Spicy Coconut Risotto with Lime Shrimp

If you like the flavors of pad thai, you’ll love this spicy coconut risotto with lime shrimp. It’s sweet, spicy, nutty, herby, limey and shrimpy. It’s easy to customize the spice level based on your taste buds.

Do any kids like coconut? I know I sure didn’t when I was young. Any coconut-related Halloween candy went directly to my parents as soon as I got home from trick-or treating.

But, I now understand coconut’s charm and adore it. Coconut shrimp with creamy sauce is on our menu at least once a month, and frozen chocolate bananas covered with coconut flakes and coconut creme brulee are some of my favorite sweet treats. Shredded coconut is essential in my carrot cake smoothie.

As an adult, I now take advantage of children’s distaste for coconut. Every year at Halloween, I buy a big bag of Almond Joys or Mounds bars “for the trick-or-treaters,” (wink wink nudge nudge) as well as other candy.

In the “before times,” we always passed out candy by holding out the bowl and letting the kids pick which piece they want. Shockingly – at the end of the night, we’re left with a big bowl of Almond Joys. Then I’m forced to eat them. It’s a curse, I tell ya.

This coconut risotto with lime shrimp is my way of making up for those childhood years where I didn’t like coconut. Just like my mushroom and kale risotto and goat cheese risotto, it’s a fun little kitchen project that works well for Sunday dinner.

And it satisfies my coconut craving all year around!

This coconut risotto recipe has a double dose of coconut.

To make up for lost time with coconut after a childhood spent hating it, I incorporated coconut in two ways in this coconut risotto recipe.

First, shredded unsweetened coconut is added at the step where the rice is sautéed, allowing both the coconut and the rice to become slightly toasted and nutty.

Coconut milk is the secret ingredient in my curry potato soup and vegan lentil curry for good reason – it’s a non-dairy option that adds both creaminess and a subtle sweetness to a dish.

For this coconut milk risotto, I stir light coconut milk in at the end of the rice cooking time for creaminess. This is the coconut milk that you find in a can, for cooking, generally in the Asian food section of the store (not the refrigerated kind that is more of a non-dairy alternative to cow’s milk for drinking).

Personally, I think light coconut milk is plenty to give this dish some creaminess without a ton of extra calories, but if you prefer regular, full-fat coconut milk, feel free to use that.

This is a pretty spicy risotto recipe! But, you can tailor it to your tastes.

Get your taste buds ready – this coconut risotto recipe is unapologetically spicy. Unable to decide between sriracha and sambal oelek, I just went ahead and put them both in there.

After all, sambal oelek is the hot sauce that can do everything! It’s a crucial ingredient in Asian noodle salad, and the wontons in my shrimp wonton soup.

And sriracha is an absolute fridge staple and workhorse in my kitchen, showing up in everything from orange ginger chicken to buttermilk chicken marinade.

So, I decided to stir sambal oelek directly into the coconut milk risotto, and then garnish the entire dish with sriracha. To tone down the heat, feel free to cut back on the amount of either sauce, or eliminate one of the hot sauces altogether.

One easy way to figure out what spice level you like is by stirring the sambal oelek into this spicy risotto gradually (perhaps by the teaspoon), and tasting after each addition until it reaches your desired spice level.

What could be better than lime shrimp cooked in butter?

If you’ve ever tried beurre blanc shrimp, you know that shrimp + butter is a match made in heaven.

On it’s own, shrimp is super flavorful (especially in seafood pasta salad), but incredibly low in fat. So, cooking it in a little bit of butter can really take it to next level as far as even more flavor and succulence to add on top of this spicy risotto.

Be sure to cook the shrimp until they are just cooked through (opaque throughout). If you have an instant read thermometer, they’re done when they reach 145 degrees F!

Then, stir the lime juice into the shrimp once the shrimp is done cooking.

This coconut milk risotto can be made vegetarian or vegan!

I know firsthand that a vegan dish like lentil ragu, lentil pasta sauce, or pan fried cauliflower steaks can be just as satisfying as a meal with meat or seafood.

To make this coconut risotto recipe vegetarian, simply omit the lime shrimp, or substitute tofu in its place.

And to make this coconut milk risotto vegan, omit the lime shrimp, and swap the butter out for olive oil or coconut oil.

My savory oatmeal is another great vegetarian risotto that can easily be made vegan, too.