Portuguese Arroz de Camarão 🍤 One Pot Portuguese Shrimp Rice
A comforting Portuguese Arroz de Camarão made with juicy shrimp, a flavourful refogado, tomato, white wine and homemade shrimp broth. 🍤🇵🇹 A simple one pot meal packed with traditional Portuguese flavours and perfect for an easy family dinner.
Ingredients
- 1-1 ½ lbs shrimp, peeled and deveined reserve shells
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 red pepper, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 Sazón packet or saffron
- salt to taste
- ¼-1/2 teaspoon white pepper
- 1-1 ½ tablespoon pimenta moída
- ¾ cups tomato sauce
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 2 cups long grain white rice
- 4 ½ cups shrimp water, made from reserved shrimp shells boiled with parsley, garlic and onion
- fresh parsley optional
- juice of lemon optional
Instructions
- Prepare the shrimp. Peel and devein the shrimp, reserving all of the shells.
- Make the shrimp water. Add the reserved shrimp shells to a pot with 4 ½ cups of water and simmer to extract their flavour with a handful of parsley, 3-4 cloves of garlic and half of an onion. Strain, discard the shells and measure out 4½ cups of shrimp water. Set aside and keep warm.
- Make the refogado. Add a generous drizzle of olive oil to a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and red pepper and cook until they begin to soften.
- Add the garlic and bay leaf and continue cooking until everything is soft and fragrant.
- Season with the Sazón or saffron, salt, white pepper and 1 to 1½ tablespoons pimenta moída. Stir in the tomato sauce and allow everything to cook together for a few minutes.
- Pour in the ½ cup dry white wine to deglaze the pot. Stir well, scraping up all the flavour from the bottom, and allow the wine to cook down slightly.
- Add the 2 cups rice and stir well so every grain is coated in the refogado.
- Pour in the 4½ cups warm shrimp water. Stir, bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat and cook until the rice is almost tender.
- Add the shrimp toward the end of cooking and gently stir them into the rice. Continue cooking just until the shrimp are pink and cooked through and the rice is tender.
- Remove the bay leaf. Taste and adjust the salt, white pepper or pimenta moída as needed.
- Finish with fresh parsley and a squeeze of lemon, if desired. Serve immediately and enjoy! 🍋🌿
Notes
👑 Rainha Tips
For an easier version, skip making the shrimp water and use 4½ cups seafood stock instead.
If you don’t like using Sazón, substitute it with saffron.
Don’t add the shrimp too early. Adding them near the end keeps them juicy and tender.
Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating and let me know how it turned out! And don’t forget to tag @rainha_da_cozinha so I can see your Arroz de Camarão! 🇵🇹❤️
