Sweet and saucy honey walnut shrimp – no need to order takeout with a recipe this quick and tasty!
Okay if the world ended right this minute and I had one last dying wish, I am fairly certain this honey walnut shrimp would be it. A big saucy sweet and incredibly yummy bowl of honey walnut shrimp. With a liiiitle bit of a kick, just the way it should be.
I don’t want you to think I’m a terribly horrible no good very bad person but I had a confession. When I worked at Joy Luck, a Chinese restaurant, all through high school, I would day dream about sneaking a shrimp off of the ordered plates. I never did it! Sheesh, calm down, I would never…. besides, there were exactly 18 shrimp in each order of honey walnut shrimp so it’s not like I could have gotten away with it anyway. But serving those platters 15 or 20 times in one night really got me craving some shrimp, so at the end of the night you better believe I was taking a to-go box home with me, chock full of crispy saucy shrimp.
Back when I worked at the restaurant, I got a discount on my orders – perks of the job. But after I left, the discounts disappeared and I was sad to be paying top dollar for a good plate of honey walnut shrimp again. If only I’d known back then that I could make it myself for much much cheaper at home. Plus it’s YUMMIER cause I could customize it to my own liking, just the right amount of batter to shrimp to sweet to spicy ratio. PERFECTION!
What people are saying about this Honey Walnut Shrimp
“I LOVE THIS RECIPE. It is incredible. I think the batter sometimes comes off the shrimp–so we tried this with chicken and it is fantastic! the breading sticks so much bette and shrimp is expensive! So, we make due! Awesome dish. It’s one of my favorites. Tonight we’re making this with chicken.” – Cassidy
“Made this recipe the other day and it was delicious, just as good as what you’d get from a restaurant! I added a little lime juice to the sauce since I didn’t want it to be too sweet and I feel like it really helped bring the flavors together. Thanks for sharing! 
” – Jessica
“I made this tonight and wow — so delicious! It was a little less creamy than the pictures looked but the taste was perfect. It felt good to me to be able to make this dish knowing I could use fresh, organic ingredients. I made magic bars at the recommendation of my roommates with the leftover condensed milk. It was an indulgent dinner and dessert to say the least. I will definitely be making this again. Thank you!” – Alisha
Honey Walnut Shrimp
Ingredients
- 2 pounds large shrimp - peeled, deveined, and tails removed
- 3 eggs
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 cup flour
- 4 tablespoons oil
- ½ cup walnuts
- 1 cup water
- ⅔ cup sugar
Sauce
- ⅔ cup mayo
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
- Whisk together all sauce ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Add sugar and 1 cup water to a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Add walnuts and boil for 2 minutes. Drain the sauce pan and transfer the walnuts to a clean surface where they can cool.
- Rinse shrimp and shake off excess water. Add flour to a large zip lock bag and then add shrimp. Seal and toss to coat shrimps in flour.
- Whisk together eggs and water in a small bowl. In another small bowl, place panko crumbs.
- Dip shrimp in the egg wash, then toss in the panko crumbs to coat.
- Heat oil in a large pan or skillet over medium heat. Add shrimps and sauté 4-5 minutes until shrimps turn pink and breading is lightly browned. (If using pre-cooked shrimp, you only need to sauté 1-2 minutes just to heat them up and brown them)
- Add cooked shrimp to sauce bowl and toss to coat. Serve immediately. Top with walnuts and garnish with chopped green onions if desired. Serve with cooked rice.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe adapted from Better Batter.
I made this tonight and wow — so delicious! It was a little less creamy than the pictures looked but the taste was perfect. It felt good to me to be able to make this dish knowing I could use fresh, organic ingredients. I made magic bars at the recommendation of my roommates with the leftover condensed milk. It was an indulgent dinner and dessert to say the least. I will definitely be making this again. Thank you!
Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe. My family loved it.
So thrilled to hear that!! 🙂
I’ve made this recipe several times. Hubs loves it and asks for it! The only thing I don’t do is add the sweetened condensed milk (since I am not much of a baker, I can’t justify opening a can for just a tablespoon because I don’t know what to do with the rest and frankly, we don’t miss it). So delicious, so easy! We always have shrimp in the freezer for a quick-cook protein, and this recipe works great for a weeknight dinner!