Red Rice with Shrimp and Bacon is full of tomato flavor and spices. With shrimp added, this popular southern side dish becomes a filling main dish.
This recipe is plenty smoky and a little spicy. One quarter cup of tomato paste and 2 cans of fire-roasted diced tomatoes give it an intense tomato flavor.
What is Red Rice with Shrimp and Bacon?
Red Rice has been around for nearly 300 years. It originated in the rice growing regions of South Carolina and Georgia. It can either be cooked on the stove or in the oven. There are as many ways to make Red Rice as their are cooks in the south, but it always contains white rice, tomatoes, and some type of meat. Usually bacon or sausage.
Red Rice is typically made with Carolina Gold Rice, a rice that was widely grown in the South Carolina low country from the 1700s to the Civil War. It nearly became extinct but was revived in the 1980s. You can order Carolina Gold Rice online or substitute with any long grain rice.
This coastal carolina southern meal is very similar to jambalaya and every bit as delicious.
More Shrimp Recipes
Red Rice with Shrimp and Bacon
Ingredients
- 6 slices bacon, chopped
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 2 (14.5-ounce) cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons hot sauce
- 1 teaspoon creole seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups uncooked long grain rice
- 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1 pound medium to large shrimp, peeled and deveined
- chopped parsley
Instructions
- In a Dutch oven, cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- Add onion, green pepper, and celery to the bacon grease. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add garlic and cook 1 more minute.
- Add tomato paste, diced tomatoes, brown sugar, vinegar, hot sauce, creole seasoning, thyme, paprika, bay leaf, salt, rice, and 1 1/4 cups chicken broth.
- Stir to mix everything and place lid on. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes. If needed (rice is still crunchy and their is no more liquid), add a little more chicken broth and cook with lid on for a few more minutes.
- Add shrimp and stir them in. Cook for about 5 minutes with lid on, stirring occasionally.
- Sprinkle with parsley and bacon and serve.
Want to Save This Recipe?
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
How many servings does this recipe make? If used as the main entre?
Gave it a try with some friends tonight and it was delicious!! It’s going to become a regular in our household. I did however use the shells from two pounds of shrimp to create a shrimp broth instead of the called for chicken broth.
I just finished a bowl. My Hubby and I LOVED it! Very much like Jambalaya without the Sausage, who needs it with the Shrimp and Bacon. The roasted Tomatoes really set it off with a smokey flavor. The recipe is definitely a keeper.
I really want to know now about the bacon, how it is prepared completely and added back to the recipe.
I am planning to surprise my hubby with this dish and need to know before I begin‼️
On the menu for next week! Looks luscious ~ can’t wait to make it, feed it to my family, and enjoy it!
In Step 1, the bacon is removed and set aside. Yet you never put it back in during any of the subsequent steps. The pictures all have bacon displayed in them. During what step do you put the bacon back in?
Thanks for catching that. Will fix it.
See direction number 7.