Pili Pili Shrimp with Braised Cannellini Beans

By Kiano Moju

Updated October 10, 2025

  • Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell.
Media 1 of 1
Ready In
30 min
Rating
5(1,962)
Comments
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Pili pili is the Swahili word for chile, and this recipe uses three common pantry varieties, each bringing something different when it comes to spice level, color and flavor. When sizzled with garlic in olive oil, the chiles create a flavorful marinade, infusing the shrimp with spice but not spiciness. The chiles here are all quite mellow, so that none upstage the others. Instead of adding cilantro as a garnish, here it's added earlier in cooking so it has a more gentle flavor, a trick learned from my grandmother Agnes.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

  • 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

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    In a medium bowl, season the shrimp with salt and set aside. 

  2. 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. 

  3. 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. 

  4. Step 4

    Stir in the stock and beans and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

  5. 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.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
1,962 user ratings
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Comments

John

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!

Joshua

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.

Nate

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!

J Mela

The best, I’ve cooked this three times already, roughly per recipe but using white flesh fish instead of shrimp and adding just a hint of honey into the marinade (took the hint from the write up mentioning the sweetness of the shrimp). The cilantro gives the dish just the right taste. Can’t wait to serve it to company.

Deborah VC

This was a sleeper hit. I followed the recipe mostly tho I changed amts of some ingredients: 1/2 lb of shrimp with one drained and one pkg of beans I’d cooked earlier (= 2 cans), 1 tsp paprika, ¼ tsp cayenne, ½ t red pepper flakes. No cilantro so chopped up some arugula. Served over brown rice with roasted snap peas and broccoli. Used TJ European style nonfat yogurt to finish. Truly comforting & very delicious.

Lucy D

Delicious! Only used half the cumin, parsley and extra garlic. Otherwise, as written. Definitely will be making this again!

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