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This delicious honey garlic shrimp takes less than 10 minutes to make! Succulent shrimp in a sweet and savoury sauce just hits the spot so well. Get the secrets to this restaurant quality dish, which could be easily made at home!
Chinese food fan? Take a look at other takeout favourites like Honey Sesame Chicken or Crispy Honey Soy Pork Belly!
As much as I love our Friday night tradition of ordering in, I love re-creating our takeout favourites at home even more. No matter how you look at it, cooking at home is cheaper and better for us. And it doesn’t have to be time consuming.
Let’s take shrimp dishes or prawns, as they are known in the UK. They are absolutely brilliant for an easy weeknight dinner as they take barely any time to throw together.
Shrimp takes mere minutes to cook! There is no such thing as cooking shrimp slowly, otherwise it will turn dry and rubbery.
Garlic shrimp in a sticky honey glaze is one of my personal favourites and coconut shrimp is a close second. It’s time I share the recipe for this incredibly easy dish.
Quick honey garlic shrimp
Calling this ’10 minute honey garlic shrimp’ is not an exaggeration or clickbait. It’s a speedy recipe. In fact, it takes less than 10 minutes to make it!
That is a feature with shrimp, which cooks incredibly quickly and adds a welcome layer of convenience to dinner prep. I find it helpful to keep a bag of frozen shrimp around for when a quick meal is needed.
Because shrimp cook quickly, it is easy to overdo it and cause the shrimp to go a bit rubbery. If your pan is over medium heat, it should only take 1-2 minutes on each side for perfectly juicy shrimp.
Ingredients
Whenever it comes to Asian recipes, the ingredient list alone could be intimidating. Many things might look unfamiliar if we are not from that part of the world.
The good news is everything becomes achievable with a little research. And once you dip your toes in the world of the Chinese cooking, there is no going back! So much flavour, and the recipes are often not very complicated.
They are also a lot better for you than one might imagine. We visited China more than 2 decades ago in our early 20s, and were absolutely blown away by the freshness of the authentic Chinese food.
The ingredients for this particular shrimp recipe are easy to source. Shrimp is obviously the star ingredient here, so it needs to be of high quality. The better the shrimp, the tastier your end result will be!
The rest are garlic, ginger, honey, This is an affiliate link.soy sauce and cornstarch. Ingredients most of us keep on hand. If you are not a frequent ginger user, I recommend buying a jar of This is an affiliate link.ginger paste, which keeps in a fridge for several months.
And although they aren’t essential, I love adding a sprinkling of green onions and red pepper flakes to build even more flavour into the dish. A little freshness and heat are perfect with the sweet honey garlic sauce.
Recipe Tips and Notes
- As with a lot of Chinese stir fry recipes, the actual cooking happens very quickly. Which means all ingredients have to be prepared, peeled, cut and minced beforehand.
- The first thing you want to do is to pat your shrimp dry with a paper towel. Then coat your shrimp in a mixture of soy sauce and cornstarch. This mixture does two things. It acts as a marinade to infuse flavour as well as forms a protective coating around the shrimp during cooking. This method is called “velveting” in Chinese cooking, and is used when frying delicate meat like chicken and shrimp. That is why chicken in that stir fry at your local Chinese restaurant is so tender!
- The shrimp you see in photos are pink but they are raw shrimp. I am using Argentine red shrimp/prawns, which are quite large and very delicious.
- Use fresh garlic and ginger for the best flavour.
- Make sure not to overcook the shrimp, which will result in rubbery texture.
Serving suggestions
This ridiculously fast and easy shrimp recipe could be served as a main dish over plain white rice as the sticky honey garlic glaze will serve as a delicious sauce. Because it is so quick and easy to make, it can be a perfect weeknight meal.
This saucy shrimp dish could also be served as an appetiser/starter to your main meal. It is also elegant enough to feature at a cocktail party.
You can also add quickly steamed vegetables like broccoli, snow peas or cauliflower and make this honey garlic shrimp into a healthy stir fry. Your family will love it!
Storage and leftovers
You can keep cooked shrimp for 3-4 days in a refrigerator ini an This is an affiliate link.airtight container.
Leftover shrimp can be frozen for up to three months. To keep them in the best shape, freeze them first on a baking sheet so they are kept separate, then add them to a zipped-top bag or large sealable container to keep for longer.
Reheat leftovers either in a microwave or by returning them to a This is an affiliate link.frying pan over medium heat. If using a pan, add a splash of water to loosen them up.
More favourite Asian shrimp recipes
- Speedy Sesame Shrimp Stir Fry
- Filipino Noodles with Pork and Shrimp
- Thai Red Curry with Prawns and Snow Peas
- Easy Shrimp Chow Mein
- Bang Bang Shrimp
10 Minute Honey Garlic Shrimp
Ingredients
- 450g/1 lbs shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 tbsp This is an affiliate link.light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3-4 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp ginger paste or grated ginger
- 4 tbsp honey
- 1/4 tsp chilli flakes, optional
- 2 green onions, for garnish
Instructions
- In a medium bowl combine the soy sauce and cornstarch, then add the shrimp and toss to combine. Set aside till needed. (This method is called "velveting" in Chinese cooking and is used to protect delicate meat like shrimp and chicken from drying out during cooking.)
- Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan and cook minced garlic with ginger for no longer than 30 seconds over medium heat, then add the shrimp and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side depending on the size of the shrimp.
- Pour in honey and chilli flakes if using, toss to coat the shrimp and take off the heat. Sprinkle with sliced green onions for garnish. Serve over rice or as a starter.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Lovely recipe. For health reasons instead of soy sauce I used Balsamic vinegar and it came out great. Practical and easy recipe. Will definitely do again. thanks
So glad you were able to enjoy it using the ingredients you prefer, Loranne.
Basic flavor. Bit too sweet . Quick if you need something to eat I’m a hurry.
I’d love to see your 10 minute recipe Eddie, that is not “basic”. Quick recipe also implies simple!
First time cooking shrimp. This turned out WONDERFUL! Adding to the cookbook of family favorites. Thank you!
My pleasure! So glad you enjoyed it, Arizona.
So delicious. What a lovely recipe! I made a double batch and the whole family, kids included, really enjoyed the dish. We served over rice with sesame roasted green beans on the side. Also, I’d never heard of the “velveting” technique for shrimp before and I’ll definitely put it to use elsewhere as well. Thank you for some dinner inspiration!
Will this be ok if served room temperature as an appetizer?
I think so but I haven’t tested it myself.
Can I use ground dry ginger instead of fresh or paste?
Hi Sarah while you can definitely use dry ginger I’d have to say that the taste will be lacking.