Pili Pili Shrimp with Braised Cannellini Beans
Updated October 10, 2025

- Ready In
- 30 min
- Rating
- Comments
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Ingredients
1 pound peeled, deveined large shrimp, tails removed
Kosher salt
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
¼ teaspoon ground cayenne
½ medium yellow onion, chopped
2 tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup chicken, seafood or vegetable stock
1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed
3 tablespoons plain yogurt or heavy cream
Long-grain white rice, flatbread or grilled sliced sourdough, for serving
Preparation
- Step 1
In a medium bowl, season the shrimp with salt and set aside.
- Step 2
Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the garlic to a cold pan. Set over medium-low heat and cook until garlic is fragrant and just begins to sizzle, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the paprika, crushed red pepper and cayenne and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Pour the flavored oil into the bowl of shrimp, tossing to coat. Set aside to marinate.
- Step 3
In the same pan, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium. Add the onions, cilantro and cumin, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent, 2 to 3 minutes. Add tomato paste, lightly season with salt and stir until the tomato paste has slightly darkened in color, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Step 4
Stir in the stock and beans and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Step 5
Add the shrimp mixture to the pan. Cook until the shrimp start to curl and turn pink, 1 to 2 minutes, then immediately remove from the heat. (The shrimp will carry on cooking from the residual heat.) Stir in the yogurt and season with salt to taste. Serve immediately.
Private Notes
Comments
Very delicious! I wanted to up the veggies so added chopped pimento peppers to this and they paired well with it (added maybe two tablespoons' worth). Think some fresh, jarred or frozen (not marinated, just plain) quartered artichoke hearts could pair well here too if you didn't add too many. I served this with a tomato rice: one cup white basmati rice, three tablespoons finely chopped beefsteak tomato with salt, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika and black pepper. Paired nicely!
This is absolutely comfort food. We made it exactly as the recipe directed. It was much less spicy than I expected given the 1/2 tsp of cayenne. It exceeded our expectations and, in fact, it would be great even without the shrimp.
This was delicious. We doubled the cayenne and it was zippy but not to spicy. Served it with Basmati rice that was cooked with ghee and curry leaves. will definitely cook again!
It wasn’t terrible. Just boring. And I’m not sure why it was boring with the different spices. But it was.
I thought it needed a squeeze of lemon at the end. Could easily be made without shrimp or with tofu instead! Otherwise, this was fast, easy, nutritious, and tasty!
Delicious, easy to cook, a perfect balance of flavours. As we like spicy food, I doubled the spices, and used vegan yoghurt (coconut), otherwise stuck to the recipe and served with buttered boiled potatoes. I shall be seeking out more of Kiano’s recipes!
