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!
- 2 lbs 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
- ⅔ cup mayo
- 1 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk
- 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.
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This looks amazing Tiffany! I love all the ingredients!
Wow! That looks fabulous. Can’t wait to make it for the family!
Made this tonight. So delicious! Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed it!
This is our favorite dish to order! Will definitely be making this soon. Wondered if there is a substitute for the sweetened condensed milk. Hate to open a can for 1 tablespoon.
Hi Barbara! I totally get that it can be such a pain to open a can for 1 tablespoon but I tested this recipe with other substitutes and just couldn’t find a good option that yielded the flavor of this dish – so close to the restaurant versions! You could always google “recipes with sweetened condensed milk” for ideas on how to use the leftovers!
Good point. I am sure 1 tablespoon missing won’t make a big deal in 99% of the recipes that use sweetened condensed milk.
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! 🙂
I cannot wait to make this dish. Is there any way I can make it less fattening?
I like to swap regular mayo for reduced fat olive oil mayo – definitely healthier!
Then I shall use reduced fat olive oil mayo… thank you!
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.
Used some seasoned rice vinegar to cut the sweet, about a tablespoon. Much better.