I struggle with shrimp dinners at House Crunch Time because one of my kids doesn’t really like shrimp, although they do like Shrimp Shumai. Very confusing since shrimp shumai is basically the most concentrated shrimp flavor. Anyway, I occasionally do sneak in a shrimp dish and this one was delicious enough and fast enough to post. The shrimp piece is simple to cook, but the star of the show is the sun-dried tomato couscous that you serve it on.

Assuming you are a fan of quick shrimp dinners though, this recipe is a surefire winner. It comes together in way under 30 minutes, probably closer to 20 if you are decently fast at chopping.

Let’s dive in and make it!

Cooking the Lemon Butter Shrimp

I keep this shrimp very simple. I use peeled large shrimp to start my dish and marinate them quickly in some olive oil and garlic butter seasoning. It’s a really mild seasoning so it goes well with shrimp.

Cook these shrimp in a larger skillet in a single layer so they can sear nicely on one side. To sear shrimp well, I really recommend cooking them almost entirely on one side (3-4 minutes) and then just flip them to finish the cooking at the end.

Near the end of cooking, add a little butter to the skillet along with fresh lemon juice and toss to combine. Then you can remove the shrimp.

Most importantly, don’t wipe out the skillet. All that flavor will go into the couscous!

Making Pearl Couscous

For dishes like this, where I’m mixing couscous with a lot of ingredients and a sauce, I recommend using pearl couscous instead of the classic and much smaller version.

Pearl couscous take a few extra minutes to cook, but end up being sturdier and can hold up to a good while a normal couscous would just get soggy.

I cook about a cup of pearl couscous in salted water and then drain off any extra water and let it steam. You can do this while your shrimp cook of course.

Now you can finish up the couscous in the same skillet you used for your shrimp.

Finishing the Couscous

Once your shrimp come out of the skillet, you can immediately add the red peppers, fresh corn, and sun-dried tomatoes. If the skillet is really dry, you can add a splash of water to it to loosen the stuff stuck to the skillet.

Once your vegetables have softened for a few minutes, stir in the cooked couscous and the cream and simmer everything on low for a minute or two to thicken the couscous. If it seems really dry, you can add a splash of water to the skillet.

As always, taste the couscous and season it to your liking with salt and pepper.

Let’s serve it up!

To finish this shrimp with couscous dish, serve the shrimp on a bed of the creamy sun-dried tomato couscous and garnish it with fresh basil.

If you happen to have any leftovers for this shrimp and cousous recipe, the shrimp will only keep for a day or two, but the couscous will keep for 4-5 days and can reheat well with a splash of water in the microwave.

Here are a few other great recipes to try