A quick and easy Lemon-Chili Shrimp Avocado Quinoa Bowl recipe, great for lunch or dinner, or make them ahead for meal prep!
Shrimp Quinoa Bowl
These quick and easy Lemon-Chili Shrimp Avocado Quinoa Bowls are great for lunch or dinner. So light, tasty, and loaded with lean protein! Some other delicious meal-prep ideas are Shrimp Fajita Bowls and Honey Sriracha Chicken and Broccoli Bowls.
These quinoa power bowls are my go-to when I’m craving a healthy meal loaded with good-for-you ingredients and lean protein. Quinoa is a very hearty and filling whole grain. It’s the perfect base for the fresh vegetables and spicy, lemony shrimp.
For the dressing, I like to keep it simple. A little extra virgin olive oil and a squeeze of lemon are all you need.
The best thing about bowl recipes is how versatile they are. You can add just about anything to them. Sometimes I swap the lemon for lime and use my cilantro lime shrimp recipe instead and add some corn or black beans. If you have other vegetables on hand, like bell peppers or cucumber, add them in!
Helpful Tips
I love quinoa when cooked properly. I find that tri-color or red quinoa is best for bowls because those types are not mushy. They’re more on the nutty side. If you don’t have any quinoa or prefer a different grain, you can always try rice, barley, or millet.
Refrigerate: These shrimp bowls will keep in the refrigerator for up to three days. If you’re not going to eat all four servings within three days, I suggest making half the recipe.
To meal prep, pack the quinoa, shrimp, onion, and tomatoes in one container. Pack the lettuce in a separate bag, so it doesn’t wilt. Wrap the avocado tightly in plastic wrap to prevent browning.
You can eat these quinoa bowls hot or cold. I personally love the shrimp warm, but there’s no reason you can’t eat them cold. When you’re ready to eat, reheat the quinoa/shrimp mixture if you prefer and then mix everything together and drizzle with the olive oil and lemon juice.
Variations:
- Grains – You can swap out the quinoa for any grain, such as rice, barley, or millet.
- Veggies – You can add corn, black beans, or bell peppers to the bowls.
- Citrus – You can switch out the lemon for lime.
More Quinoa Recipes You will Love
- Kale Salad with Quinoa and Cranberries
- Healthy Salmon Quinoa Burgers
- Instant Pot Chipotle Chicken Bowls with Cilantro Lime
- Quinoa Fiesta Enchilada Bake
- Southwestern Black Bean, Quinoa and Mango Salad
Lemon-Chili Shrimp Avocado Quinoa Bowls
Ingredients
For the quinoa:
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa, tri-color or red
- 1 1/2 cups low sodium vegetable or chicken broth
Shrimp:
- 24 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined (20 ounces)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- Juice and zest of 1 lemon, divided
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes, or more to taste
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- black pepper, to taste
Bowls:
- 1 medium Haas avocado, pitted and sliced (yields 5 ounces)
- 4 cups chopped romaine lettuce or your favorite greens
- 1 cup diced tomato
- 1/2 cup diced red onion
Instructions
- Cook the quinoa: Bring broth to a boil in a medium heavy pot. Rinse quinoa under cold water and drain well. Lower heat and cook, covered, for 25 minutes. Turn off heat and let rest, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
- For the shrimp: While the quinoa is cooking, add 2 teaspoons of the olive oil, half of the lemon juice, half of the lemon zest, oregano, parsley, garlic, chili, salt and pepper to a small bowl and mix well. Add the shrimp and toss.
- Heat a grill pan or heavy skillet over high heat. When hot, spray with oil and add the shrimp. Cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side.
- Divide greens into 4 large serving bowls on one half of the dish.
- Add half the quinoa to the other half, then top with shrimp, avocado, tomato, and onion.
- Drizzle each salad with 1 teaspoon of the remaining olive oil, salt, pepper, red chili flakes and drizzle with remaining lemon juice.
Last Step:
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I enjoyed this one. Uncomplicated, light and lemony. I could have used a little more seasoning or sauce. But still glad I made it. The recipe has some mistakes I think; look closely, especially if your using the WW button. I only count 3 tsps of olive oil used, which is 1 tbsp, not 2. Also the recipe does not say where to use the other half of the lemon zest, so I added it to the drizzle sauce which worked great.
Super healthy and simple
Not very much flavor!!!
Way too much oregano overpowered the whole dish!!
But I appreciated how fast and easy it was to make so I am going to try different seasonings.
Made this tonight and this was soooooo good!!
Glad you enjoyed it!
This was good, but I was confused about the dressing and half of this, and half of that and then there was half left over?
What do you do with the other half of the lemon zest? Is it used in the recipe somewhere?
My question too as I’m making it ….?
This was a great cold packed lunch for work! I appreciate the meal prep packing directions – they worked perfectly!
I loved how easy this was to put together! The kids enjoyed it as well.
This was great! Super filling and easy!
Question for you, when i put the ingredients in WW app, it comes up 10 points on blue plan. How did you get 8?
Thanks for the awesome website!
Are you using WW recipe builder?
It says add half the quinoa to the other half. Where is it divided?
Also it says to mix all this stuff in a small bowl and then add 24 jumbo shrimp. The 24 jumbo shrimp don’t fit I the required small bowl. Recommend medium or larger. Also if you follow the recipe you are left with lemon zest left over.
This was delicious. Very easy to make and really good.
Had this for dinner tonight and really enjoyed it. The lemon dressing that goes on the shrimp and the salad really brightens it up. Will definitely make this again. Thanks GINA!
Made this tonight and it was a big hit with my husband and 14 year old daughter. I made it almost completely as written. I didn’t have fresh oregano or parsley but I just made sure I used plenty of other seasoning (used some garlic salt etc…). I also doubled the dressing because I knew my family would like the greens to have plenty of dressing. The lemon flavor was perfect and the chili flakes gave it just the right amount of heat without being spicy. Delicious and so healthy!
I often come across recipes for shrimp. Can I use cooked shrimp in them as of substitute?
It won’t be the same. Cooked shrimp can be rubbery, and won’t absorb the flavors like this will with raw shrimp
Could you use cauliflower rice instead of the quinoa if I’m trying to go low-carb?
I don’t see why not.
These look incredible! I need them in my life asap!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com