Sweet and Sour Shrimp (糖醋虾)
Sweet and sour shrimp is a colorful and satisfying main dish that your whole family will love! The crispy shrimp and crunchy peppers are brought together with a fragrant sweet and sour sauce. It’s easy to put together and tastes perfect over steamed rice for dinner. {Gluten-Free Adaptable}To make the dish gluten free, use dry sherry instead of Shaoxing wine, and use tamari to replace the light soy sauce.
- Prep time
- 20 min
- Cook time
- 10 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 1 lb (450 g) shrimp (, peeled and deveined)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine ((or dry sherry))
- 1 teaspoon ginger (, grated)
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine ((or dry sherry))
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons white sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons peanut oil ((*Footnote 1))
- 1 small thumb ginger (, julienned)
- 1/2 white onion (, diced)
- 1 bell pepper (, diced (or red pepper) (I used a mix of both))
Instructions
- 1
Add the shrimp, salt, and Shaoxing wine into a medium-sized bowl, mix well. Let marinate while preparing other ingredients.
- 2
Combine all the sauce ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and set aside.
- 3
When you’re ready to cook, add the cornstarch to the marinated shrimp, and toss it to coat it completely.
- 4
Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet until hot. Shake the excess cornstarch off the shrimp and spread the pieces into the pan without overlapping. Cook without touching until the bottom is browned, 2 minutes or so. Flip to cook the other side until browned. Transfer to a big plate to let it cool.
- 5
If your pan doesn’t have enough oil, add 1 tablespoon of oil. If you used more oil to fry the shrimp, remove the excess oil using paper towels. Heat the skillet over medium-high heat and add the ginger. Stir a few times to release the fragrance.
- 6
Add the onion. Cook and stir until the onion just starts to soften, 2 minutes or so.
- 7
Add the pepper. Stir and cook for 1 minute.
- 8
Stir the sauce again to dissolve the cornstarch completely, and pour it into the pan. Cook until the sauce is fully thickened.
- 9
Add back the shrimp and turn off the heat. Toss to coat the shrimp with sauce. Then transfer to a serving plate. Serve hot as a main or with steamed rice.