Lemon Basil Shrimp & Rice

Quick meals are what Homemade on a Weeknight is all about. This recipe basically only takes as long as it takes to make the rice and you are ready to serve it up. Lemon Basil Shrimp & Rice has got an incredible flavor profile, the whole family is going to love it. It is a fairly simple recipe, the lemon basil dressing really is the star of this show.

I cooked the shrimp on my Blackstone flat-top griddle. It makes is so easy to cook it all at once instead of having to go in batches. You can also cook it over a grill, just make sure that the actual grill plate is fully hot so that the shrimp cooks quickly. When you cook shrimp quickly and evenly, it stays nice and juicy but still cooks through. I also prefer to use metal skewers when I make something like this. Mostly because they are reusable, but also because they allow for a more even cook and you don’t have to worry about them catching on fire like wooden or bamboo skewers. You can always use the soak them in water first trick but I feel like that water just creates steam in the grill, and it affects the way it cooks.

I made this with rice because its one of my family’s favorite sides. However, I did originally think to make it with Israeli Couscous. I think that it would be a great alternative and a simple substitution. All you would really do is prepare the couscous as directed on the package and then pour in the dressing the same as with the rice.

This is a perfect light meal for summertime. My kids would have liked to have more shrimps, but that’s always going to be true! I do suggest you definitely get the peeled but tail-on shrimp if you can. It makes it very easy to put them on and take them off the skewers. I am not sure that you can move quickly enough to not over cook any shrimps smaller than a large sized. If you went small or medium, I think you would have to do them in batches instead of all at once.

Now Let’s Get Cookin’!

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Lemon Basil Shrimp & Rice

A super quick but so flavorful dressing over rice and grilled shrimp.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword lemon, lemon basil, lemon juice, rice, shrimp, shrimp recipes

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Servings 6

Equipment

• 8-10 Skewers metal or bamboo

Ingredients

• 2 lb Larger Shrimp peeled, deveined, tails-on
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Pepper
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• 2½ cups Long Grain Rice
• 5 cups Broth chicken or veggie

For the Dressing

• 2 Medium Lemons juice & zest
• ¼ cup Dijon Mustard
• ¼ cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• ¼ cup Honey
• ½ cup Oil
• 4 Garlic Cloves minced
• 1 cup Fresh Basil chopped

Instructions

• Preheat grill or griddletop to medium-high heat.
• Put 8-10 shrimps on each skewer. Sprinkle both sides with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
• In a sauce pan over medium heat, add rice and broth. Cover with lid and cook for 18 minutes.
• Combine dressing ingredients in a bowl.
• When rice is done cooking, immediately pour half of dressing into rice pan and stir to combine. Recover with lid and let sit until ready to serve.
• Place shrimp on grill/griddle and cook for 2 minutes on each side. Then use remaining dressing to brush each side and cook another minute more.
• Serve a portion of rice with one or two skewers of shrimp. Garnish with additional basil if desired.