One Pot Creamy Cajun Orzo with Shrimp

This creamy orzo with shrimp is a flavorful, slightly spicy, one pot wonder. Use your favorite store-bought cajun seasoning or make your own to balance the spice level to your own tastes. With just a few ingredients you'll have a creamy, comforting, easy meal on the table.

Ahh, my love affair with orzo continues. How fun for us! From this healthy zucchini number to this slightly-less-healthy-but-still-zucchini one, it's one of my most used pantry ingredients FOR SURE.

While I like to think all of my recipes are simple enough for anyone to make, this one pot (!) creamy (!) cajun orzo with shrimp is truly SO easy to make and even more wonderful to eat.

It's a little spicy (but negotiable depending on how much you like spice) and perfectly creamy - almost risotto like, but without the stirring! It takes a little while to build up some flavor, but once things start simmering this dish comes together pretty quickly.

Building flavor

The flavor of this dish comes from two things:

The holy trinity: Onions, celery and bell pepper are the base of many cajun dishes. In this dish, I like to really give this mix some time to cook and develop flavor. Honestly, it's the only reason this isn't truly a 30-minute meal. You want to give this base time to cook, brown and develop flavor. Try not to rush this as much as possible!

Cajun seasoning: I mean, obviously. You can use your favorite store-bought cajun seasoning, but please don't forget to adjust the amount of salt in the recipe depending on how salty your seasoning mix is!!

I like to make my own seasoning (I use this recipe from Gimme Some Oven) and actually leave the salt out so I can control the seasoning in each dish as I go. The main reason I do this is because I tend to like my food on the spicier side, but if I put in the amount of cajun seasoning I need to make it spicy enough for my taste, it often makes the entire dish too salty. Womp.

But you do you! Feel free to play around with the amount to suit your taste.

What you'll need

Shrimp: I find medium-sized shrimp to be best for this. Large or jumbo tend to be a waste since you want this to be spoon-able (fork-able?) and since orzo is small I like anything mixed with it to be on the smaller side too. I always have bags of frozen shrimp in my freezer, and they work great! I remove the tails just because it's easier to eat, but if like to keep tails on your shrimp that's totally fine. P.S. See below for variations if shrimp isn't your thing!

Cajun seasoning: You can use your favorite store-bought cajun seasoning, or try making your own. I am a big fan of this recipe. As mentioned, if you use store-bought you'll want to reduce the amount of salt in the recipe. Taste as you go to make sure you don't end up with a dish that's too salty.

Flour: Just a little bit to coat the shrimp and help it get a slight crust on it. The flour that remains in the pan also helps to thicken up the final dish and make it that much more creamy.

Onion + celery + green pepper: The holy trinity that serves as a foundation of many cajun dishes. I like to dice these up pretty small so they really cook down and almost melt into the final dish.

Garlic: Because...of course.

Red bell pepper: Added for flavor and color. I add this later than the green pepper to help keep that color and a little bit of texture.

Orzo: The star of the show! You can try this with another very small pasta, like ditalini or orecchiette, but you may need to adjust the amount of liquid. We're cooking this pasta more like rice than regular pasta so just keep an eye on things and if the liquid is gone but your pasta isn't cooked yet, add more liquid to keep things moving.

Water: Yes, you can absolutely use seafood, vegetable or even chicken stock instead. But I find the dish has so much flavor from the cajun seasoning that water is totally, 100% fine. Woo!

Heavy cream: To put the "cream" in one pot CREAMy cajun orzo with shrimp.

Frozen peas: The last addition to add more vegetable and a pop of color and freshness! Throw them in frozen and they'll warm up in no time.

Switch things up!

Here are a few variations on this recipe if you are looking for something different:

Chicken: Replace the shrimp with one pound of cut up boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Start recipe the same way by seasoning with cajun seasoning and flour and saute for 5-7 minutes, until browned and then remove from pan. Add chicken back in when orzo comes up to a boil and let cook together while everything simmers.

Sausage: You can replace the shrimp with sausage OR add it to the dish with the shrimp! I like to use fully-cooked andouille sausage because I think it has the best flavor. You can dice it up and add it with the red bell pepper so it can cook together with the pasta, or for even more flavor, saute it in a tablespoon of oil before you cook the shrimp (or instead of the shrimp) so it can get browned and a little caramelized.

Vegetarian: Omit the protein entirely - this dish will still be delicious! To make it more filling, try adding more vegetables like diced zucchini or beans such as cannelini or chickpea. You can also use your favorite meat substitute!

Vegan: Omit all the protein and instead of heavy cream, just add your favorite plant-based milk. I think oat milk or coconut milk work best as they are the creamiest, but really anything will work. You could also throw in a few spoonfuls of vegan sour cream if you have it!

How to make one pot creamy cajun orzo with shrimp

Cook the shrimp

Toss the peeled shrimp in some of the cajun seasoning, salt and flour (leave out the salt if your seasoning has salt in it). Cook in as even of a layer as possible (you don't need to worry about doing it in batches or anything, but do try to spread them out), flipping once until just cooked through. Remove from pot.

Build your base

Add more oil to the pan and add your chopped onion, celery and green bell pepper. You're going to cook this over medium to medium-high heat for a good 10 minutes or so, stirring just a few times, to really cook the vegetables down and let them get some color and flavor. If you start to see the fond (all that flavor stuck to the pot) get too dark, add a tablespoon of water and scrape up. Reduce the heat as needed to keep things from burning.

Once the base is cooked, add the garlic and red bell pepper and cook for another minute or so.

Add the orzo and simmer away

Next add your orzo and stir to combine. I like to let this cook for a few minutes to toast the orzo a bit and help it get some initial flavor. Then add the water, remaining cajun seasoning and salt (again reduce the amount of salt if needed). Bring to a boil and then reduce heat, cover and let simmer for 15 minutes or until the orzo has absorbed just about all the liquid.

Finishing touches

Uncover the pot and add the heavy cream. Let everything simmer for an additional 5 minutes. You want things to be creamy and a little thin at this point - it will firm up a bit as it cools. Lastly, turn off the heat and add the shrimp back in, along with your frozen peas. Cover for a minute or so to thaw the peas quickly and then mix to combine everything.

Enjoy!

Print