Honey Garlic Shrimp
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This Honey Garlic Shrimp has succulent jumbo shrimp coated in an irresistible sticky sauce. You only need 6 ingredients and 15 minutes to make it for an easy weeknight dinner or party appetizer.
People go crazy for this restaurant-quality shrimp recipe! It has a balance of sweet and savory flavors with an irresistible sauce that glazes the shrimp. Best of all, you can make it on the stovetop using just a few pantry ingredients, quick and easy! (Instant Pot Honey Garlic Shrimp is another great option too!)
The secret is the honey garlic sauce made with just 4 ingredients: garlic, ginger, honey and soy sauce. When simmered in a skillet with the shrimp, the sauce quickly reduces into a sticky glaze that coats the shrimp. Definitely one of my all-time favorite shrimp dishes.
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- Jumbo shrimp: I recommend using peeled and deveined jumbo shrimp with heads off (more about shrimp sizes). If you’re using frozen shrimp, make sure to thaw the shrimp completely before use.
- Vegetable oil: You can use canola oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil or similar.
- Soy sauce: I recommend a quality low-sodium soy sauce such as Kikkoman or San-J. To make this dish gluten-free, use gluten-free soy sauce or coconut aminos)
- Garlic: Minced fresh garlic is worth the effort for the best flavor; only use garlic powder in a pinch.
- Ginger: Same as for garlic: use freshly minced with ground ginger only as a backup option.
- Honey
- Green onion: an optional garnish
How to Make Honey Garlic Shrimp
Make the honey garlic sauce: Whisk the minced garlic, minced ginger, honey and soy sauce together in a bowl.
Marinate the shrimp: Add the shrimp and HALF of the sauce to a resealable plastic bag to marinate for 5-10 minutes (if you need to leave it longer, place in the refrigerator). This step is important to build flavor, so don’t skip it!
Cook the shrimp: Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add the oil and shrimp followed the remaining sauce. Sauté the shrimp for 1-2 minutes per side, using kitchen tongs to flip them. During this time the sauce will thicken and coat the shrimp.
Note: If your sauce hasn’t thickened when shrimp are done, remove the shrimp to a plate to avoid overcooking while you boil down the sauce. Then add back the shrimp, tossing to coat.
Remove from the heat and garnish with optional green onions before serving.
How Do You Know If Shrimp Is Cooked
Shrimp cooks quickly and can quickly become rubbery and chewy when overcooked. Once the flesh is opaque and the shrimp have started to curl, they are done. This will usually take about 3-4 minutes for jumbo shrimp, although it varies by skillet. Smaller shrimp will take even less time (read more about how to cook shrimp).
Recipe Video: Honey Garlic Shrimp
This quick 1-minute tutorial shows you how to make honey garlic shrimp:
What to Serve with Shrimp
More easy shrimp recipes:
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Honey Garlic Shrimp
Ingredients
- 1 lb raw shrimp, 21-25 or 26-30 size, peeled and deveined, thawed
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
Honey Garlic Sauce
- 1 tsp garlic, minced
- 1 tsp ginger, minced
- 1/4 cup soy sauce, low sodium recommended
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 green onion, minced - optional
Instructions
- Thaw the shrimp under running water if necessary. Pat dry with paper towels to remove excess moisture.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together garlic, ginger, soy sauce and honey.
- Put the shrimp and HALF of the marinade into a resealable plastic bag or medium bowl. Let it marinate for at least 10 minutes up to one hour (refrigerate for periods longer than 10 minutes).
- Place a large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. When hot, add vegetable oil followed by the shrimp in a single layer (see note). Finally, pour in the marinade.
- Sauté the shrimp for 1-2 minutes. Then flip them one-by-one using kitchen tongs and cook 1-2 minutes more until the shrimp are pink on the outside and the flesh is opaque.
- The sauce should have thickened slightly and be starting to coat the shrimp. (If not, then remove the shrimp to a plate when done to allow the sauce to boil down further).
- Once the shrimp are glazed with the sauce, remove from heat. Garnish with optional green onions and serve immediately.
Notes
- This recipe uses defrosted shrimp. You can thaw your shrimp in the refrigerator overnight or under running water (read more on how to thaw shrimp).
- Don't crowd the pan. If you skillet is too small to accommodate the shrimp in a single layer, then saute in batches.
- Make it gluten-free: Use gluten-free soy sauce or coconut aminos.
Please read our nutrition disclaimer.
Recipe tools:
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I have made this twice now, and the sauce just doesn’t thicken up for me. It has come out watery both times. The flavor is there, but I’d give the recipe a 5/5 if the sauce would thicken.
Hi Jackie, Thanks for your feedback. Just remove the shrimp from the pan and boil down the juices on medium-high heat for a few minutes to thicken up. Some shrimp is more watery than others unfortunately…
Tried the Honey Garlic Shrimp over rice. Easy, quick and delicious meal. Loved it!
Thanks Jodi for your review and comment – I’m so happy to hear that! 🙂
Simple recipe that resulted in delicious shrimp!
Thanks Les, so glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Love this version of honey garlic shrimp! Although, I vacuum sealed the shrimp instead of using a baggie with the marinade for 15min as this pulls the fibers of the shrimp (or any meat) apart allowing for deeper marinade penetration and also makes the shrimp amazingly tender. Also I added puréed shallot to the mix to give it an kick in the sweet and savory department! (:
Thanks for your review and glad you liked it! Love your vacuum seal and pureed shallot ideas too 🙂
Is it a tbsp of both garlic and ginger ?
Hi Adri, Anywhere from 1 tsp to 1 tbsp of each will work depending on your preference. If you like a strong garlic & ginger flavor, go for 1 tbsp, for a milder taste do 1 tsp. Hope that helps! 🙂
This is AWESOME I Sidney want to do standard run off the mill lemony seafood so I made this for my wife after she told me she wanted shrimp for dinner
In added broccoli it was amazing
Best part, I still have enough indents to make the sauce again
Thanks for your review James! Glad to hear it was a success 🙂
loved this recipe, served it for my husband with noodles and will be making it again!
Thanks Denise so glad to hear that