Chinese Salt and Pepper Shrimp. Succulent crispy shrimp packed with salt and pepper flavors with a spicy kick. So addictive and easy to make in 20 minutes!
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What is Chinese Salt and Pepper Shrimp?
This quick and easy Chinese Salt and Pepper Shrimp serves well as a main course for dinner or lunch with steamed rice and vegetables. It's a popular Chinese food served at many Chinese restaurants or for takeaway.
This seafood dish features fried shrimp seasoned with salt, black pepper and lightly coated in starch and stir fried with fresh ginger, garlic, chili's, shaoxing wine.
If you're not a fan of shrimp, check out my Salt & Pepper Tofu, Salt & Pepper Fish, or Salt & Pepper Chicken.
The great thing about this Asian dish is that there are too many foreign ingredients and you may have most of them in your pantry already! I also love that it can be prepared in one bowl and fried in one pan (hello easy cleanup!) A great quick weeknight meal if you’re craving some salty spicy seafood.
Ingredients
Please scroll down to below recipe card for exact measurements.
- Jumbo shrimp: or any large shrimp. Get the easy-peel deveined kind to make things easier! If they're not deveined, you'll need to devein them as the veins are filled with dirt and bacteria and affect the taste of shrimp.
- Fresh garlic
- Large red chili: if you prefer this not spicy, de-seed the chilis or substitute with red bell pepper. For a very spicy version, substitute with bird's eye chili.
- Shaoxing wine: this is a Chinese rice wine. You may also substitute with Dry Sherry.
- Fresh ginger
- White granulated sugar
- Spring Onion or Green Onions
- Neutral oil: like avocado oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil or canola oil with a high smoke point. Avoid olive oil or any heavy scented oils with a low smoke point.
Shrimp Marinade
- Shaoxing wine: or substitute with Dry Sherry.
- Black Pepper
- Salt
- Cornstarch: this makes the shrimp extra crispy!
Note: Most Asian grocery stores will carry most of the Asian specific ingredients.
Expert Tips
- Purchase jumbo sized shrimp that has already been deveined and peeled. This will cut down the prep time.
- Prepare your ingredients ahead of time. The cooking process is fast and this prevents overcooking the shrimp.
- Marinate the shrimp in black pepper, salt and shaoxing wine first before coating in cornstarch. This allows for an even distribution of the seasoning.
- Don’t skip out on the shaoxing wine, it offers amazing taste to this dish
- Make sure each piece of shrimp is well coated in cornstarch. This gives it a crispier texture
- Do not overcook the shrimp! Once it looks mostly pink and it's crispy, add in the rest of the ingredients.
How to make Chinese Salt and Pepper Shrimp
Marinate Shrimp
First in a large mixing bowl, mix together shrimp with salt, black pepper and shaoxing wine. Then add cornstarch and mix until each piece of shrimp is well coated.
Fry Shrimp
Heat vegetable oil in a large pan on medium heat. Add in your shrimp, spread apart and fry on both sides until mostly pink and are crispy, about 3 minutes in total. Do not overcook!
Toss in Remaining Ingredients
Quickly add in remaining ingredients with shaoxing wine being the last. Then stir fry everything together until the wine has fully evaporated. Finally remove off heat. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Storage & Reheating
Leftovers will last up to 4 days stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. To reheat, microwave for 2-3 minutes until hot or reheat in a pan on medium heat until hot throughout.
FAQ
For this recipe, you can cook it without the shell it to make it easier to eat. But if you enjoy eating shrimp with the shell on, you may keep it on. The shells also offer extra flavour.
Other recipes you may enjoy!
📖 Recipe
Quick & Easy Chinese Salt and Pepper Shrimp
Ingredients
- 14 oz jumbo shrimp peeled and deveined
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 large red chili pepper sliced
- 1 green onion finely slice
- 1 teaspoon ginger finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon white granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing Cooking Wine or sub with dry sherry wine
- ¼ cup vegetable oil or any neutral oil
Shrimp Marinade:
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing Cooking Wine or sub with dry sherry wine
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup cornstarch add 1 more tablespoon if needed
Instructions
- First in a large mixing bowl, mix together shrimp with salt, black pepper and shaoxing wine. Then add cornstarch last and mix until each piece of shrimp is well coated.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large pan on medium heat. Add in your shrimp, spread apart and fry on both sides until mostly pink and are crispy, about 3 minutes in total. Do not overcook!
- Quickly add in remaining ingredients with shaoxing wine being the last. Then stir fry everything together until the wine has fully evaporated.
- Finally remove off heat. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Rosemary
I have never made shrimp this way! You make me want to give it one more shot!!
Heidi | The Frugal Girls
I actually do have all but one of the ingredients for this recipe already in my pantry and freezer. This is such a tasty fun way to prepare shrimp!
Alison
This recipe is insanely good, super easy and fast. Minimal ingredients I typically have on hand. Dont usually change anything but added some garlic powder as well as white pepper this time around, still phenomenal. When I don't have a red chili I use a jalapeno and works great.
christieathome
I'm so glad you enjoyed it Alison! Thank you for making my recipe and leaving such a kind review 🙂
Bear Graves
Very easy with reliable, delicious results
christieathome
Thank you so much for the kind comment Bear! Glad you enjoyed it and have a great day!
Sabrina
Very good. I had to substitute the Shaoxing wine for sherry vinegar because I couldn't find it, but it was still delicious. Also, the recipe doesn't specify how much corn starch to put in, so I went with 1/4 tsp.
christieathome
Hi Sabrina, thanks so much for flagging that to me and for making my recipe! It should be 1/4 cup of cornstarch and I have updated the recipe accordingly.
Emily Gibbs
I’m excited to try this what should I substitute the red chili pepper with ? I couldn’t find it in the grocery store
christieathome
You can use green chili peppers or even bell peppers of any colour 🙂
Christine Hooper
Very good. I used mirin instead of wine.
christieathome
Awesome, thanks for making my recipe and sharing this note with us Christine!
Sandy Stiner
So good!!!! This will be a regular recipe in our menu! Thanks for making Asian food so easy!!!!
christieathome
Awesome! I am really happy to read this worked well so well for you. Happy I could make Asian food easier and more approachable!
Tess
This is one of my favorite things I’ve had at a Chinese restaurant. I’m not sure what I did wrong but my shrimp was perfectly cook but it wasn’t crispy. The flavors were right so I’ll have to try again.
Christie Lai
Thanks for making my recipe, Tess! Glad the flavors were right and I appreciate your feedback!
Jc
This was a very delicious and easy recipe, we found a tsp of salt gave us the savor we needed, was wondering if I could do this with Lobster as well?
Christie Lai
Thank you so much for making my recipe, JC! Happy to hear that it worked out well with more salt 🙂 I haven't personally tried it with lobster but I can imagine it being delicious!