Sesame Shrimp

Name: Sesame Shrimp
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: ¼ cup reduced-sodium soy sauce ((or a gluten-free alternative)); ¼ cup unsweetened ketchup; 1 tablespoon honey; 1 tablespoon rice vinegar; 1 tablespoon cornstarch; 1 teaspoon fresh garlic (minced); 1 teaspoon fresh ginger root (minced); 2 tablespoons avocado oil; 1 ½ lb. raw shrimp (large, peeled, and deveined); ½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt (or ¼ teaspoon of any other salt**); ¼ teaspoon black pepper; 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil; 1 tablespoon sesame seeds; 2 tablespoons green onions (sliced )

Last updated: Jun 21, 2023 · Recipes developed by Vered DeLeeuw and nutritionally reviewed by Rachel Benight MS, RD · This website generates income via ads and uses cookies.

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These succulent sesame shrimp with a wonderful sauce of honey and garlic are ready in just 20 minutes, including prepping the ingredients.

They are really good over cauliflower rice or even over raw spinach leaves - they wilt the leaves just enough to slightly cook them.

Sesame shrimp served on a white plate with a white napkin and chopsticks.

If you like shrimp and enjoy Asian-style dishes, you will love this quick recipe. It takes about 20 minutes from start to finish, so it's ideal for weeknight dinners.

I make sesame chicken quite often for my family, simply because I almost always have chicken in the fridge. But when I have shrimp on hand, I often opt to make sesame shrimp.

As long as you take care not to overcook the shrimp, they come out wonderfully succulent and plump, and the sauce is absolutely phenomenal.

Other shrimp recipes that I make often include sauteed shrimp, grilled shrimp, shrimp salad, shrimp curry, and shrimp stir-fry.

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Ingredients
Variations
Sesame Shrimp Instructions
Expert Tip
Recipe FAQs
Serving Suggestions
Storing Leftovers
More Shrimp Recipes
Recipe Card

Ingredients

The full list of ingredients and their measurements is included in the recipe card below. Here are my comments about some of those ingredients:

Light soy sauce: I rarely use traditional soy sauce in my recipes. I just find it too salty. Needless to say, if you need this dish to be gluten-free, you should use an alternative.
Unsweetened ketchup: I like the one by the Primal Kitchen brand.
Honey: Just one tablespoon. It doesn't make the dish sweet. It merely balances out the other flavors. And you can use a sugar-free alternative if you wish.
Cornstarch: Just a little to help thicken the sauce. You can certainly use a low-carb alternative, but as you can see, a serving of this recipe only has 6 grams of carbs, and this is when cornstarch is used.
Avocado oil: This oil has a neutral flavor and a high smoke point, making it ideal for high-heat cooking.
Shrimp: I usually use large shrimp, peeled and deveined. The tails can be on or off - it's purely up to you.

The ingredients needed to make sesame shrimp.

Variations

Maple syrup is an acceptable substitute for honey, although personally, I prefer honey.
You can use white wine vinegar instead of rice vinegar.
Add ½ teaspoon of red pepper flakes to the sauce for some heat. My husband likes this version very much!
Sometimes I cook the shrimp in ghee or refined coconut oil instead of avocado oil.
Chopped cilantro is a nice addition. Sprinkle it on top of the finished dish.

Sesame Shrimp Instructions

Scroll down for the recipe card to read the complete instructions. Here are the basic steps for making this recipe:

Mix the sauce. In a small bowl, whisk together the sauce ingredients. (Photos 1-2).

Cook the shrimp. Now partially cook the shrimp in some oil. This should take 3-4 minutes. (Photos 3-4).

A photo collage showing steps 1-4 for making sesame shrimp.

Finish the dish. The final step is to add the sauce to the pan and finish cooking the shrimp until they're opaque for about 2 more minutes. (Photos 5-7).

That's it! Dinner is served. (Photo 8).

A photo collage showing steps 5-8 for making sesame shrimp.

Expert Tip

If you forgot to thaw your shrimp overnight in the fridge, simply place them in a bowl of cool water and let them defrost, replacing the water once.

It should take about 7 minutes for them to thaw. Place them on paper towels to drain, then proceed with the recipe.

Recipe FAQs

How do you make a low-carb version of sesame shrimp?

It's actually easy. Simply use unsweetened ketchup and a sugar-free honey substitute. Even with cornstarch, a serving of this recipe has just 6 grams of carbs.

You can slightly reduce the carb count further if you use a low-carb thickener instead of cornstarch.

How do I avoid overcooking shrimp?

Shrimp are small - even large ones - and they can become overcooked quite easily. When they're overcooked, they're dry and stringy.

You'll notice that in this recipe, we slightly undercook them at the first stage of cooking, then finish cooking them after adding the sauce.

As a general rule, most stir-fried shrimp are ready after about 5 minutes of cooking on medium-high heat.

But you do need to make sure that they're fully cooked - they should be opaque rather than translucent.

Should I use sesame oil for cooking this recipe?

I prefer using avocado oil which has a reliably high smoke point. With sesame oil, it greatly depends.

Refined sesame oil can be used for cooking, but cold-pressed unrefined sesame oil, especially toasted, has a relatively low smoke point and is not suitable for high-heat cooking.

So I prefer to drizzle sesame oil on the finished dish rather than use it to cook the shrimp.