A quick prawn recipe loaded with BIG flavours! Seared prawns smothered in a spicy, sticky Asian sauce, these Asian Chilli Garlic Prawns will have you smacking your lips in utter satisfaction, feeling like you’ve just dined at a fancy modern Thai restaurant.
The sauce tastes like a homemade Chilli Jam except it’s far easier to make. 15 minutes, start to finish!
Quick prawn recipe with BIG flavours!
While I love a classic Chinese-style prawn stir fry with its clean and steady flavours, or the heart-stopping (in more ways than one) fried and sweet deliciousness of Honey Prawns, sometimes I find myself looking for a punch in the face (flavour-wise, that is!)
This prawn recipe came to be after I had a terrific Stir Fried Prawns in Chilli Jam at a modern(ish) Thai Restaurant. While I can’t replicate desserts at home on a whim, I usually have a fair chance of getting pretty close with savoury dishes.
I was going to try to replicate it using a homemade Chilli Jam recipe, but then I got lazy. Instead, I tried to achieve the same flavours using a little bit of this, a little bit of that, a dash of this and a splash of that.
And well, well, well, what do you know? It came out darn delicious. Really, really tasty and pretty close to making this with a homemade Chilli Jam, but just a whole lot easier and faster. 🙂
The sauce is essentially a quick and easy Chilli Jam – and it’s lip smackingly delish!
I promise I’m not exaggerating when I say that this really does taste like Spicy Stir Fries you get from modern Asian restaurants. I don’t claim this to be authentic Asian because it probably isn’t an authentic Asian stir fry but every ingredient in the sauce is certainly used in many Asian dishes!
A 12 minute recipe
There’s nothing more disappointing that shoving a big, plump, juicy-looking prawn in your mouth only to find it’s rubbery and dry.
So in my world, every prawn recipe has to be a quick recipe because otherwise you’ll overcook the prawn! And these Asian Chilli Garlic Prawns certainly fit the bill. Here’s how it goes down:
Chop / grate the ginger and garlic, measure out the sauce ingredients – 5 minutes
Sear prawns in 2 batches – 4 minutes
Simmer sauce until syrupy – 2 minutes
Toss prawns back in – 1 minute
Total time – 12 minutes 🙌🏻
TIP: get the rice started first, because that takes longer than this recipe!
Frozen prawns – all the way!
For the first couple of years when I started this website, I was a total prawn snob and urged everyone to peel their own prawns, declaring that frozen was just not the same. This conclusion was drawn from many years of mediocre frozen prawn experiences in my youth.
It’s been a very pleasant discovery to find that frozen prawns have come a long way in their time! Sure, some are better than others, but even the budget ones (eg Aldi, Costco) are still very good.
I still peel fresh prawns for company. But for everyday purposes, I’m all about frozen prawns nowadays – and I totally own it!
What to serve on the side
Serve with rice to soak up that glorious sauce. Or for a healthy low carb option try Cauliflower Rice – 77% fewer calories and 87% less carbs than rice!
Add some greens to your meal – here are a few suggestions:
Cucumber chunks tossed with Asian Sesame Dressing sprinkled with coriander/cilantro (pictured)
Asian Sesame Dressing drizzled ove leafy greens, tomato wedges or cherry tomatoes
Asian Slaw – terrifically fresh and crunchy!
Restaurant Style Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce – or use any steamed Asian greens, green beans or snow peas
Enjoy! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!
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Asian Chilli Garlic Prawns (Shrimp)
Ingredients
- 500g / 1 lb prawns / shrimp, raw, , peeled and deveined (Note 1)
- 1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil (or canola)
- 1 tsp sesame oil , toasted (Note 2)
- 3 garlic cloves , very finely minced
- 2 tsp ginger , grated or finely chopped (can be omitted)
- 1 tsp chilli flakes* (Note 3)
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) water
- 3 tbsp Sriracha (Note 4)
- 2 tsp soy sauce , light or all purpose (Note 5)
- 3 tbsp brown sugar (sub with white)
Garnish (optional)
- Sesame seeds
- Green onions , finely sliced
- Red chillies , finely sliced or chopped
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add half the prawns and sear for about 45 seconds on each side until golden, then remove into bowl. Repeat.
- Remove skillet from stove to cool down slightly, turn down to medium.
- Return skillet to stove, heat sesame oil.
- Add garlic, ginger and chilli flakes. Cook until garlic turns golden.
- Add water, then Sriracha, soy sauce and sugar, Stir, increase heat to medium high, and let it simmer for 3 minutes or until the sauce starts to thicken to a thin syrup consistency.
