Healthy fats and proteins abound in this Buddha bowl recipe with refreshing, colorful shrimp and avocado drizzled in a creamy cilantro-lime sauce. This is a great way to use up any leftover rice and chop up whatever veggies you have in the drawer. The shrimp can be as simple as pre-cooked cocktail shrimp.
What’s a Buddha Bowl Recipe?
We teach home cooks how to fall in love with their leftovers with Buddha Bowl recipes, so that you can stop wasting uneaten food and unused groceries!
What’s in a Buddha Bowl?
Simply fill one big bowl–or several if you’re serving loved ones!–with all the necessary components of a full meal, however you’d like to customize it.
Start with a base of grains or some kind of starch, then add veggies–cooked, raw, parboiled, etc.–and a protein. Wrap it all up with a signature sauce and a crunchy topping.
+ For GRAINS/GREENS: Lay a foundation of rice, or even just a bed of greens.
+ For VEGETABLES: Put chunks of creamy avocado, a soulmate of shrimp, with the acidity and crispy bite of fresh cherry tomatoes. Other veggies to consider include edamame, red cabbage, radishes, and jicama. Raid your refrigerator drawer or use last night’s leftover steamed broccoli.
+ For PROTEIN: You’ll rarely encounter a leaner, more convenient option than frozen, pre-cooked shrimp, which defrosts in minutes. But this is also where you can use any leftover grilled shrimp, chicken, steak or tempeh.
+ For the SAUCE: We’re going for a yogurt-based dressing with cilantro, lime, and avocado. It’s just creamy enough, and lightens up everything it touches.
+ For the CRUNCH: You’ll learn how to bake plain old corn tortillas into something more exciting–tortilla strips!
In summary, check out our game plan:
The Shrimp
For the ultimate convenience, you can buy a bag of frozen, pre-cooked shrimp. It defrosts in minutes!
LEFTOVERS TIP: If you’re planning on grilling up shrimp for a meal, cook extra to save for this Buddha Bowl recipe!
Level 1 Flavor: Use pre-cooked shrimp (cocktail shrimp) – super easy, takes zero time.
Level 2 Flavor: Simmer raw shrimp in salted water – still really simple, takes just a few minutes.
Level 3 Flavor: Use this recipe for Flavorful Boiled Shrimp – if you have 20 minutes, make this!!!!!!
For the Creamy Cilantro Sauce
Even if you’ve already added avocado to your shrimp, it’s time to paint this bowl even greener! Combine the following ingredients in a blender to make a little under 1 cup of this light green, slightly tangy cilantro “crema:”
- ½ cup yogurt
- ½ ripe avocado
- 1 handful fresh cilantro
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Cilantro is the hero here, so add it incrementally and taste as you go!
Don‘t forget to save some to garnish the bowl. You’ll want to drizzle the oil in last, blending all the while, until you reach the perfect drizzle-able consistency.
For the finishing crunch!
OK, so we’ve already covered avocado and cilantro. Which leaves the fun crunchy part.
Familiar with those gorgeous tortilla chip ribbons that come in red, yellow, and blue? Those will definitely come in handy for this and many more Buddha bowls.
If you have some tortillas hanging around, let’s make these chips in the oven.
Cut corn or flour tortillas across into 1/2-to 1-inch strips.
Toss with enough cooking oil to coat and arrange on a baking sheet in a single layer.
Bake at 350°F until they’re perfectly crispy. This will take anywhere between 10 to 15 minutes.
See also: Steak Fajita Buddha Bowl with Fresh Salsa
Speeding up this Buddha Bowl
- Use already-cooked cocktail shrimp, or any grilled/cooked shrimp
- Replace the homemade creamy cilantro sauce one of these refreshing, also green alternatives: Hellmann’s Cilantro-Lime Sauce or Herdez Guacamole Salsa with Tomatillo
- Grab your own stash of multi-purpose, multi-colored tortilla strips!
More tips for making a bomb Shrimp-Avocado Buddha Bowl
- How to Cook the Perfect Rice in the Microwave, Every Time
- Making cauliflower rice
- How to cook frozen edamame
Order Your Steamy Kitchen Buddha Bowl
Shrimp and Avocado Buddha Bowl with Cilantro Lime Sauce
Ingredients
- 2-3 cups cooked rice
- 1 ripe avocado sliced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 20 large, pre-cooked shrimp cocktail shrimp, defrosted
- 1 tsp Old Bay Seasoning or your favorite seasoning blend
- 1 lime in wedges, divided
- 1/2 cup cooked edamame
For the SAUCE:
- ½ cup yogurt
- ½ ripe avocado
- 1 small bunch cilantro divided
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
For the CRUNCH:
- 4 tortillas, cut into ½-inch-thick strips flour or coen
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F to prepare the tortilla strips.
- To make the sauce, blend yogurt, avocado, cilantro, garlic, lime juice, salt, and pepper together for dressing. Drizzle olive oil in gradually until well blended. If the sauce is too thick, add in 2 tablespoons of water and blend. Taste, add additional salt and pepper, if needed.
- Coat tortilla strips with oil and scatter over a sheet pan in single layer. Bake in the preheated oven until crispy enough to “snap,” 10 to 15 minutes.
- Season the pre-cooked shrimp with Old Bay Seasoning. Squeeze just a bit of lime on the shrimp (not too much) and a good sprinkle of salt. Give it a good mix.
- To assemble bowls, divide rice amongst 4 large bowls. Scatter tomatoes, edamame and avocado on top. Add shrimp. Top with cilantro sauce and tortilla strips. Garnish with remaining cilantro and lime wedges.
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a review in the comment section! I always appreciate your feedback and I know other readers do, too!
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I really love shrimp, so I gave this a try recently. The cilantro sauce was amazing! I think I’ll use the sauce for other recipes as well now, had never tried it before and it was terrific.
It is a useful dish for vegetarians. Thanks for your recipe.