This recipe harkens us back to the long days of summer; it’s tropical and bright with a kick of cilantro and red pepper. The best part is it’s not fried and is a healthy alternative paired with caulirice. This is a great dish to serve at a friend’s night in or a cookout. There is minor prep work with chopping, ricing, and juicing ingredients, but you can cut down on time with pre-prepared alternatives from the store.
Yields 4 servings of Cilantro Lime Shrimp with Crispy Coconut Caulirice
The Preparation
For the Coconut Caulirice:
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
- 1/2 cup unsweetened toasted coconut flakes
- 2 cups cauliflower, cut into florets
- salt and pepper, to taste
For the Shrimp:
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
- 2 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced
- 1/4 medium red onion, diced
- 1 1/4 cups canned coconut milk
- 12 ounces cooked shrimp
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
- 2 tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes
The Execution
1. Preheat non-stick skillet to prepare cauliflower rice. Heat coconut oil and sauté the unsweetened coconut flakes to slightly brown.
2. Place cauliflower florets in a food processor or blender, and pulse until the pieces resemble rice.
3. Stir riced cauliflower into skillet. Sauté ingredients until coconut flakes are toasted and riced cauliflower is softened. Don’t add extra liquid and let the cauliflower rice fry in the coconut oil. . Remove the coconut flakes and riced coconut from the skillet, and cover in a container until ready to serve.
4. In the same pan, sauté the remaining coconut oil, garlic, and onion until fragrant.
5. Stir in coconut milk and bring to a simmer, allowing the sauce to reduce for 5 minutes.
6. Place the shrimp in an even layer in the coconut sauce and cook on medium-low until the shrimp is soft and just begins to curl in. This should take 3-5 minutes.
7. Gently stir in lime juice and cilantro. Top the shrimp with crushed red pepper.
8. Place shrimp on top of cauliflower rice, and drizzle the shrimp and rice with sauce.
This makes a total of 4 servings of Cilantro Lime Shrimp with Crispy Coconut Caulirice. Each serving comes out to be 360 calories, 24.5g fats, 10.7g net carbs, and 23.5g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 1 teaspoon coconut oil | 41 | 4.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1/2 cup unsweetened toasted coconut flakes | 283 | 22.7 | 14.2 | 8.5 | 5.7 | 2.8 |
| 2 cup cauliflower | 57 | 1.2 | 10.2 | 5.7 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| — salt and pepper | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 teaspoon coconut oil | 41 | 4.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 teaspoon fresh garlic | 8 | 0 | 1.9 | 0.1 | 1.8 | 0.4 |
| 1/4 medium red onion | 10 | 0 | 2.4 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 0.3 |
| 1 1/4 cup canned coconut milk | 557 | 60.3 | 7.9 | 0 | 7.9 | 5.7 |
| 12 ounce cooked shrimp | 405 | 5.8 | 5.1 | 0 | 5.1 | 78.9 |
| 1 tablespoon lime juice | 4 | 0 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 0.1 |
| 3 tablespoon fresh cilantro | 1 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0 | 0.1 |
| 2 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes | 34 | 1.9 | 6.1 | 2.9 | 3.2 | 1.3 |
| Totals | 1440 | 100.9 | 49.1 | 17.7 | 31.4 | 94 |
| Per Serving (/4) | 360 | 25.2 | 12.3 | 4.4 | 7.8 | 23.5 |
Cilantro Lime Shrimp with Crispy Coconut Caulirice
Ingredients
For the Coconut Caulirice
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
- ½ cup unsweetened toasted coconut flakes
- 2 cup cauliflower cut into florets
- salt and pepper to taste
For the Shrimp
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
- 2 teaspoon fresh garlic minced
- ¼ medium red onion diced
- 1 ¼ cup canned coconut milk
- 12 ounce cooked shrimp
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 3 tablespoon fresh cilantro chopped
- 2 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Preheat non-stick skillet to prepare cauliflower rice. Heat coconut oil listed in cauliflower rice ingredient list and sauté the unsweetened coconut flakes to slightly brown, being careful not to burn.
- Place cauliflower florets in a food processor or blender, and pulse until the pieces resemble rice.
- Stir riced cauliflower into skillet with coconut flakes. Sauté ingredients until riced cauliflower is softened, but not mushy. Don’t add extra liquid; let the caulirice cook in the coconut oil that is left from toasting coconut. Season with a little salt and pepper, if desired. Remove from pan and place in a covered container until ready to serve.
- In the same pan, sauté the coconut oil listed in shrimp ingredient list, garlic, and onion until fragrant.
- Stir in coconut milk and bring to a simmer, allowing the sauce to reduce for 5 minutes.
- Place the shrimp in an even layer in the coconut sauce and cook on medium-low until the shrimp is soft and warmed through. This should take 3-5 minutes.
- Gently stir in lime juice and cilantro. Top the shrimp with crushed red pepper.
- Place shrimp on top of cauliflower rice, then drizzle the shrimp and rice with the coconut milk sauce.
Quick question… where does the second half of the coconut flakes go? I added it in when I added in the cauliflower rice.
Sorry for the mistake – you had it correct. It goes in the first step. I hope that you enjoyed the dish!
When do you add the 2nd half of the coconut flakes? Also adding some salt helps.
Sorry for the mistake – all of the coconut flakes are added in the first step. Yes, you can certainly use salt. We tend to leave salt out of recipes because it’s subjective, but we’re working on adding “salt and pepper to taste” into recipes that can use it.
Thanks Craig. It’s a fabulous recipe. I also make it with raw shrimp. Shrimp cooks so fast that it’s fine to do that. I’m making it tomorrow night! Thanks for the recipe!
Caron
This sounds delish! My husband is allergic to shrimp and i wanted to make it with chicken instead. Silly question but should I just use the serving size on the chicken to determine the nutrients?
Yes, that should work just fine 🙂
I made this about a month ago and I was in heaven. Heading to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients!