Honey Walnut Shrimp. Crispy shrimp coated in a creamy sweet sauce with crunchy candied walnuts. Ready in 30 minutes!
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What is Honey Walnut Shrimp?
Honey Walnut Shrimp (蜜汁合桃虾) is made of juicy fried shrimp coated in a sweet creamy sauce with the delightful crunch from the walnuts. It has the perfect balance of textures! This is a main dish you'll find at many Chinese restaurants and American restaurants, like Panda Express. It's best served over steamed rice and veggies!
The original recipe comes from Hong Kong. It's commonly served at Chinese wedding banquets over blanched vibrant green broccoli and it was my favourite dish! I remember eyeing that sweet crispy shrimp as I rapidly turned that lazy susan, so I knew I had to develop my own version. This is a quick and easy shrimp recipe that the whole family will love!
Ingredients
Please scroll down to below recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient quantities.
For the Shrimp
- Jumbo shrimp or any large shrimp: pre-peeled and deveined shrimp will make the preparation process easier! Fresh or frozen both work. Avoid small or colossal size shrimp. As for breeds, I recommend Black Tiger Shrimp or Pacific White but use what you have!
- Egg whites: we'll be using egg whites only, instead of whole eggs. Save the yolks for another recipe or for an omelet!
- Salt & Black pepper
- Cornstarch: or substitute with potato starch, tapioca starch, or sweet rice flour aka mochiko flour
- Neutral oil: like avocado oil, sunflower oil, grapeseed oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil or canola oil. We want to use oils with a high smoke point. Avoid olive oil or heavy scented oils with a low smoke point.
Sauce
- Kewpie mayo: aka as creamy Japanese mayo. Or substitute with normal mayo as a last resort.
- Condensed milk: If you're dairy-free, substitute with condensed coconut milk. You can find this product at select grocers or sometimes online on Amazon.
- Honey
- Lemon juice: this balances the sauce by giving it some acid and tartness.
Candied Walnuts
- Walnut halves: most grocery stores sell these cracked and halved. I would recommend sourcing these than cracking whole walnuts to make it easier.
- White granulated sugar: or substitute with brown sugar to create a simple syrup. As a last resort, you may use coconut sugar or cane sugar.
- Water
Optional garnish:
- Green onion: to simply add color to our dish. You can omit it if you wish.
How to Make Honey Walnut Shrimp
Prepare sauce
In a small bowl, combine Sauce ingredients. Set aside.
Make Syrup for Walnuts
In a small saucepan on medium heat, add sugar followed by water. Stirring constantly, bring to a simmer.
Mix in Walnuts
Once the syrup thickens and can coat the back of your spatula, quickly add walnuts. Mix to coat evenly. Tip: It's important to work quickly here as the walnuts can easily burn.
Remove Walnuts from Pan
Once coated and a crust has formed around each walnut, immediately remove pan off the heat and remove candied walnuts one by one with tongs and transfer to parchment paper spreading them apart.
Tip: If you don't spread them apart, they will easily stick together and make tossing more difficult. Set aside.
Season Shrimp
In a medium bowl, add peeled and deveined shrimp, season with salt and black pepper. (If your shrimp isn't peeled or deveined, follow my instructions below in the FAQ section on how to do that).
Make Shrimp Batter
In a separate large bowl, add egg whites and whisk until foamy. They should just be foamy, not like a meringue. Add cornstarch and mix until you have a runny paste.
Batter the Shrimp
Add seasoned shrimp and mix well until shrimp is coated in batter with tongs or chopsticks.
Fry the Shrimp
In a large skillet on medium-high heat, heat vegetable oil or any neutral oil. Once it’s hot (around 350-375 degrees F), fry shrimp in small batches for 2-3 minutes until crispy and a golden brown color develops. Tip: Do not overcrowd the oil.
Expert Tip: deep frying the shrimp a second time for 30-45 seconds or until crispier will yield best results for extra crispy shrimp.
Remove Fried Shrimp
Remove shrimp from hot oil with a slotted spoon or tongs and transfer to wire rack or paper towel lined baking sheet to drain off excess oil. Excess oil creates soggy shrimp.
Mix with Sauce
In a large bowl, add crispy shrimp, candied walnuts, followed by sauce. Toss everything together. Garnish with green onions.
Expert Tip: you can serve the shrimp and sauce separately and dip shrimp in sauce when you're ready to enjoy.
Storage & Reheating
This dish is best consumed same day but leftover honey walnut shrimp can last up to 4 days stored in an airtight container in the fridge. To reheat, bake in a toaster oven or air fry at 350 degrees for 5-6 minutes until hot. You can also microwave it for 2-3 minutes.
FAQ
Start by peeling the shell off from underneath where the legs are and working my way towards the tail. With a sharp knife (ideally a paring knife), make a slight slit on the back side of the shrimp opposite to the feet where you see a faint black line. Careful not to cut too deeply or you'll burst it. Once the black line is exposed, use the tip of your knife or toothpick to remove it. Rinse the shrimp under cold water to clean it.
The syrup contains a high sugar content which can cause for it to burn so it's important to work quickly here. After the syrup thickens, immediately toss in the walnuts, coat them and once they form a crust remove from the pan.
I wouldn't recommend it as the batter is wet and will drip off the shrimp into the air fryer basket producing different results.
What to serve with Honey Walnut Shrimp?
Other shrimp recipes you may enjoy!
📖 Recipe
Quick & Easy Honey Walnut Shrimp
Ingredients
For the shrimp:
- 1 lb jumbo shrimp peeled and deveined
- 4 egg whites
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅔ cup cornstarch or sub with potato starch, tapioca starch, or sweet rice flour
- 1 cup vegetable oil or any neutral oil for frying
Sauce:
- ¼ cup Japanese mayo aka Kewpie Mayo (or sub with normal mayo)
- 3 tablespoon condensed milk
- 2 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
For the candied walnuts:
- ½ cup walnut halves
- 3 tablespoon white granulated sugar or sub with brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
Optional garnish:
- 1 green onion finely chopped
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine Sauce ingredients. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan on medium heat, add sugar followed by water. Stirring constantly, bring to a simmer. Once the syrup thickens and can coat the back of your spatula, quickly add walnuts. Mix to coat evenly. Once coated, immediately remove pan off heat and remove candied walnuts one by one with tongs and transfer to parchment paper spreading them apart. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, add peeled and deveined shrimp, season with salt and black pepper. Set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, add egg whites and whisk until foamy. Add cornstarch and mix until you have a runny paste. Add seasoned shrimp and mix well until shrimp is coated in batter with tongs or chopsticks.
- In a large skillet on medium-high heat, heat vegetable oil or any neutral oil. Once oil is hot (350-375 degrees F), fry shrimp in batches for 2-3 minutes until crispy and golden brown. Do not overcrowd the pan. Optional: deep frying the shrimp a second time for 30-45 seconds or until crispier will yield best results for extra crispy shrimp.
- Remove fried shrimp from hot oil with a slotted spoon or tongs and transfer to wire rack or paper towel lined baking sheet to drain off excess oil.
- In a large bowl, add crispy shrimp, candied walnuts, followed by sauce. Toss everything together. Garnish with green onions (optional). Alternatively, serve the shrimp separate from the sauce and to enjoy, dip the shrimp into the sauce! The latter maintains the crispiness of the shrimp better.
Kathy
This is very good and not complicated. It is sweet but sometimes that’s what you’re looking for! Not low cal I’m sure. I made a Japanese mayo found on Pinterest by adding sugar and rice vinegar to Hellman’s. I’ll make it again!
Christie Lai
Thanks so much for making my recipe! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Jennifer
I had been craving honey walnut shrimp but didn’t want to pay $20 for takeout (especially when I had the majority of ingredients on hand), so finally decided to make this & oh my goodness!!! This was so easy and so yummy! No need to get takeout, this was just as good if not better! I paired it with coconut rice and it was delicious. Highly recommend!
Christie Lai
Thank you so very much for the very kind and positive review, Jennifer! I'm sooo thrilled that it worked out well and it was better than take out 🙂 Have a wonderful day!
Alice
Such an easy recipe to follow and it was DELICIOUS.
Christie Lai
Thank you so much for making my recipe and for leaving a kind review! I'm so glad you found it delicious, Alice 🙂
Molly
This was delicious! The coating with light and crispy and that sauce was perfect! Will be making again.