Honey Walnut Shrimp
Published May 23, 2025
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 45 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 8 to 10cups neutral oil, for frying
- ⅓cup granulated sugar
- ⅔cup/about 2 ounces walnut halves
- 2large egg whites
- 1teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce
- ½teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1pound cleaned large shrimp (about 20), butterflied (see Tip)
- Salt
- White pepper
- ¼cup mayonnaise
- 2tablespoons mild honey
- 2tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
- 1tablespoon lemon juice
- 1cup cornstarch
- ¼cup thinly sliced scallions
- Warm jasmine rice, for serving
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
931 calories; 61 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 29 grams monounsaturated fat; 25 grams polyunsaturated fat; 71 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 31 grams sugars; 29 grams protein; 672 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 inches of oil to 325 degrees over medium.
- Step 2
While the oil heats, in a small saucepan, spread sugar in an even layer and pour ⅔ cup water over to evenly moisten sugar (do not stir). Cook over medium heat, undisturbed, until mixture comes to a simmer and sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low, add walnuts and cook, stirring frequently, until mixture is reduced and thickened to a syrup-like consistency and nuts are evenly coated, 8 to 10 minutes. Using a spider or slotted spoon, transfer nuts to a plate and spread them apart to prevent sticking. Cool walnuts until no longer hot, 5 minutes. Discard any remaining syrup.
- Step 3
Meanwhile, combine egg whites, soy sauce and sesame oil in a medium bowl and whisk until well blended. Season shrimp with salt and white pepper, add to the egg mixture and toss to evenly coat. Let marinate.
- Step 4
Once oil is ready, add walnuts and fry, stirring occasionally, until deep golden brown, about 2 minutes (be careful not to burn). Using a spider or slotted spoon, transfer nuts to a clean plate and let cool completely; walnuts will get crunchy as they cool. (The nuts can be made a day ahead and stored in an airtight container in a dry cool place.)
- Step 5
In a large bowl, combine mayonnaise, honey, condensed milk and lemon juice; season with salt and pepper. Place cornstarch in a medium bowl.
- Step 6
Increase heat to medium-high to get oil to 350 degrees.
- Step 7
Lift one shrimp from the marinade, shaking off any excess, and dredge in the cornstarch, pressing to coat well all over. Transfer to a plate and repeat until half of the shrimp are dredged in cornstarch. Add to oil and fry, stirring occasionally, until lightly golden brown and crisp, 3 minutes; adjust the heat as necessary to keep the temperature as close to 350 degrees as possible. Using a spider or tongs, transfer shrimp to the rack. Repeat with the remaining shrimp.
- Step 8
Increase heat slightly to get oil to 375 degrees. Return all of the shrimp to the oil and fry, stirring, until very crispy, 1 minute. Transfer to the rack, season with salt and cool briefly, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Step 9
Add shrimp, half of the walnuts and half of the scallions to the bowl with the sauce and toss to evenly coat. Transfer to a large serving plate and top with the remaining walnuts and scallions. Serve warm with rice.
- Butterflying the shrimp provides more surface area for the batter to stick to, resulting in a crispier texture once fried. Using a sharp paring knife, start at the head end and make an incision down the back of the shrimp; cut only halfway to three-quarters deep into the shrimp and stop at the start of the tail. The shrimp should split open but stay intact; do not cut the shrimp into two separate pieces.
Private Notes
Comments
Simplified this by 1) candying and frying nuts in the same pan: added walnuts to a dry pan, toasted for a bit, then added 2Tbs brown sugar mixed with 2Tbs water until the water boiled off, then added a swirl of avocado oil to the pan to fry the sugar-coated nuts. This worked great. 2) shallow-fried the shrimp in about 1/2” of oil in a cast iron pan. Dipped a shrimp in cornstarch, added it to the pan, flipped the previous shrimp, and removed the second previous shrimp (that had been flipped when the previous shrimp had been added.) 3) I made the sauce after the first fry, before the second fry, so nothing was hot on the pan while mixing it up. It all came out great!!
I love honey walnut shrimp. But 8 - 10 cups of oil to fry 20 shrimp seems excessive, particularly if done in batches (I will note that I've been cooking for 50 years, and am not a novice). I will watch comments to see what others have to say.
@LGL I had the same reaction to all that oil. The other observation I had was this much frying and so many steps to put this together creates a lot of clean up in the kitchen for a weeknight meal. When I think of weeknight meals, clean up after is a factor for me.
What a disappointment. So much effort for a bland meal. I followed the recipe as written. I thought the sauce would save the twice-fried shrimp but even the sauce wasn’t great.
Has anyone made this with tofu? Curious if you'd need to adjust seasoning to account for its inherent blandness.
There are basically two recipes going on here: frying candied walnuts and frying shrimp with a sauce. Scroll around to see Katy M’s shortcut suggestions for the walnuts. I’m intrigued to try the double frying technique for the shrimp, and I’m so glad people have reminded me about using the burner outside on my grill to avoid the smell. I’m also always looking for another way to make nuts interesting as a bar-type snack. All that said, I actually truly dislike this particular dish, whether it’s from Hong Kong, it’s Chinese-American, or whatever, it’s just really not my thing. I’m happy to check out the recipe though, because I could see using the methods with different seasonings and sauces. There is just no way that I’ll ever like sweetened condensed milk mixed with mayo.