Spicy, garlicky, and sweet all at once, these crispy chili garlic shrimp will be your new favorite takeout dish at home in your own kitchen!
If you love shrimp as much as I do, and you also happen to love Chinese takeout, then my Chinese chili garlic shrimp is a recipe you’ve simply got to try. In a matter of minutes, you can have juicy shrimp with a crispy exterior on your plate. The sauce is perfectly spicy and garlicky with just the right amount of sweetness.
Whether you’ve had a busy day or you simply don’t want to do very much to get dinner on the table, all it takes is a few simple ingredients to pull it together. Choose fresh shrimp if you can find them because the better the quality, the more you’re going to love it.
Chili garlic shrimp ingredients
It seems that most people already have these ingredients in their kitchen. I use my homemade chili garlic sauce, though you can use store-bought if you can’t find what you need to make the homemade sauce. My chili garlic shrimp recipe calls for Shaoxing wine as an optional ingredient. While it adds another bit of complexity to the flavor profile, you will still get an amazing chili garlic shrimp dish even without it.
When you’re ready to cook, your table should have:
- Marinated shrimp
- Mixed sauce
- Minced ginger
- Cornstarch and flour (not shown in the photo because you can directly add them to the marinated shrimp right before cooking)
How to cook chili garlic shrimp
Cooking chili garlic shrimp is so easy. All you need to do is:
- Coat the marinated shrimp with cornstarch and flour
- Pan fry the shrimp until crispy
- Transfer the shrimp to a plate once it’s cooked
- Saute the ginger
- Pour in the sauce and thicken it
- Add back the shrimp
NOTE: coat the shrimp with cornstarch and flour right before cooking. It will keep the coating extra crispy and crunchy.
TIP: Set your rice cooker to steam some white rice, which goes perfectly with the shrimp as it soaks in that sensational sauce, and you’ll have a well-rounded, totally satisfying dinner on your table.
Crispy shrimp without deep frying
You don’t even need a wok for this. I prefer a medium-sized skillet. This shallow-fry technique gives you that crispy texture for these chili garlic shrimp while using much less oil. It’s a healthier version of the takeout delight, one that will surely brighten up your meal.
How to serve chili garlic shrimp
Top chili garlic shrimp over steamed rice for a quick one bowl meal. You can also serve it as one of the main dishes for a multi-course dinner. Here are some other dishes that go well with chili garlic shrimp:
- Beef Chow Fun (干炒牛河)
- Broccoli and Mushroom Stir Fry
- Garlic Beef (蒜香牛肉粒)
- Salt and Pepper Pork Chops (椒盐猪排)
- Choy Sum with Garlic Sauce (白灼菜心)
- Moo Goo Gai Pan (蘑菇鸡片)
- Spinach Egg Drop Soup
This dish is beyond simple, beyond flavorful, and beyond impressive when entertaining guests, though you may just want to keep enjoying this one for yourself for a while!
More Chinese takeout recipes
Need a more complete Chinese takeout-at-home experience? Make these simple dishes below to serve with the chili garlic shrimp:
- Vegetable Lo Mein
- Leftover Ham Fried Rice with Pineapple
- Chicken and Broccoli (Chinese Takeout Style)
- How to Make Chinese Egg Rolls
- Chinese Egg Drop Soup
Chinese Chili Garlic Shrimp
Ingredients
Shrimp
- 1 lb (450 g) raw shrimp , peeled & deveined (*Footnote 1)
- 1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine (Optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Sauce
- 1/4 cup chili garlic sauce
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons light soy sauce (or soy sauce)
Stir Fry
- 4 1/2 tablespoons peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
Instructions
- Combine the shrimp and Shaoxing wine in a medium-sized bowl. Sprinkle evenly with salt. Mix until the salt is evenly dispersed. Set aside while preparing the rest of the ingredients.
- Combine all the sauce ingredients in a bowl and stir until the brown sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
- Heat 4 tablespoons of oil (or just enough to cover the bottom of the pan) in a medium-sized skillet until hot. Meanwhile, add the cornstarch and all-purpose flour to the bowl with the shrimp. Toss until the shrimp are fully coated.
- Shake the extra flour off the shrimp and add them to the pan. You might need to cook them in two batches. Let the shrimp cook without touching them, until the bottom turns golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Flip to brown the other side, another 2 to 3 minutes. Once done, transfer the shrimp to a large plate without overlapping and keep cooking the rest.
- Once you’re done cooking the shrimp, turn off the stove and use paper towels to wipe the pan to remove any residue.
- Add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of oil to the pan and heat over medium heat. Add the ginger and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add the sauce to the pan. Cook and stir until the sauce becomes thick and glossy, 20 to 30 seconds.
- Turn the heat off and return the shrimp into the pan, tossing to coat thoroughly. Serve hot as a main dish.
Notes
- If using frozen shrimp, thaw the shrimp thoroughly before using. To thaw shrimp faster, place the shrimp in a ziplock bag, squeeze out as much air as possible, and seal the bag airtight. Submerge the bagged shrimp in a large bowl of room temperature water. The shrimp will be thawed in 30 minutes or so.
Video
Nutrition
Lilja Walter is a part of the Omnivore’s Cookbook team and worked closely with Maggie to develop and test this recipe.
If you like spicy, this is to die for!
Easy, simple, and tastes better than take out!
This shrimp recipe is outstanding! I only had sriracha so I reduced the sugar by half. Really awesome, easy and fast.
Simple but really impressive results!
My favorite recipe so far 10/10 rating. Made it with with your homemade chili garlic sauce. And served it with white rice, garlic eggplant and 4 ingredient bok choy.. my mum loved it ❤️ Will be making this over and over again. Thank you for sharing Maggie!
My son from Chicago and I loved this recipe. I spent three weeks is Shanghai so I appreciate good Chinese food. This recipe is out of this world! I stir fried onions, peppers, celery, and carrots as the side dish and placed the shrimp and garlic chili sauce on top. Fabulous recipe!
Hubby said this recipe made some of the best prawns (we are Australian and here we call them prawns) he has had. Have never made recipes from your website before but will definitely visit again.
Another great recipe.
This recipe was amazing!!!! Nice and spicy, crunchy and just fantastic! I paired it with kung pao chicken. Great meal!
The whole family loved it!
This is a great recipe. Easy to make with awesome flavors.
I made it. Very yummy!
Did not have Chili garlic sauce. Substituted with 1/4 cup Sambal oelek (!) a little bit of spicy Chinese crispy chili oil and a splash of garlic oil. Was a bit of an overkill on the hot side BUT the shrimp texture was phenomenal. We loved it! Will definitely make again with proper sauce. Thank you for all your great recipes!
Such a simple and quick recipe, but totally delicious! I will definitely be making this again. This is on the list for easy week-night dinners. I substituted 3 tbsp of sambal oelek + 1 tbsp of sriracha for the chilli garlic sauce and I think that worked great. 🙂
Taste so good! Easy to make. I love your recipes.
Happy to hear it! Thanks for leaving a positive review 🙂
Made it exactly as written and we loved it! I used the 21/25 count sized shrimp and it was a perfect size. The spice level is perfect, but it is a spicy sauce so beware. I served with seasoned veggies and steamed rice. Thank you for an easy and delicious recipe!
Restaurant quality recipe
I made this recipe and am making it again. I had to substitute Mirin for the Shaoxing wine but I will buy the wine one day. This is just FABULOUS. I am so impressed with this dish. Love, love, love it. I will be purchasing your cookbook in the near future. Like Lisa’s post, “if you like spicy, this is to die for” describes this recipe perfectly. Spicy and flavorful.
Doctored the sauce with some clamato juice and had some sweet chili sauce and tamari sauce.
Luscious. I love dishes that let me use white rice. I am improving my rice all the time and it makes a great difference. Think how the Japanes honor their sushi rice. Only top notch jasmine rice with extra water The bigger the shrimp the better