Crispy Salt and Pepper Shrimp is one of my favorite simple shrimp dish with only four ingredients needed to make this recipe. Large or extra large headless shrimp, cornstarch, salt and pepper are all you need to make this dish.
A restaurant in China Town in Chicago serves one of the perfect, delicious, crispy salt and pepper shrimp. Every time we go there, we double or triple our order of this dish. We all love it. I’m so tempted to ask how they make it, but they don’t speak fluent English. Or if f they do, I’m sure it is a secret recipe and they have no intention of giving the recipe to anyone.
So I've tried to recreate their recipe many times. It is close enough except for the crispiness of the shrimp. I season the shrimp with salt and pepper, dip in cornstarch and deep fried. Garnish lightly with sweet paprika and chili powder, if you like it with a kick.
Salt and Pepper Shrimp is delicious by itself but it complements many dishes like noodles, pasta, veggies or fried rice. We prepare most food from scratch but there are times that we don’t have the time or just not in the mood to be in the kitchen for hours. A store bought Lo Mein Kit with Yakisoba Noodles and this dish complement each other so well.
How to Make Crispy Salt and Pepper Shrimp
Watch my video and you will see how easy it is to make this dish. Magluto na tayo!
Recipe
Crispy Salt and Pepper Shrimp
Ingredients
Salt and Pepper Shrimp
- 10 pieces large or extra large shrimp peeled and devein but with tail attached
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- salt and pepper to taste
- oil
Garnish – optional
- sweet paprika
- chili pepper
- veggies
Instructions
- Wash and peel shrimp leaving the tail attached.
- Slit the back of shrimp and devein. (I prefer to cut the shrimp half way similar to a butterfly cut but from it’s back. This is optional.)
- Season shrimp with salt and pepper.
- In a plastic bag or zip lock bag, add cornstarch.
- Add shrimp in cornstarch bag and shake.
- Get the shrimp lightly coated with cornstarch and shake the individual shrimp to remove excess cornstarch.
- Deep fry at 300 degrees until golden.
- Lift and hang the deep fryer basket for a minute so excess oil can drip.
- Transfer to a plate lined with paper towel so excess oil can be absorbed.
- Remove paper towel and garnish with sweet paprika, veggies and chili powder if desired.
- Set hot.
Nutrition
Alex Scott
Whenever I go to Chinatown or an Asian restaurant I always seek out the salt and pepper shrimp or even calamari/squid. Now I get to try it out! Thanks for the post!