This Cilantro Lime Shrimp is a healthy and easy dinner recipe that only takes 10 minutes! Serve with rice, in tacos or as a Mexican salad garnish.

What’s better than shrimp for dinner? It’s healthy, easy to cook and delicious: making it the triple threat of night cooking! And here is our new favorite way to cook it: Cilantro Lime Shrimp! This recipe only takes 10 minutes to prepare and is beautifully tangy and fresh! It goes perfectly with Mexican flavours: serve it with rice, an avocado salad or in tacos. Or make it a main course salad topped with our cilantro vinaigrette. Here’s how to do it!

What’s in these Cilantro Lime Shrimp?

These cilantro-lime shrimp are packed with zesty flavor—and they take less than 10 minutes to put together! Alex and I recently served this with green rice and homemade guacamole and it was an incredibly satisfying healthy dinner recipe! All you need is a handful of ingredients:

• large prawns Fresh or frozen, peeled or not, with or without tail; deveined is preferable!
• Lime juice and zest Use both the juice and the zest for the best zesty flavor
• Coriander
• Butter or olive oil Both have great flavor; butter is slightly tastier, oil works dairy free
• fresh garlic
• Cumin and cayenne

All you have to do is heat the oil, stir in the shrimp, lime juice and zest, and sauté 1-2 minutes on each side until opaque. Very easy! Go to the full recipe to make it!

Step it up: serve with a cilantro sauce!

These Cilantro Lime Shrimp have a fresh and zesty flavor. If you want to intensify it even more and add an even bigger cilantro flavor: might we suggest serving with cilantro sauce? Here are a few sauces that would be just perfect for dipping or drizzling on top:

• Flavors of Creamy Cilantro Dressing unbelievable! It only takes 5 minutes and you’ll want to use it on everything: salads, tacos, fries, and more.
• Easy Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette Quick to make and the zesty flavor is just right—this one is dairy-free too!
• Shrimp Taco Sauce This sauce is basically a cilantro ranch dressing: it amps up the cilantro flavor to the next level!

Ways to Serve Cilantro Lime Shrimp

This recipe is so versatile, it’s hard to know where to start! Our favorite is to simply add rice and a salad. But there are so many creative ways to serve it, whether it’s a quick weeknight meal or dinner! Here are all of our favorite ways to serve Cilantro Lime Shrimp!

1. With Rice and Tomato & Avocado Salad
2. With black beans and rice
3. With a Mexican chopped salad (or on the salad to make it a main dish!)
4. In Shrimp Tacos
5. With homemade chips and simple guacamole
6. With black bean salad
7. In lettuce wraps
8. With Elote (Mexican street corn)
9. With a Classic Margarita, Jalapeno Margarita or Skinny Margarita. Or a Chelada or a Michelada!
10. With Homemade Refried Beans

A good citrus press and zester

This recipe uses lime juice and lime zest for great flavor! What are the best tools for the job? Here are what we have found are the best tools for juicing and zesting citrus fruits:

• Use a juicer. Alex and I use a juicer to quickly squeeze limes. Here is the juice extractor we use: it works very well!
• For zesting, use a microplane or a grater. A microplan does a quick job of zest! If you don’t have one, use the small holes in a cardboard rasp. For more information, here’s how to zest a lime.

Want more lime recipes? Head over to 15 Zingy Lime Recipes.

Are prawns healthy?

A medium shrimp is only 7 calories, making it a great low-calorie way to a healthy dinner! Shrimp are part of a healthy Mediterranean-style diet. (Here’s more information on shrimp nutrition.) Shrimp calories and protein are as follows:

• 1 medium shrimp = 7 calories, 1 gram of protein
• 1 jumbo shrimp = 14 calories, 1.5 grams of protein

How to thaw frozen shrimp

You can absolutely use frozen shrimp for this recipe: it’s not necessarily better than fresh! In fact, if shrimp is frozen just when it is caught and stays frozen, it is fresher than fresh fish that has been transported for days. How to thaw frozen shrimp? There are several options:

• The previous day: If you’re planning ahead, just place the frozen shrimp in the fridge overnight.
• Day of: Place the shrimp in a large bowl of very cold water for 15 minutes. Stir every 5 minutes to break up lumps that freeze together. The shrimp should thaw in about 15-20 minutes.

This Cilantro Lime Shrimp Recipe is…

Gluten-free, dairy-free (with olive oil) and pescatarian.