Hey there! If you’re new here, welcome to The Egg Burner: a no-judgement safe space where you can work on your cooking skills (if you want). If you’re a returning reader, thanks for coming back! I hope you enjoyed last week’s teriyaki chicken recipe, because I know I did.

This week, I wanted to turn away from poultry and toward seafood. Shrimp is among my favorite seafoods, so I wanted to find a dish with it as a main component. When I found this Garlic Butter Shrimp and Rice recipe, I knew I had to give it a shot. I mean, c’mon—who would pass up a recipe with the words shrimp, garlic and butter in the title?

While the ingredients may seem intimidating, this dish is actually super easy to make, tastes delicious and costs less than $15! Let’s give this a shot—together.

Butter Garlic Shrimp and Rice

Total Time: 20 minutes (Active Time: 15 minutes)

Here’s all the equipment you need: 

• Skillet
• Saucepan
• Cutting Board
• Knife
• Measuring Cups (I didn’t have a ¼ cup measuring cup, so I did what any rational human would do: guessed and hoped for the best!)
• Mixing Spoon (I don’t have a mixing spoon, so I used a spatula instead)

The ingredients are as follows:

• 1 cup instant rice ($1.52 at Walmart)
• 6 tablespoons butter ($2.24 at Walmart)
• 4 cloves garlic (or 2 teaspoons minced garlic) ($1.74 at Walmart)
• 12 to 16 ounces extra large shrimp ($5.44 at Walmart)
• ¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese ($1.57 at Walmart) 
• 3 tablespoons skim milk ($1.30 at Walmart)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley ($0.48 at Walmart)
• Salt and pepper to taste

When it was cooking time, I first cooked the rice by following the directions on the box. How you cook your rice may differ depending on what brand of rice you buy, so be sure to follow the cooking instructions on your box. In my case, I boiled my rice over high heat for around 10 minutes and then set it aside.

As the rice was boiling, I decided to chop the parsley so it would be ready when I needed it later. I cut it as finely as I could with the dull cutting knife I have here in Kent.

Next, I melted the butter in the pan over medium heat. I then added in the two teaspoons of minced garlic and stirred for around two minutes.

After cooking the garlic, I added the shrimp. 

Now, this is where I made a mistake. Instead of cooking the shrimp for 2 minutes like the recipe had asked, I had to cook it for around 8 minutes. This is because I did not thaw out the shrimp before cooking it. Because of that, the shrimp was still frozen. I think this overcooking ended up thinning out my butter and garlic sauce. 

To avoid this same mistake, be sure to thaw out your shrimp before cooking by placing it under warm water for 5-10 minutes.

Following cooking the shrimp, I added the rice I had previously made, the cheese, milk, parsley, salt and pepper to the skillet. My skillet was almost too small to hold all the ingredients, but I made do.

I mixed them together and stirred for about two minutes and then took the skillet off the heat.

Finally, I placed some on a plate and sprinkled some extra parmesan cheese on top. Then it was ready to eat!

Overall, this dish is great. Not only is it quick and easy, but it also makes four servings! $15 for  four meals, give or take, is quite the bargain. 

Also, this might seem weird, but I felt pretty classy when making and eating this dish. After all, nothing says “class” quite like a shrimp dinner. Am I right?

Why don’t you try out this delicious meal for yourself? Happy cooking!

Featured image by Engin Akyurt from Pexels