Chili lime shrimp and black beans with a simple mango salsa, plenty of lime, a little spice, and TONS of flavor. Eat them in tacos, quinoa bowls, or giant salads (with extra avocado)!
This chili lime shrimp and black beans is literally, no exaggeration, by a LANDSLIDE, my favorite dinner that I've ever made in my entire life. And by entire life, I mean in 2018 so far. But my entire, entire life? Top ten, for sure (remember I've only been cooking for six years or so ;)).
Not that my dinners are regularly mediocre (though like anyone, I get in ruts sometimes, too), but just that this chili lime shrimp and black beans is that good. It's slightly spicy, lime-y, and extra flavorful. Add that mango salsa in there, and drop the mic.
So does anyone else kind of get weirded out that shrimp are grey when raw?? And then they go from that dull grey to this perfectly vibrant pink shrimp? Totally goons me out. But oh how I love them.
And oh how I love these. And this whole gosh darn recipe. It's the kind of recipe that serves four, but you end up standing over the shrimp on the stove being like, ummm, executive decision: this is going to serve two because I have to eat half of it right now.
At first, I was totally heading down the tacos path, but then I realized I didn't have any tortillas... and so it became, simply, chili lime shrimp and black beans with mango salsa. It's better this way, though, because it now has some real versatility superpowers. Got tortillas on hand? Make it a taco filling. Leftover quinoa? Make a chili lime shrimp and black bean quinoa bowl out of it. Skewers? Make kebabs.
Except maybe spearing individual black beans with kebab skewers wouldn't be that fun. (It sounded great in theory, in my head.)
Either way, this could also go in a salad, wrap, or just be eaten as is. With copious amounts of avocado, of course, and that mango salsa -- it ties the whole recipe together. But you see why I love this?! You can make this shrimp once and use it in a different way for four dinners in a row, or two if you're splitting it. Or for a family of four (you might want to double it, in that case).
So, unless you disagree...
Let's Make Some Chili Lime Shrimp and Black Beans.
There are three components involved in making it:
- Chili lime shrimp
- Black beans
- Mango salsa.
You'll start with a pound of shrimp (though you can make more if you want), either fresh or thawed from frozen. Place the shrimp in a large ziplock bag or glass container with a cover.
Then, make a quick marinade with olive oil, lime juice, fresh garlic cloves, cilantro, salt, chili powder, and cayenne pepper. If you have a high-speed blender or food processor and want to blend the marinade, go for it. I like doing this when I don't feel like mincing garlic cloves. Pour the marinade over the shrimp in its container, close it up, and place in the fridge for like 15 minutes. You can leave it in there for longer if you're not planning on making the shrimp right away.
While the shrimp is marinating, you can make the mango salsa aka ^that beaut. It's so simple: just mangoes, red onions, lime, cilantro, and optional cayenne or chili powder. Just dice everything up and combine into a small dish. Cover it and place in the fridge until you're ready to use it.
Okay, the next part is super easy: get your shrimp and black beans ready and heat some olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Then, sauté the shrimp until they're cooked through. This only took me like seven or eight minutes - these little guys cook pretty quickly.
Once the shrimp are done, remove them from the heat but keep some of the marinade residue in the pan. You'll sauté the black beans in there for a hot minute because you're all about that extra flavor.
Combine everything in a bowl or serve it separately, and just like that, you've got chili lime shrimp and black beans with mango salsa on the table. With a little avocado and a squeeze of fresh lime, this can be the taco filling that dreams are made of, a quinoa bowl that'll fill you up, or a massive hearty salad.
However you plan to eat it, definitely invite friends over for this one - I plan to do just that next week!
Print📖 Recipe
Chili Lime Shrimp and Black Beans with Mango Salsa
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
Chili lime shrimp and black beans with mango salsa is delicious and so versatile! Make it into tacos, quinoa bowls, salads, kebabs, wraps, or just eat it as is. Serve with a squeeze of lime, cilantro, and extra avocado.
Ingredients
For the Shrimp and Black Beans:
- 1 lb. raw shrimp
- 1 cup black beans, cooked
- extra virgin olive oil
- juice of 2-3 limes
- ½ cup cilantro, chopped
- 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp chili powder
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
For the Mango Salsa:
- 1 cup mango, diced
- ½ cup red onion, diced
- juice of 1-2 limes
- ½ cup cilantro, chopped
- for serving: fresh cilantro, lime, diced avocado
Instructions
- Combine 2 tablespoon olive oil, lime juice, cilantro, garlic, salt, chili powder, and cayenne pepper in a mason jar. Shake vigorously to combine. Pour over shrimp in a covered container or ziplock bag and allow to marinade for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare mango salsa: Dice the mango and red onions (if you haven't already), and add to a medium-sized bowl. Add lime juice and cilantro, and stir to combine. Place in the fridge and allow to chill. If desired, you can also add a sprinkle of chili powder or cayenne.
- Heat a bit more olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add shrimp to the pan along with any extra marinade, and simmer until completely cooked through (completely pink), using a tongs to flip them over as needed. I found that they cook pretty quickly -- about seven or eight minutes.
- Remove shrimp from pan and place into a bowl or serving dish. Leave any marinade residue in the pan -- this will flavor the black beans. Reduce heat to medium, add the black beans to the pan, and sauté for a few minutes until heated through. Remove black beans from heat and add to another serving bowl.
- To serve: get out any lettuce, taco shells, quinoa, avocado, lime, or other serving ideas. Serve shrimp with black beans and mango salsa.
Notes
*Pictured above I used butter lettuce from my CSA to line the bowl, then served the shrimp and black beans with the mango salsa and some avocado. If I had remembered taco shells, I totally would have served it up in some corn tortillas.
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 20
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Mexican
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