Whenever I’m looking to make a fast and easy dinner I turn to seafood. It cooks up in a flash and takes on flavours well. Shrimp is one of my go-to seafoods, if only because I usually have frozen shrimp in the fridge. It’s a habit that probably comes from my mom – she often stocks up on big boxes of frozen shrimp when they’re on sale. Now, that I have my own freezer, I find myself doing the same. Of course, sometimes my mom stocks up on shrimp for me too – thanks mom!
These spicy salt and pepper shrimp are perfect for demonstrating that you don’t need a lot of ingredients to get a lot of flavour. Like most Chinese stir-fry, you’ve got your usual suspects: garlic, salt and two kinds of pepper. If you don’t have white pepper, don’t worry about it, but a lot of Chinese food uses white pepper as a flavouring and it’s fairly distinctive tasting: sharper, yet more delicate at the same time. I added in some diced jalapeños for a bit of spice and finished it off with some sliced green onions. These guys, a big bowl of fluffy white rice, some simple greens, and I’m a happy camper!
Crispy Salt and Pepper Shrimp Recipe
serves 2
- 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
- oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 jalapeño, diced, seeds removed if desired
- 1-2 stalks green onion, sliced
- grain of choice, to serve
Pat the shrimp dry with paper towels. In bowl, toss the shrimp, cornstarch, white & black pepper and salt together. Heat up a bit of oil in a heavy bottomed skilled over medium heat. Add the garlic, 1/2 of the jalapeños and 1/2 of the green onions. Cook, stirring, until crisp and fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add the coated shrimp and cook, until pink and firm, 1-2 minutes per side. Remove from the heat and toss with the remaining jalapeños and green onions. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary and enjoy hot with your grain of choice. I usually serve this with lots of fluffy white rice and a simple stir-fried vegetable dish.
I love the flavors and simplicity going on here. The perfect, healthy weeknight meal.
HI, the instructions for the recipe says to toss the garlic with the shrimp and then a little further into the text, the instructions say to add the garlic to the skillet. So, what should we do with the garlic? Thanks!
whoops, just fixed that! you add the garlic to the skillet :)
This looks wonderful! Garlic, green onion, and jalapeno are amazing together. So simple–I love it! What part does the cornstarch play here since there is no sauce? Is it just to crisp up the shrimp a bit?
that’s exactly it! it helps with a bit of crispness.
Oh m an, these sound so swift and delicious! I haven’t eaten shrimp in far too long (uh, that means maybe three weeks, so not THAT long, but still).
These look SO GOOD. I only started liking shrimp recently and now I’m obsessed! A friend at uni who cannot cook to save his life made himself pasta and shrimp and just cooked it all in a pot together. This recipe is already in my bookmarks bar so I can cook for the poor guy and show him how it’s done properly (and why he really really needs to learn to cook for himself)
Salt and Pepper Shrimp are a favorite in our house and, as usual, I’m at your site drooling. Have you ever tossed in some Szechuan pepper corns? Try it sometime just for a different kind of kick.
This is some fast food I can get behind! Love this recipe.
Shrimp cook sooooo fast and are sooooo good. You could eat them as just the
main dish or have a really wonderful salad too. Yikes I love the idea.
Think you could do this with frozen cooked and peeled shrimp but don’t cook as long…just heat through?
I think it would over cook it too much. You could lightly sauté the garlic, jalapeños and green onions and then toss with the cooked shrimp.