- Return prawns into skillet and toss to coat in sauce and reheat, and cook for 1 – 2 minutes until sauce is reduced and coats the prawns nicely.
- Garnish with sesame seeds, fresh chilli and shallots if desired. Serve with rice to soak up the awesome sauce! (Low carb, low cal option, try Cauliflower Rice) Side salad suggestions in post.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published July 2016. Rewritten in May 2019, new photos, brand new video, and new Life of Dozer photos!
Life of Dozer
Another snap from the Mother’s Day weekend away to Rick Stein’s Bannisters Hotel in Port Stephens.
Contemplating the meaning of life as he gazes at the sun rise over the infinity pool….
OK, we all know that’s not true. He’s more likely wondering how much trouble he’d get in if he dove in. I don’t think the other hotel guests would appreciate swimming in a sea of Dozer’s golden fur! 😂
And from the original publish date in 2016: The vet said to figure out a way to stop him from licking his injured paw. So I did. 😉
If you enjoyed my Asian Chilli Garlic Prawns (Shrimp), I think you’ll LOVE……
My Mongolian Beef – crispy beef tossed in a fabulous sticky sauce!
My Asian Glazed Salmon with a glorious sticky glaze!
Or to serve on the side, how about Chinese Fried Rice?
Hi.. can i use chili garlic sauce of LKK instead of sriracha?
I haven’t tried that Cassandra but I suspect it will be fine. N x
I followed the recipe but my sauce never got thick 🙁 Any tips?
Hi Leila – be sure to cook the sauce down a fair bit before adding the prawns. Also if your prawns were frozen or contain more water than normal, you can remove them once they are cooked and reduce the sauce a bit further until it thickens. N x
Love this recipe! Simple to make, I substitute the sugar with xylitol to make it keto friendly and tastes amazing!
Made this recipe. It was incredible! Took me slightly more than the allotted fifteen minutes, but by no means a long time. Will be cooking this again and recommending to my friends.
This is super hot but I loved it. Next time I’ll tone the heat a bit for my husband 😉
I made the cucumber salad to go with it which was delicious!
This is really quick and easy to make and super delicious. Served it as you did with the smashed cucumber (really refreshing) and rice. This is a keeper for sure!
This sauce was phenomenal! Didn’t have fresh ginger on hand so mixed dried ground ginger in to the liquids and let it dissolve!
Will definitely make again 😁
This was amazing, So quick and easy. Stuck to the recipe almost 100%, just added a little fish sauce as I felt it needed it and because I love it!
Served with jasmine rice and a cucumber salad dressed with the Asian Sesame Dressing. Husband said it was better than takeaway!
Absolutely delicious and super easy! We added extra chilli flakes because we like spice and used a little powdered ginger because We didn’t have fresh. We will definitely make this again!
Made the garlic spicy prawns today and served it on romaine lettuce leaves. This was so good!! I’m sure better with rice but lettuce was good.
Hi Nagi, can you please tell me is the prawn amounting the recipe before peeling or after? I have a kilo of raw unpeeled prawns and I’m trying to figure out how many serves that is?
Could I just use the chili garlic sauce for the shrimp with the same out come?
Sorry Dorothy, which sauce are you referring to? N x
I made the non-spicy version of this (ketchup/rice vinegar/shaoxing wine) tonight and thought it was great! Most importantly, it was a hit with my 2yo! I only used 1/4 cup of water and 1.5 tbl of sugar. I also added some arrowroot powder to my shrimp so the sauce thickened quickly when I added them back to the pan. Also added peas at the end. Will def keep this in our dinner rotation!
Pretty spicey but delish
It all lookes delicieus, i try do understatement behandeling i’m from Belgium.
An absolute stunner – prawns were cooked to perfection (and I have struggled with cooking prawns in the past) added udon noodles at the end instead of rice – my husband and I were sopping up the sauce with garlic toast x
Excellent.dish!. Using your ingredients and percentages, plus a bit of pistachio, dinner was a huge hit. My veg was broccol.i and caulifor. Thanks so much.
Hi Nagi.
Due to the covid situation in my country, I couldn’t find any siracha or any other hot sauce. Can you tell me what else I can use instead of this?
Hi – do you recommend light or dark brown sugar?
Either will be fine, I tend to use light for most recipes though. N x
hello. i was wondering if you could suggest a vegetable you think would go well with the shrimp and this sauce.
On a whim, I added steamed cauliflower to the sauce and simmered it until it was a thick coating. It was delicious.
Hi Rose, scroll through the post and you’ll see some recommendations of what to serve on the side 🙂 N x