Sundays are for meal prep!
And yes this recipe is a total winner. The weather has been absolutely GORGEOUS lately which means it was finally time to break out our grill. I don’t know what it is, but anything thrown on top of a grill just tastes 1,000x better and these skewers certainly did not disappoint. Caribbean jerk flavors are one of my favorites – sweet, spicy with a lot of kick! – so I was really excited to try out this combination on some shrimp skewers! You guys this couldn’t have been easier to throw together and the cauliflower rice was the perfect addition!
If you’re not a fan of shrimp that’s okay too because this marinade would taste absolutely amazing with chicken so I highly suggest bookmarking this recipe to make soon! I mean how can you go wrong when mixing your favorite citrus flavors with spice?! This dish is healthy, flavorful and deliciously filling!
When making shrimp (or really anything) I always prefer it on the grill so skewers were definitely the way to go. I marinated the shrimp for about 30 minutes and used a combination of fresh squeezed orange juice, soy sauce, chopped jalapeño, green onions, jerk seasoning and a touch of brown sugar. You could easily substitute honey in place of the brown sugar if you’d like, but I really wanted to incorporate it in with the jerk seasoning because they just work so well together.
If you’re using chicken in place of the shrimp I would highly suggest marinating the chicken for much longer, anywhere from 4 hours to overnight so that you can really taste ALL the flavors as well as have really juicy chicken!
While the shrimp are marinating, this is when I like to make the cauliflower rice. And ohh is it delicious you guys! I always like to purchase pre-riced cauliflower simply to cut that step of blending the cauliflower florets yourself which makes meal prep a whole lot easier. Trader Joes is usually my go-to place for this, but most grocery stores offer cauliflower rice so definitely check that out! Then I just sautéed the fresh chopped pineapple, bell pepper and jalapeño with a little olive oil before adding in the cauliflower rice and additional spices. I also added some fresh squeezed orange juice for even more flavor!
Also right before adding the shrimp to the grill I like to make a glaze with the leftover marinade to brush over top of the shrimp which can easily be done by just bringing it to a boil and allowing it to simmer for about 10 minutes or so. The glaze really makes a nice caramelization which tastes so delicious over top of the shrimp!
OH and don’t freak out over the amount of ingredients you see listed! This is really two recipes (one for the shrimp and the other for the cauliflower rice) and while you could easily just buy your own pre-made jerk seasoning, this particular combination was absolutely delicious and just too good not to share!
I really hope you enjoy this dish as much as we did!
