In a hurry? I get it. Some days there just isn’t enough time to get everything done that needs to be done!
Those days are the reason I keep a bag of shrimp in the freezer. Shrimp quickly defrost in cold water and cook in only a few minutes.
My favorite way to cook shrimp is to stir-fry it, just barely enough to cook it through. Too much cooking and you end up with something rubbery and dry.
This stir-fry shrimp is perfect for a quick midweek meal. You marinate the shrimp in a soy sauce mixture with ginger, sesame oil, garlic, and rice vinegar, and then cook it on almost-smoking high heat for just a couple of minutes.
Toss with some sliced green onions, sprinkle with sesame seeds and you’re done! Great with rice, noodles, spinach or bok choy.
Ginger Sesame Garlic Shrimp Recipe
PrintTo easily thaw frozen shrimp, place in a large bowl of water with ice cubes.
Ingredients
Marinade:
- 1/4 cup soy sauce (use gluten-free soy sauce for gluten-free version)
- 2 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 Tbsp)
- 1 Tbsp grated ginger
Shrimp:
- 1 pound 16-20 count shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 Tbsp canola, rice bran, or peanut oil, or some other high smoke point cooking oil
- 3 green onions, including onion greens, sliced on the diagonal
- 1 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
Method
1 Marinate the shrimp: In a medium bowl whisk together the soy sauce, seasoned rice vinegar, and brown sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Then whisk in the olive oil, sesame oil, minced garlic, and grated ginger. Place the shrimp in the bowl with the marinade. Toss to coat with the marinade and chill until ready to cook.
2 Toast sesame seeds: If you haven't already done so, toast the sesame seeds in a small sauté pan on medium high heat until lightly browned.
3 Stir-fry shrimp and green onions: Heat cooking oil in a large stick-free sauté pan or wok (can use seasoned cast iron) on high heat. When the oil is shimmering hot, almost smoking, use a slotted spoon to move the shrimp from the marinade into the hot pan. (Watch out, it will splatter.) Stir-fry for a minute.
Add half of the sliced green onions. Continue to stir fry, turning the individual shrimp over if necessary, until the shrimp are pink and just cooked through. No more than 2 minutes max total cooking time, a minute on each side.
4 Reduce marinade: Remove shrimp from pan and transfer to a serving bowl. Place the remaining marinade in the hot sauté pan and simmer it until it has reduced to a syrup.
5 Pour sauce over shrimp, sprinkle with sesame seeds, green onions: Pour over the shrimp. Toss to coat. Sprinkle the shrimp with toasted sesame seeds and remaining green onions.
Serve immediately with rice, soba noodles, rice noodles, bok choy, spinach, broccoli, or asparagus.
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Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
Ginger Sesame Garlic Shrimp
Fast and easy! I used low sodium soy sauce and a little extra garlic and ginger. I sautéed a bowl of precut stir fry veggies (from Trader Joe’s) while marinating the shrimp. Put the veggies on the side and cooked shrimp per recipe. Instead of reducing sauce I thickened a little bit and then added back in the shrimp and veggies. Delicious! Next time I’d add a little spice – maybe use a chili sesame oil or add red chili flakes. I could see this working with chicken also!! Thanks for another great recipe!
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This was so good. Out of desperation I had to make a couple of substitutions. I used regular Rice Vinegar so to add a bit of extra sweetness I replaced Soy Sauce for a sweet Soy Sauche (Ketjap Manis) and added a bit of Honey to replace the brown sugar. Sadly I didn’t have sesame seeds but I’m sure that would have been perferct. I’ll definitely make this again. This may have been the best shrimp I’ve had in a while.
Wow, excellent and easy to make. A bit salty though, best to use low sodium soy sauce.
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Deliciously simple!
We made this tonight and found it too salty. I’m thinking I may have marinaded it too long. How long do you recommend? We mixed the shrimp with our Sesame noodles and that did tone down the saltiness. Next time, low salt soy and low salt rice vinegar. I may also up the brown sugar to match our noodle recipe.