10-Minute Honey Garlic Shrimp

Busy nights don’t have to mean blah dinners: you can have restaurant-quality seafood in 10 minutes. 10 minutes! These succulent stir-fried shrimp are seared in a spicy-sweet marinade with honey, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic. We served ours with brown rice and sautéd broccoli — but when it’s this easy to whip up an amazing entrée, the world is your… shrimp!

Did you know that many Asian languages have an actual word for the texture of perfectly-cooked shrimp? In Cantonese, it’s “song chuy”, the Japanese call it “puri-puri”, and Singaporeans say “QQ”. There really should be an English word to describe that snappy, tender, bursting-with-juiciness mouthfeel of shrimp, because Americans are obsessed with shrimp. That’s because it makes for a healthy dinner: low in fat and calories, high in protein, and a good way to get more omega-3’s in your diet. And, if you’re concerned about seafood sustainability, wild and farmed shrimp from the U.S. are both great sustainable eating choice.

But what really makes shrimp the most-ordered seafood in the U.S.? There are so many ways to love it, as TipHero’s favorite shrimp recipes prove: jambalaya; shrimp, tomato, and spinach pasta; sweet chili shrimp tacos; even avocado shrimp salad. No matter how you fix it, shrimp is succulent!

Plus, unlike other meats and fish, shrimp is insanely fast and pretty fool-proof to cook. Just look for the color change from gray and translucent to pearly-pink and opaque, and you’ll know they’re ready to go right in your mouth onto your plate. You can absolutely make this honey garlic shrimp with frozen shrimp — just quickly thaw them out before cooking. (Luckily, shrimp defrost way faster than steaks: it only takes about five minutes in a colander under running cold water.)

Pre-marinading the shrimp will certainly deepen the flavor, but this honey garlic sauce is so flavorful on it’s own that it’s really not necessary if you don’t have time to plan ahead. If you do marinade the shrimp, though, you might want to make some extra glaze to pour over the rice and veggies, since the sauce will have been in contact with the raw shrimp. (Or, for safety, bring the sauce to a full boil when you reduce it in step 4.)

Makes 2 servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 Tablespoons honey
• 1 Tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
• ¼ teaspoon crushed chili flakes (optional)
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced (about 1 Tablespoon)
• ¾ pound medium uncooked shrimp, peeled & deveined
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• salt, to taste
• ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 Tablespoons sliced green onion (optional garnish)
• cooked brown rice (to serve)
• broccoli or other veggies (to serve)

Preparation

1. Whisk honey, soy sauce, chili flakes (if using), ginger, and garlic, together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
2. In another medium bowl, add shrimp and olive oil. Season the shrimp with salt and ground pepper and toss to coat.
3. Heat a pan over medium-high heat. Place the shrimp into the pan in an even layer. Cook the shrimp on one side until nicely seared, about 1-2 minutes. Flip the shrimp over and cook for another minute or until they’re just cooked but still a little translucent in the center.
4. Pour in the honey garlic marinade and cook until the shrimp is cooked through, about 1 minute more. If desired, remove the shrimp from pan so they don’t overcook, and reduce the sauce a little to thicken it (keep an eye on the sauce while reducing, the honey makes the sauce easy to burn if you forget about it on the stove).
5. Serve the shrimp with the reduced sauce over brown rice and veggies. Garnish with green onion, if desired.
6. If you like the sound of honey garlic shrimp, don’t miss our Honey Garlic Chicken Stir-Fry recipe.

Recipe adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction.