Blackened Shrimp Bowls (2024)

Blackened shrimp bowls are loaded with flavor, easy to make and ready in just 15 minutes. Blackened shrimp paired with rice, black beans and a flavorful mango salsa is smoky, spicy, sweet and so filling. The perfect weeknight meal.

If you love the flavor of these blackened shrimp and rice bowls, you have to try this sheet pan shrimp tacos or air fryer shrimp tacos for more smoky shrimp.

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Blackened Shrimp and Rice Bowl Highlights

• Easy to make – there are very few steps to make this dish from start to finish
• Customizable (use your favorite veggies, use quinoa or cauliflower rice instead of rice)
• Ready in 15 minutes (thanks to the instant pot)
• Packed with flavor – the mixture of the blackening seasoning and mango salsa is sweet, savory, smoky and spicy.

Star ingredients

• Shrimp (peeled and deveined) – I like to use a larger shrimp
• Blackening seasoning – this gives the shrimp all the flavor, if you don’t have blackening seasoning, see below for a recipe.
• White Jasmine Rice (or basmati rice) – this rice cooks up quickly in the instant pot and pairs perfectly with the shrimp.
• Mango salsa – Use a store bought mango salsa to make this recipe easy. I love Newman’s Own, but you could use whatever you love.

How to make blackened shrimp bowls

Make the rice: Rinse the rice well, add it to the instant pot with 2.25 cups of water. Cook on high pressure 3 minutes. Once it’s done cooking, you can manually release the pressure.

Season and cook the shrimp: Add blackening seasoning to the shrimp. Spray pan with avocado oil or olive oil spray then add shrimp, cook 2-3 minutes, flip and cook 1-2 minutes more.

Make the beans: Drain and rinse the black beans well. Add the black beans, salt, garlic powder and mango salsa to a pot. Heat over medium heat 3-4 minutes until heated through, stir regularly.

Assemble the dish: add rice to a bowl, top with blackened shrimp, black beans, tomatoes and cubed avocado.

Time saving tip

Use frozen rice and make this dish in 10 minutes. You can buy frozen rice or make a large batch and freeze the rice in 1/2 – 1 cup portions for easy defrosting.

Other additions

• Roasted red peppers – these would not require any additional cooking
• Pickled red onions
• Sauteed veggies: zucchini, summer squash, bell peppers, onions, mushrooms

Other ways to serve

• Over salad greens with cilantro lime dressing
• As a burrito – stuff all the ingredients in a large tortilla and roll like a burrito

Common questions

What if you don’t have blackening seasoning

You can make your own blackening seasoning or use cajun seasoning + ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper.

To make your own blackening seasoning, combine:

• 1 tablespoon paprika
• ½ tablespoon garlic powder
• ½ tablespoon salt
• ½ tablespoon chili powder
• ½ teaspoon dry ground mustard
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

What if the shrimp is not defrosted

Shrimp defrosts rather quickly, it takes about 1 hour. If you want to cook the shrimp from frozen, I recommend that you cook the frozen shrimp in the air fryer.

To defrost shrimp, place a sealed bag of shrimp in cold water on the counter, changing out the water every 20-30 minutes. The shrimp should be fully defrosted in 1 hour.

Storing leftovers

This blackened shrimp rice bowl is great as leftovers the next day. I would recommend waiting to add the avocado and tomato until right before serving.

Store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

If you love shrimp recipes, you should try

• Sundried Tomato Shrimp
• Spicy Bang Bang Shrimp
• Sriracha Honey Shrimp