Shrimp Fajitas with Avocado-Lime Crema & Cilantro-Lime Rice
560 cal · 34g protein · 56g carbs · 21g fat
Toddler tip: Give her the full version — a warm flour tortilla with rice, a few peppers cooked soft, and the shrimp chopped into bite-size pieces. The seasoning is mild by design (chili powder and smoked paprika, no cayenne), so her portion needs no changes. A spoonful of the crema on the side is usually a hit for dipping.
Low-carb fork: Skip the tortillas and the rice and build it as a bowl over the arugula you already have in the fridge, with extra peppers and a bigger spoon of the avocado crema. The warm shrimp wilt the arugula slightly, which is a feature here.
Ingredients
Shrimp & Peppers
- 1.5 lbslarge raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (not cooked, not breaded)
- 3bell peppers (a mix of red, yellow, and green), sliced into thin strips
- 1 largeyellow onion, sliced into thin half-moons
- 2 tbspneutral oil (canola or avocado), divided
- 2 tspchili powder
- 1 tspground cumin
- 1 tspsmoked paprika
- ½ tspgarlic powder
- 1 tspkosher salt
- 1½limes — 1 cut into wedges for the table, ½ for deglazing the shrimp pan
Avocado-Lime Crema
- 1 largeripe Hass avocado
- ⅓ cupsour cream (pasteurized — check the label)
- 2 tbsplime juice (about 1 lime)
- 2 tbspcilantro leaves, roughly chopped
- ¼ tspof the fajita spice mix (a pinch each of the chili powder, cumin, and smoked paprika) — ties the cool crema to the warm smoky filling
- ¼ tspkosher salt
- 1-2 tbspwater, to thin to a drizzle
Cilantro-Lime Rice
- 1.5 cupslong-grain white rice, rinsed
- 2.25 cupswater
- 1 tspkosher salt
- 2 tbsplime juice, plus the zest of 1 lime (zest it before you juice it)
- ¼ cupcilantro leaves, chopped fine
For Serving
- 8flour tortillas, fajita size
Instructions
1Start the rice first so it is hands-off for the rest of the cook: combine the rinsed rice, water, and salt in a saucepan, bring to a boil, then cover and drop to the lowest heat for 15 minutes. Do not lift the lid and do not stir it. After 15 minutes pull the pot off the heat and leave it covered another 10 minutes — that rest is what evens out the wet bottom and the firm top. It holds fine, covered, until you plate.
2While the rice cooks, make the crema: put the avocado, sour cream, lime juice, cilantro, the pinch of fajita spice, and the salt in a blender or small food processor and run it smooth, adding water a tablespoon at a time until it pours in a thick drizzle. Scrape it into a bowl and refrigerate until dinner.
3If your shrimp came tail-on, pull the tails now, before seasoning — pinch the fin and slide the shrimp out. It takes about 5 minutes for 1.5 lbs and it is much worse to do at the table with a toddler. Then pat the shrimp very dry with paper towels and toss them in a bowl with 1 tbsp of the oil, the chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder, and salt. Dry shrimp is what lets them brown instead of steam.
4Heat the remaining 1 tbsp oil in your largest skillet — 12 inch, cast iron if you have it — over medium-high until it shimmers. Add the onion and peppers. If they do not sit in something close to a single layer, split them into two batches and give each 5-6 minutes; all of it at once will steam instead of char and you will get soft, gray strips. Stir only every minute or so, and pull them when you see real black edges. Move them to a plate.
5Return the skillet to medium-high and lay the shrimp in a single layer — in two batches if they do not all fit without touching. Cook 2 to 2½ minutes per side for jumbo shrimp (90 seconds per side if you got large), until just pink and opaque through. Shrimp go rubbery fast, so pull them the moment the last gray disappears.
6With the shrimp out and the skillet still hot and empty, squeeze half a lime into the pan and scrape hard for about 15 seconds. Everything the spices left on the bottom lifts into a few tablespoons of dark pan juice — pour that straight over the shrimp. It costs nothing and it is the single biggest flavor step in the dish.
7Return the peppers and onions to the skillet and toss for 30 seconds to bring everything back to temperature.
8Finish the rice: fluff it with a fork, then fold in the lime juice, the chopped cilantro, and the zest of one lime — grate the zest off before you juice it, because the zest is where the lime smell actually lives and the juice alone reads as sour rather than limey. Warm the tortillas in a dry skillet about 20 seconds per side, or wrapped in a damp towel in the microwave for 45 seconds.
9Serve the shrimp and peppers with the warm tortillas, the cilantro-lime rice, the avocado crema for drizzling, and lime wedges at the table.