absolutely disgusting. Way to many chipotle peppers made the dish almost putrid. This was definitely a pinterest fail.
Sorry you didn’t like it. If you decide to try again, you could always leave out or use fewer chipotles. Thanks for the honest feedback.
Amazing recipe! Highly recommend.
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I’m Jimmy.
Are you Jimmy?
What would you suggest as a substitute for the green chile enchilada sauce? I’ve searched our town thoroughly and cannot find it!
This recipe looks amazing!! I can’t wait to try it…
One quick question, for the “4 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce” Do I add 4 cans of Chipotle Peppers? Or take 4 of the peppers out of the 1 can and then use all of the sauce that they come in?
You only use 4 of the peppers and 1 tablespoon of the sauce. It’s pretty spicy!
These look absolutely amazing!
Oh my heavens… that shrimp in the skillet pic is phenomenal. This whole post / recipe is fantastic. I want to eat it all up! Burritos are my absolute favorite!
I love shrimp and I love chipotle! This is the perfect burrito!
I can’t stop thinking about this crema. Amazing.
It’s good even on its own. I had some leftover and tossed it with greens for a salad dressing. Uh-huh!
The sizzling shrimp in the pan photo is mesmerizing!
Sure…go and make me crave a shrimp burrito at lunch when all I have is a homemade chicken sandwich with a side of raw almonds.
Oh see, all you need is to whirl the avo with the crema and you have a yummy topper for that chick sand!
I am not much of a burrito person myself but these look fantastic – they are not overstuffed and are loaded with flavor. I think I would eat all of the shrimp right out of the skillet though, probably dipping them into the crema before I could ever assemble the burrito. YUM!
Did you have a camera on me while I was making this? There were a LOT of shrimp that didn’t make it into the shot :)
I’m not one for heat, but these burritos sound right up my ally! My mouth is watering just thinking about them, thank you for giving me another great Mexican recipe to try :).
This is like watching all of my dreams come true.
I just bought more chipotles in adobo this weekend!! Looks delish.
I could totally eat Mexican food every night! These look awesome!!