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Looking for a 15-minute meal to curb your hunger? Try this quick garlic shrimp couscous, which comes together in a flash.
Picture this: you just got off work and ran to the gym, or picked up your littles at school or daycare. In the rush of getting out the door at work, you realize you forgot your afternoon snack. Your stomach is starting to rumble and sounds above normal decibel levels start to make your head throb. Before you try to squelch the urge to lash out at a spouse, friend or little one you realize it’s already too late: you’re hangry. Looking for a quick meal to curb hanger in a flash? Shrimp couscous to the rescue! Keep reading for the recipe, and more about how to cure hanger.
Related: 28 Day Healthy Meal Plan
Yep, you’re hangry!
Yes hangry: that combination of hunger and anger that destroys everything in its path until your rumbling stomach is satisfied. If you’re human, you’ve likely been hangry before, or at least seen someone else act out of hanger. We talk to a lot of people about food, and the question that most often comes up is: how do I get a quick (and nutritious) meal on the table at the end of a busy day when I’m bordering on hangry?
While it’s absolutely a challenge, we’ve found that having a few resources in your arsenal can make a huge difference. This quick shrimp couscous is one of them: it takes just 15 minutes to make, and is seriously satisfying at that. We love creating quick and nutritious meals to combat hanger! If you’re looking for more, check out our Easy Dinner Recipes for Busy Lives. And keep reading for that shrimp couscous.
Related: Best Shrimp Dinner Ideas
How to make shrimp couscous
Ready for the first hangry recipe? This quick shrimp couscous is not our typical vegetarian recipe, because while our diet is full of vegetables we occasionally eat seafood. (Also, it’s good for your brain, Dr Ramsey told us in this podcast.) We couldn’t resist a shrimp recipe for this series because, 1. we love shrimp and, 2. it cooks SO quickly—as in 5 minutes quickly.
In this shrimp couscous recipe, juicy shrimp is quick sauteed in a bit of butter with minced garlic. It tastes almost like candy! (Promise.) Add to that delicious shrimp some quick cooking couscous. While couscous is a pasta and not a whole grain, it cooks up in 5 minutes so we’ve used it here for expediency. If you have more time, feel free to substitute the grain of your choice: bulgur wheat is another quick cooking grain, or for gluten-free diets quinoa is also relatively fast. And if you’re vegetarian or vegan, hold out for our upcoming hangry recipes!
This shrimp couscous recipe is…
Pescatarian. For dairy-free, use olive oil instead of butter for the shrimp. For gluten-free, use quinoa instead of couscous.
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Quick Shrimp Couscous
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 15 mins
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Looking for a 15-minute meal to curb that hangry edge? Try this quick garlicky shrimp couscous, which comes together in a flash.
Ingredients
- 1 cup couscous
- 1 ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lemon
- 2 garlic cloves
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (thawed, if frozen)
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Instructions
- In a medium pot, bring 1 ¼ cups water to a boil. Add couscous and ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat, cover and let stand for 5 minutes. When done, stir in olive oil, the juice from 1 lemon and another ¼ teaspoon kosher salt. Taste, and add additional olive oil and lemon to taste.
- Mince the garlic. Pat the shrimp dry with a paper towel. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter, then add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Increase the heat to medium high and add the shrimp, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and fresh ground pepper. Cook until the shrimp are opaque, about 3 minutes, turning once.
- Serve the shrimp over couscous garnished with chopped parsley.
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
Keywords: shrimp couscous, healthy seafood recipe, easy dinner recipe
Looking for more healthy seafood recipes?
Outside of this shrimp couscous recipe, here are a few more healthy seafood recipes and fish recipes:
- Pan Seared Salmon with Lemon Caper Sauce
- Blackened Salmon
- Tilapia Fish Tacos
- Broiled Salmon with Bourbon Glaze
- Shrimp Cocktail (How to Boil Shrimp + Cocktail Sauce)
- Seafood Paella Recipe
- Shrimp Scampi
- Maki Sushi Recipe
- Easy Grilled Shrimp
- Shrimp Tacos with Cilantro Sauce
- How to Cook Shrimp on the Stove
- Grilled Shrimp Tacos or Grilled Shrimp Skewers
- Salmon en Papillote
It’s really interesting to mix and match shrimps with couscous, I love the idea. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Almost every night my boyfriend or I come home bordering on hangry. If there are not some quick leftovers we can heat up, our go to quick meal is stir fry. In just a few minutes we can chop up some veggies, add an egg and serve over rice with a drizzle of soy sauce. We’re working on eating healthier on a regular basis, so I’m excited to try this shrimp recipe!
Can not wait for more hangry recipes. This is fantastic. Both my partner and I usually work 9+ hour days but are still determined to have home cooked meals every night. If we don’t have left overs and need to prep something that may take a while our go to pre dinner is snack is an egg on a nice dark brown bread. (We are both mostly vego so we like go for the protein hit!)
Add in arugula/or basil pesto! a little more pizzaz….
loved it!
★★★★★
So glad you gave it a try! Thank you so much!
This looks like the ticket for me tonight. Thanks for the recipe. I’ll report back on my review of it.
I can hardly wait to pick up some shrimp & try this! My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
Thanks for sharing this recipe, I tried it tonight, I used chicken broth to cook the couscous and it’s really yummy and quick to fix. Saving it on my menu board.
I just made this for dinner! Perfect if you want an easy, light and quick meal. I made the Sautéed Spinach to go with it – so good 🤤! Great for summer, thank you.
So glad you enjoyed it!
Awesome meal. Made this one day it it was great!!!