Ben and I arrived home from the most magical vacation in Italy on Sunday night, and while I wouldn’t trade our time for anything, after 10 days in a completely different time zone + a 21-hour travel day home, my body clock/sleep cycle/ability to process logical thoughts is…compromised. Case in point: Yesterday morning, I stepped out of the shower and realized I’d only shaved one leg and couldn’t remember whether or not I’d rinsed the conditioner out of my hair. I’m a believer that dinner, especially weeknight dinner, doesn’t need to be complicated to be delicious. Now more than ever, I appreciate simple but splendid recipes like this sheet pan shrimp and broccoli. This healthy shrimp recipe combines two of my great one-pan meal loves—sheet pan suppers (like this Sheet Pan Mediterranean Shrimp) and stir fries—into a dynamite dish that even this gal’s jet-lagged brain can handle.
How Do You Make Shrimp and Broccoli?
Or better yet, how do you make healthy shrimp and broccoli? Most shrimp and broccoli Chinese food is heavy on added sugars. Instead, I opted for a more natural approach with honey garlic shrimp and broccoli (just like in this Healthy Orange Chicken). The flavor is a dead ringer for a less-healthy Chinese shrimp and broccoli brown sauce recipe, but—unlike the regretful sensation of looking into your takeout carton and finding it mysteriously empty—you’ll feel completely justified scraping the sheet pan clean.
As far as recipe step-by-steps, if you can chop veggies and stir sauce ingredients together, you already know how to make Chinese shrimp and broccoli (or at least this easy, lighter version of it!). The brown sauce is a quick combo of Asian pantry staples like soy sauce, rice vinegar, and the aforementioned honey and garlic, plus fresh ginger for zippy, fresh flavor and a pinch of red pepper flakes to keep everyone awake. Toss the broccoli and a portion of the sauce together directly on a sheet pan, bake for 20 minutes, then add the shrimp (and more sauce). Back into the oven the pan goes for a fast five minutes, and BOOM. Dinner, done. In addition to being yummy and a lean source of protein, shrimp cooks in a manner of minutes, a reason I love making shrimp and vegetable recipes on busy nights. To save even more time, I purchase pre-peeled or easy-peel frozen raw shrimp, then let it thaw. This sauce for sheet pan shrimp and broccoli has so much flavor, it’s an excellent, undetectable place to use frozen shrimp when you don’t have the access, time, or the budget for fresh.
More Healthy Shrimp and Broccoli Recipes
If you are looking for more healthy shrimp and broccoli recipes, here are a few ideas:
Garlic Shrimp PastaShrimp Tacos (A reader favorite!)Garlic Shrimp with Quinoa And, all of these healthy shrimp recipes too!
Sheet pan shrimp and broccoli: it’s a no-brainer!
Recommended Tools to Make Sheet Pan Sesame Garlic Shrimp and Broccoli
These are my favorite sheet pans. I use them almost every single day!Mini whisk. It’s ideal for quickly combining ingredients and makes less of a mess.
