Restaurant-Style Honey Walnut Shrimp (video)
The best recipe for homemade, restaurant style honey walnut shrimp! Enjoy this Chinese restaurant classic at home with my easy recipe! You’ll love this juicy shrimp recipe, served over white rice! It’s made with deep fried shrimp coated in a sweetened condensed milk sauce and candied walnuts. The shrimp are so juicy and flavorful and the candied walnuts add extra crunch and flavor! This easy seafood recipe is bound to become a favorite!
My Honey Walnut Shrimp Video Tutorial
Watch my YouTube video tutorial for step-by-step instructions for making this easy honey walnut shrimp! Want to receive new recipe emails in your inbox? Make sure to subscribe to my website emailing list and my YouTube channel and turn on notifications!
Ingredients for Shrimp Recipe
Here are the main ingredients you’ll need for making this delicious, restaurant style Chinese recipe:
- Jumbo Shrimp: buy peeled and cleaned shrimp to speed up the recipe. I like wild-caught shrimp for this recipe. They’re sweet and much more delicious than farmed!
- Cornstarch: for coating the shrimp. This makes them more crispy!
- Cooking Oil: use a high smoking point oil, such as canola oil, for frying the shrimp.
- Mayonnaise, Sweetened Condensed Milk, Cream & Lemon: for making the creamy honey sauce for dressing the shrimp.
- Walnuts: use halved walnuts for best results.
- Honey & Sugar: for making the glazed/candied walnuts.
- Steamed Rice: use white or brown steamed rice for serving this seafood recipe!
How to Make Candied Walnuts
The candied walnuts are a must for this restaurant style honey walnut shrimp recipe! They’re sweet and crunchy and add so much great texture! Preparing the walnuts is the most lengthy part of this recipe, but they can be prepared ahead of time.
- First, cook the walnuts in water for about 30 minutes, until the skin of the nuts comes off easily. You want to get rid of the skin as much as possible because it can cause the nuts to taste bitter.
- Once the skins are off, cook the walnuts in a sugar syrup until the the sugar reduces and sticks to the nuts.
- Next, it’s time to deep-fry the walnuts. This deep-frying step is what makes the walnuts extra crunchy. Take the walnuts from the sugar syrup and drop them into hot oil. Fry them for just a few minutes, until the sugar crystalizes. Take the walnuts out of the oil and spread them onto a baking sheet.
- Be extra careful handling the nuts – they will be extremely hot! Let them cool and then use for the recipe!
How to Make Honey Walnut Shrimp
You’ll love just how easy this shrimp recipe is to prepare! The honey walnut shrimp start with a dip in hot oil.
- First, wash, clean and pat the shrimp dry with paper towels.
- Heat a few cups of oil in a pot over medium-high heat until the oil reaches 300F.
- Coat the cleaned shrimp in a light dusting of cornstarch, then drop into the hot oil. The shrimp will cook quickly in the hot oil, about 3 to 4 minutes per batch. Repeat this process with 8 to 10 shrimp per batch, until all the shrimp is fried.
- Next, it’s time for the creamy sauce! The juicy, fried shrimp need to be coated in a sweet and delicious sauce. Simply combine together the mayonnaise, sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and half-and-half (or cream) in a large bowl and whisk.
- Once you have the sauce ready, just add the fried shrimp and toss until the shrimp are evenly coated. That’s it! Super easy and delicious!
Serving Honey Walnut Shrimp
This seafood recipe is so easy to make and enjoy! Once you have the shrimp done and coated and the walnuts ready, it’s time to serve. Add a generous amount of prepared shrimp on top of steamed white or brown rice and top with a few walnuts.
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More Recipes!
Enjoyed this delicious seafood recipe? Check out some of my other recipes you’re sure to enjoy!
- Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo – this classic seafood recipe never gets old! With homemade alfredo sauce and garlic shrimp!
- Shrimp Spring Rolls – refreshing and delicious rolls stuffed with mango, greens and shrimp, with a peanut dipping sauce.
- Shrimp & Sausage Jambalaya – the most delicious rice dish made with shrimp, sausage and chicken!
- Sweet & Sour Shrimp – super easy and delicious shrimp coated in sweet and sour sauce, with beans and peppers!
- Cheesy Crab Pasta – easy and delicious seafood pasta with crab, creamy white sauce and veggies!
Restaurant Style Honey Walnut Shrimp (video)
Ingredients
- 2 pounds extra-large shrimp
- 2 cups corn starch
- 4 to 6 cups canola oil for frying
For Glaze:
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
- juice from 1 lemon
- 3/4 cup half-and-half, or cream
For Candied Walnuts:
- 1 cup halved walnuts
- 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 to 3 cups canola oil for frying
For Serving:
- 6 cups Serve with steamed rice
Instructions
For the Candied Walnuts:
- Prepare the walnuts first. Place the nuts into medium saucepan and cover them completely with water. Bring the water to a simmer over medium high heat and cook for 30 minutes, occasionally whisking vigorously (you want to remove all the skin off of the walnuts).
- Drain the walnuts and rinse them several times undering running cold water and then set aside. Place the walnuts into large frying pan and add in the 1/4 cup water, sugar and honey. Cook the walnuts in the sugar syrup over medium-high heat. Once the sugar mixture begins to simmer, continue to cook and stir continuously until the sugar syrup is reduced, thickened and sticks to walnuts well, about 3 minutes. Remove the walnuts from heat and keep warm.
- Heat approximately 2 cups canola oil in medium saucepan over medium heat until hot. Remove the walnuts from frying pan and place directly into the hot oil; do this step in small batches. Fry for 1 minute then remove and spread onto baking sheet using spatula. Make sure the walnuts are not sticking together – let them cool completely before touching them. (Use caution when making glazed nuts as sugar syrup becomes extremely hot!)
Making the Glaze:
- Next, prepare the glaze. In large bowl, combine the glaze ingredients and whisk together until smooth: mayonnaise, sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and half-and-half. When adding the half-and-half, add 3/4 cup first, then more if you want the glaze to be less thick. Set aside.
Preparing the Shrimp:
- Next, prepare the shrimp. Heat approximately 4 cups of canola oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, until the oil reaches approximately 300F. Meanwhile, clean and peel shrimp and pat them dry with paper towels. Once the oil is hot, coat 8 to 10 shrimp at a time in cornstarch and drop into the hot oil. Fry the shrimp until they’re golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the fried shrimp from the oil with slotted spoon and place onto paper towels to drain excess oil. Repeat the frying process with remaining shrimp.
- Once the shrimp are done, place them into a large bowl and pour the prepared sweetened condensed milk glaze over the top. Toss the shrimp until they’re well-coated. Serve the coated shrimp over a bed of steamed rice and top with the candied walnuts.
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