Walnut Shrimp

This walnut shrimp recipe features crispy shrimp and candied walnuts tossed in a sweet, creamy sauce. Recreate this iconic Chinese takeout dish at home, any night of the week, for a healthier twist that still gives you deliciously crispy and flavorful results without deep-frying! {Gluten-Free Adaptable}

Walnut shrimp, made with glazed walnuts and a lightly sweet and savory sauce is always a favorite on Chinese takeout menus. If you’re craving something a little indulgent, it’s a surefire way to satisfy your appetite. 

Typically, walnut shrimp uses a lot of oil and sugar to glaze the walnuts. But with my recipe, I use much less sugar and oil without compromising on flavor. I also pan fry the shrimp so you can still get that crispy texture without deep frying. The results make this dish a dream come true on a busy weeknight or even when you’ve got guests.

I really love this homemade version, where I toned down the oil, sugar and salt. You will still get all the great sensation and taste, but without feeling too guilty while eating it.

Walnut shrimp ingredients

The ingredients for walnut shrimp are quite simple. When you’re ready to cook, you should have your ingredients prepared as follows:

• Marinated shrimp
• Mixed sauce 
• Walnuts
• Oil
• Sugar
• Sliced onion

The main ingredients for the sauce are mayonnaise and condensed milk. It also uses a bit of honey, soy sauce and vinegar to add flavor and brightness. 

I found that many walnut shrimp sauces are too sweet for my taste, so I toned down the condensed milk and honey to make it more balanced. 

How to make walnut shrimp

Making walnut shrimp is quite easy and involves two steps.

Making the candied walnuts

There are several ways to make candied walnuts. At Chinese restaurants, chefs use a wok to fry some sugar in a pool of oil until golden. Then walnuts are added to quickly fry in the sugar-oil mixture, then drained. So the sugar will glaze the walnuts and form a crispy sugary crust once cooled.

When making candied walnuts at home, I prefer to use a similar approach but with much less oil and sugar. You will still melt the sugar in the oil, but using the pan frying method instead of deep frying. 

1. Melt the sugar with just enough oil
2. Cook until most of the sugar has melted and turned light golden
3. Add the walnuts and stir to coat
4. Transfer everything to a tray to cool off

Using this method, you won’t be able to glaze the walnuts super evenly. But won’t really affect the flavor. And it’s much easier to do at home.

Cooking the shrimp & assembling

1. Pan fry the shrimp until crispy
2. Mix the sauce with the shrimp
3. Add half of the walnuts and mix again
4. Add the rest of the walnuts and garnish with green onion

Tip

It’s important to transfer the shrimp to a big plate to cool off just a bit before adding the sauce. You can then put the shrimp without any juices or oil into a big bowl, along with the sauce. This way, the shrimp will be warm but not hot enough to melt or separate the mayonnaise. 

How to cook walnut shrimp ahead of time

If you plan to cook walnut shrimp for guests or prepare a few other dishes along with it, you might want to make it ahead of time and heat it up later. In this case, you should make the fried shrimp, glazed walnuts and the sauce, and keep them separate. If you don’t plan to serve the dish the same day you cook it, you can store the shrimp and the sauce in the fridge. The candied walnuts will stay crispy in a container at room temperature. Right before serving, you can gently heat up the shrimp in a frying pan or in a warm oven. Then assemble everything together and serve.

Enjoy walnut shrimp as a delicious main dish with steamed white rice, for satisfying flavors and textures in every bite.

Other delicious takeout dishes at home

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Walnut Shrimp

This walnut shrimp recipe features crispy shrimp and candied walnuts tossed in a sweet, creamy sauce. Recreate this iconic Chinese takeout dish at home, any night of the week, for a healthier twist that still gives you deliciously crispy and flavorful results without deep-frying! {Gluten-Free Adaptable}To make the dish gluten free, use dry sherry to replace Shaoxing wine. And use tamari instead of soy sauce.

Author: Maggie Zhu

Course: Main

Cuisine: Chinese

Keyword: takeout

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes minutes

Ingredients

Glazed walnut

• 1 cup roasted walnuts
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Shrimp

• 1 lb (450 g) shrimp , peeled and deveined
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 4 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil (for shallow fry)
• green onion , sliced (for garnish)

Instructions

Marinate the shrimp

• Mix the shrimp, Shaoxing wine, salt, ginger and white pepper together in a medium bowl. Marinate for 10 minutes while preparing other ingredients.

To make the glazed walnut

• Line a baking sheet or large plate with parchment paper.

• Heat the oil in a small or medium nonstick skillet over medium heat until just turning warm. Swirl the pan to let the oil coat as much surface as possible. Sprinkle the sugar into the pan in a thin layer.

• Turn to medium-low heat. Cook, swirling the pan occasionally, until most of the sugar has melted and starts turning an amber color, 3 minutes or so.

• Add the walnuts. Stir everything together to let the sugar coat the nuts as evenly as possible. Keep cooking and stirring until all the sugar has melted and the sugar turns a golden brown color, about 2 minutes. Then immediately transfer everything onto the lined baking sheet.

• Spread out the nuts again and separate them as much as possible using a spatula. Let cool until the coating has hardened, 5 minutes or so. Then you can easily break apart the nuts.

Mix the sauce

• Mix the mayonnaise, condensed milk, honey, rice vinegar, and soy sauce together in a small bowl. Stir to mix well.

Cook the shrimp

• Right before cooking, add the cornstarch to the marinated shrimp. Coat the shrimp evenly.

• Heat the oil in a medium-sized skillet over medium heat until hot. Add the shrimp without overlapping (you might need to cook in 2 batches). Let cook until the bottom turns golden. Flip and cook the other side until golden. Transfer the shrimp to a big plate to cool slightly.

Assemble

• Once the shrimp cool off a bit (*Footnote 1), transfer the shrimp into a big bowl without transferring the juice or oil pooled in the plate. Add the sauce and mix well.

• Add half of the glazed walnuts and give it a quick mix. Transfer everything to a large plate. Add the rest of the walnuts and garnish with sliced green onions. Serve immediately as a main dish.

Notes

1. The key is to cool the shrimp for a few minutes so it’s not hot enough to melt the mayonnaise, but don’t wait until it turns cold.

Video

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 247kcal, Carbohydrates: 21.4g, Protein: 6.9g, Fat: 15.1g, Saturated Fat: 2.8g, Cholesterol: 42mg, Sodium: 837mg, Potassium: 100mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 10.2g, Calcium: 52mg, Iron: 1mg