Cilantro Lime Shrimp and Cauliflower Rice (keto + low carb)
This Cilantro Lime Shrimp and Cauliflower Rice is low calorie, low carb, keto-friendly and packed with flavor! This versatile recipe will have food on the table in less than 30 minutes!
This Cilantro Lime Shrimp and Cauliflower Rice is a breeze to make. It is loaded with flavor and perfect for satisfying your Mexican food cravings! Just a handful of spices, herbs, and citrus turn this lean and wholesome meal into a repeatable dinner the whole family will love.
This recipe includes two separate dishes that we enjoy together, but you will find that both the shrimp and the cauliflower rice are versatile, easy favorites you will want to serve in a million different ways. The easy cilantro lime shrimp recipe is amazing tossed in a salad or stuffed in tortillas for quesadillas. The cauliflower rice makes an amazing low-carb burrito bowl or side dish!
Ingredients for Cilantro Lime Shrimp and Rice
As always, you will find the complete recipe below, just keep scrolling. This is a quick overview of the ingredients you will need for this recipe:
- Olive oil and butter – We like the combination for the best flavor and cook, but you could use oil in place of the butter if you want this to be dairy-free. Avocado oil or another cooking oil can be used as well.
- Fresh produce: garlic cloves, red onion, limes, jalapeno, and cilantro – You want the zest from the lime peel and the fresh lime juice, so it’s best to skip the bottled version if at all possible.
- Spices: chili powder, cumin, kosher salt, and black pepper
- Shrimp: To make it as easy as possible, use deveined shrimp with shells removed. You do get more flavor from shrimp with the shells on, but it’s more difficult and time-consuming to eat. I used large shrimp, but you can use whichever size you prefer. Smaller shrimp will cook quicker while extra large shrimp will need a little bit longer.
- Frozen Cauliflower Rice: This will give a better taste and texture than manually riced fresh cauliflower.
How to make the best shrimp and cauliflower rice
All you need for this easy keto dinner is one large pan (or two if you want to make both at the same time).
Sauté veggies
Start by heating the oil in a large pan, then adding the minced garlic, diced red onion, and diced jalapeno. Saute for 1-2 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add in your frozen cauliflower rice and continue sauteing for 6-8 minutes (still stirring occasionally to prevent sticking). The rice will produce a lot of steam as it cooks. Once the steam has dissipated, turn the heat up slightly to help remove any additional moisture.
Season your cauliflower rice
Once you see that there is no moisture left to make your cauliflower rice soggy, stir in your lime juice, lime zest, chopped cilantro, salt, and pepper. Taste and add extra zest, juice, cilantro, or seasonings to your liking, then set aside for now, loosely covering to keep warm.
Cook the shrimp
In another skillet (or the same one if you transferred the cauliflower rice to a bowl), heat one tablespoon of the butter and the remaining olive oil over medium heat. Sauté the garlic just until fragrant (usually 30-60 seconds seconds). Add in your shelled and deveined shrimp along with the chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. Stir to coat while continuing to sauté 2-3 minutes until the shrimp have turned pink.
Make garlic butter sauce
Once the shrimp is nice and pink, stir in your lime zest and juice as well as the remaining butter and cilantro. Continue to cook an additional 1-2 minutes until the butter has melted completely and the garlic sauce has begun to thicken slightly. Toss the shrimp several times to make sure the butter sauce completely coats each bite.
Serve
Spoon the cilantro lime cauliflower rice evenly into four bowls, then top with the shrimp and garlic butter sauce. Garnish with additional lime wedges, cilantro, avocado slices, crumbled cotija cheese, chopped tomatoes, seasoned black beans, pico de gallo, salsa, guacamole, or a dollop of sour cream.
Consider serving these in lettuce wraps for a fresh, crunchy version, perfect for a hot summer day! You can make amazing cilantro lime shrimp tacos with either corn tortillas or flour tortillas (they even make them low-carb now!). Make a Taco Chaffle Bowl or drizzle with Jalapeno Ranch for a creamy kick!
Non-keto side dishes you could add for family and guests:
- Slow Cooker Bean Dip
- Grilled Corn Salad
- Instant Pot Mexican Rice
- Slow Cooker Corn Dip
- Instant Pot Refried Beans
Shrimp and Cauliflower Rice FAQ’s
This recipe serves four. The cauliflower rice reduces as it cooks, so the serving size is roughly 3/4 cup each. You can enjoy 3/4 cup of Keto Cilantro Lime Rice and 1/4 pound of the Cilantro Lime Shrimp in garlic butter sauce for just 6 net carbs!
Cauliflower rice can often come out soggy from either overcooking freshly riced cauliflower or undercooking frozen cauliflower rice. We use frozen cauliflower rice to avoid the first issue, then we watch the steam & turn up the heat at the end to avoid the second issue. You will notice a dramatic reduction of steam from the cauliflower when it is almost done — That is your sign to turn up the heat for the last 1-2 minutes to cook off the remaining moisture.
Cauliflower rice NEEDS a good dose of salt and pepper to become the flavorful side dish we all want. However, the right amount very much depends on our personal preferences. I highly recommend you salt and pepper the cauliflower rice to taste so it is just right for you.
The juicy shrimp will last in the fridge for 3-4 days. The cilantro lime cauliflower rice will last 4-5 days. You can store these in separate airtight containers or the same if you prefer.
More Keto Mexican Recipes
- Easy Keto Quesadilla
- Mexican Shredded Beef
- Keto Zucchini Tortillas
- Low-Carb Chicken Chimichangas
- Cheesy Keto Taco Soup
Want more? Check out this list of 40+ Keto Mexican Recipes!
Get the Recipe: Cilantro Lime Shrimp and Cauliflower Rice (keto + low carb)
Ingredients
Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
- 1 fresh jalapeño, chopped and seeds removed
- 1 10 ounce bag frozen Cauliflower Rice
- Zest from 1 lime, about 1 1/2 teaspoons
- Juice from 1 lime, about 1 tablespoon
- 1/4 -1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped (add to your preference)
- salt and pepper to taste, this NEEDS salt and pepper, do a taste test and add to your liking
Cilantro Lime Shrimp
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 pound shelled shrimp
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Zest from 1 lime
- Juice from 1 lime
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
Instructions
For the Cilantro Lime Rice
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan, saute the minced garlic, red onion and jalapeño 1-2 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
- Add the frozen cauliflower rice (tap the bag on the counter top a few times before opening to help break up any clumps)
- Saute the cauliflower rice 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. The rice will produce a lot of steam as it cooks, it is almost done when the steam has dissipated.
- Turn the heat up slightly (this helps to remove any additional moisture) stir in the zest, lime juice, cilantro and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Add any additional lime zest, juice or cilantro to your liking.
For the Cilantro Lime Shrimp
- Heat the 1 tablespoon of butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute the garlic about 30 seconds.
- Add the shelled shrimp, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper, stir to coat.
- Sauté the shrimp 2-3 minutes until they have turned pink.
- Stir in the zest, juice, and remaining three tablespoons of butter and cilantro. Cook an additional 1-2 minutes until the butter has melted completely and the butter garlic sauce has begun to thicken.
- Serve immediately over the cilantro lime cauliflower rice above.
- Garnish dish with additional lime wedges, cilantro and salt and pepper to taste.
Amazing. Added small sweet peppers.