Glorious Roasted Shrimp & Broccoli

Roast Shrimp and Broccoli 

This lovely recipe went round and round the internet last year and quickly became a favorite at our house. 

Oven Roasted Shrimp & Broccoli. 

Have you ever had Oven Roasted Shrimp? How about Oven Roasted Broccoli? Individually they’re delicious. Together they are GENIUS! 

(Warning — once you start roasting broccoli, you’ll never eat it steamed again….it’s that good.) 

And did I mention that this is an SIMPLE and EASY recipe that you can have on your table in less than 30 minutes? 

Let’s get started. Here’s what you need: 

 

1-1.5 pounds of peeled & de-veined uncooked shrimp, broccoli, olive oil, salt, pepper, ground cumin, ground coriander, red pepper flakes, lemons, brown (or white) rice.  Click HERE for a Handy-Dandy Shopping List 

Let’s talk shrimp…. 


If I lived on the coast of South Carolina or Georgia, I’d make friends with these guys and have fresh shrimp all the live long day. 

 

But I don’t. So I make friends with my local grocery store and my freezer to be sure that I can support the family shrimp habit. 

 

Not nearly as scenic or poetic, but it works. If your grocery store has a good selection of fresh shrimp, go for it. However, most of the shrimp you see in the fish display case has been previously frozen. My store offers the exact same shrimp in these handy-dandy 1.5 pound bags. (Even better, it’s on sale about every other week.) 

My freezer is full of bags frozen shrimp for quick and easy weeknight meals. (Hint: you can thaw frozen shrimp in a bowl of cold water in less than 5 minutes.) 

 

Simply pull the tail off the end of the shrimp and remove the shell and the little legs. If you have “Easy Peel” shrimp, the store has done most of this for you by splitting the shrimp down the back. 

My shrimp have also been de-veined. This is important. Look down the top curved part of the shrimp to see that the dark line or vein has been removed. 

See. No vein. You're good to go.

If you see a dark line in this area, simply split the back of the shrimp open with a small sharp knife and remove the vein. 

Just a note — this is really not a vein but is the intestinal tract of the shrimp. Think about that for a minute…yup, icky. Take it out. 

Peel and de-vein all of your shrimp and set them aside. 

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees. 

I like to serve the shrimp and broccoli over a bed of brown rice. Its nutty flavor works really well with the roasty flavors of the shrimp and broccoli. So, if you’d like to serve rice – which takes 20 minutes to cook, start it now. 

Fluffy rice is EASY to cook if you remember one simple rule:  LEAVE IT ALONE! 

Seriously, put it in a pan, put a lid on it, and LEAVE IT ALONE! Don’t peek and for the love of all things holy, please DO NOT STIR! 

 

Easy rice — bring 2 cups of water, a pinch of salt and a dash of olive oil to a boil in a pan with a lid. When the water is boiling, add 1 cup of rice. (brown or white, they both cook the same way — the important thing to know is that you use a 2-1 ratio of water to rice…2 cups water, 1 cup rice.) 

Immediately turn the heat down to low. You want this to simmer which means small little bubbles. Put a lid on the rice and (all together now) LEAVE IT ALONE! 

 

If your pan doesn’t have a glass lid, you are allowed one and only one peek at the rice to be sure that it is just simmering along at a nice easy bubble. No stirring and no more peeking. 

I know I’m being sort of militant about the rice but to be honest, the only way you can screw up rice is by taking the lid on and off and by stirring. If you just let it sit there and cook all by itself, in 20 minutes, you’ll have fluffy, tender, delicious rice. 

On to the good stuff… 

Cover a sheet pan with foil for quick and easy clean-up….you’ll thank me later. 

 

Wash a head of broccoli, remove the thick woody stems and cut into small pieces or “florets”. 

 

Place the broccoli on your sheet pan and add about 3 Tablespoons of olive oil to coat. 

 

Add 1 teaspoon of ground cumin, 1 teaspoon of ground coriander and a pinch (about 1/4 teaspoon for you measuring types) of red pepper flakes. 

 

Now the fun part. With clean hands, get personal with your broccoli and mix it all around to coat each piece with the oil and spices. 

 

 

Season with salt and pepper and place the sheet pan in the middle of your pre-heated 400 degree oven. Set a timer and cook the broccoli for 10 minutes. (It gets a head start since the shrimp need 1/2 as much time to cook.) 

Season your shrimp with salt and pepper and about 1 Tablespoon of olive oil. 

 

After the broccoli has cooked for 10 minutes, remove  from the oven and give the pan a gentle shake or use tongs to turn the broccoli. 

 

Add the shrimp to the pan and nestle it in around the broccoli. Try to get everything in one even layer on the pan. 

 

Return the shrimp and broccoli to the oven and cook for 10 more minutes at 400 degrees. 

Cut your lemons in half and find your favorite lemon juicing device. I have a wooden lemon reamer and also this handy juicer which I like because it squeezes and removes the seeds. Of course, you can also squeeze by hand, just be sure to squeeze the lemons into your hand to catch the seeds. 

 

When 20 minutes of TOTAL cooking time have passed, remove the shrimp and broccoli from the oven and immediately douse with fresh squeezed lemon juice. This makes a nice tangy little sauce and adds a bit of zing to your shrimp. 

 

Notice how the shrimp are pink and lovely and have just started to curl on the edges. Oooh, and look at the little bits of brown roasty goodness on the broccoli. Heaven. 

By now your rice should have absorbed all the water. Use a fork to fluff it up and separate all the grains. Spoon the shrimp and broccoli over the rice. Don’t forget to spoon out some of the delicious lemon juice and sauce in the bottom of the pan. 

 

“Please drop a shrimp! Please drop a shrimp! Just one little shrimp!” — Sorry Gus. 

 

Roasted Shrimp & Broccoli. It’s so easy and unbelievably delicious. 

 

Here is the Recipe! 

Roasted Shrimp & Broccoli 

Adapted from Melissa Clark

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8 Responses

  1. OK You Two,

    I just want to come live with you and eat the left overs. Myra does not like to cook so may have to bring her also. Everything you have shown looks great and even I can cook it.

    Think about my offer to come live with you. I am house broke and Myra is nearly house broke. We will mop, clean and shop for food—just let us have the left overs!!!!

    Congrats for a great website.

    Harold

  2. I can vouch for the tasty simplicity of this recipe. And I too enjoy mine on brown rice! And in case you want to make this and don’t have fresh lemons . . . the Meyer Lemon Oil from Tastefully Simple can serve as a suitable substitute.

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