Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Just like your favorite Chinest take-out dish, sweet and satisfying. Texture: The shrimp is perfectly cooked with a glorious crisp, crunchy batter while the sauce is creamy and the walnuts are crunchy. Ease: There’s batter and frying so it does dirty quite a few dishes. However, nothing is overly difficult or complicated. Appearance: I was surprised at how similar this looked to the restaurant dish. Pros: Deeeelicious. Cons: Not healthy by any means. But hey, if you only eat honey-walnut shrimp when you make it from scratch at home, you probably won’t over-indulge. Would I make this again? For a special treat.This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
While I write this post I am starving. It’s a special form of torture to have to write about food while you’re ravenous. Just looking at the photo above of this shrimp dish is making my mouth water. I wish I could go back in time to when I took my first bite of this recipe. It’s almost an exact replica of the honey-walnut shrimp at the local Chinese restaurant. I contemplated adapting this recipe to a healthified version so it could fit into my Take-out at Home series but decided against it. There’s no way anything but a battered, fried, sugared, coated version could taste nearly as good. Plus, if you only eat honey-walnut shrimp when you make it, chances are you won’t be eating it weekly.
There are three components to this dish, the candied walnuts: the fry batter, and the mayo-based coating. All are easy enough but they do dirty a few dishes. Just make sure you fry your shrimp right after dipping them in the batter.
Honey-Walnut Shrimp
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- 4 egg whites
- 2/3 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- Stir together the water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and add the walnuts. Boil for 2 minutes, then drain and place walnuts on a cookie sheet to dry.
- Whip egg whites in a medium bowl until foamy. Stir in cornstarch until it has a pasty consistency. Heat the oil to 350 degrees F in a heavy deep skillet over medium-high heat. Dip shrimp into egg white-cornstarch batter then fry in batches in hot oil until golden-brown, about 5 minutes per batch. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
- In a medium bowl stir together mayonnaise, honey, and sweetened condensed milk. Add fried shrimp and walnuts, tossing to coat.
[…] Chicken from Smells Like Home Sweet and Sour Chicken from Taste and Tell Honey Walnut Shrimp from Handle the Heat Vegetable Chow Mein from […]
This shrimp was amazing Tessa! So much better than takeout! I had to post about my experience making it along with my own ugly pictues 🙂 , but I totally linked back to you a few times!! Thanks so much for the wonderful recipe and keep up the great work! Cheers!
[…] It reminds me of one of my other favorite seafood dishes, Honey Walnut Shrimp, which is sweeter and less spicy than Bang Bang, and topped with wonderful candied walnuts. . […]
Oooey-gooey shrimp…to die for! The condensed milk was interesting! Thanks!
Wow, this sounds AND looks awesome! It's amazing at how many dofferent ways there are to prepare shrimp. This one sounds so delicious.
ughhh look at those shrimps…. fresh and yum!
Yum! Every time I go to a Chinese restaurant, I'd either get dim sum or this. Honey walnut shrimps are delicious!!
http://thepolaroidpictures.blogspot.com
This looks really good…definitely putting it on the list!
Tessa, this is one of my favorite dishes when I eat out in a Chinese restaurant. I am thrilled that you have the recipe for it. Thank you so much.
Awesome! I just mentioned these in my most recent post from my first visit to PF Chang's a few days ago – my mom will be so thrilled when I make these for her someday!
hi Tessa,
First time here. But love your blog and recipes! Somehow I had problem to find a place to leave a comment in the first place. I could only do that after being redirected from foodbuzz …… not sure if others are having the similar problem or just me.
Anyway, buzzed you!!