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. 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
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
Beef Lo Mein Chicken Fried Rice (鸡肉炒饭) Easy Mongolian Meatballs General Tso’s Chicken (Crispy Chicken Without Deep-Frying) Kung Pao Shrimp (宫爆虾球) Cantonese Chicken Egg Roll (广式鸡肉春卷)
