Shrimp cakes. This is very much a home-cooking dish and popular in coastal cities in China where shrimp are plentiful.
The key to a good Chinese shrimp cake is maintaining the shrimp’s natural sweetness and crunchiness. This is why I actually like to recommend using frozen shrimp––they are immediately frozen at their freshest state, and you can’t go wrong with them. Just remember this cardinal rule––NEVER refreeze defrosted shrimp, or they’ll end up mushy!
Variations & Cooking Tips
With good quality shrimp in hand, you can make many variations of these shrimp cakes, so don’t limit yourself to just this recipe. I’ll leave you with a few key pointers, so you can be free to create your own shrimp cake masterpiece:
- In Chinese cooking, shrimp goes really well with ginger, scallions and/or cilantro, so adjust these aromatics based on your preferences.
- You do want to be able to taste the flavor of the shrimp itself, so avoid overloading it with too many heavy spices.
- To avoid the shrimp cakes falling apart during pan-frying, it’s important to use vegetables that do not produce too much liquid when cooked, like the carrots and water chestnuts in this recipe. If you would like to use a fairly “wet” vegetable like a leafy green, you must blanch them and thoroughly squeeze out any liquid before chopping and adding to the shrimp mixture.
- Most importantly, spend the time to whip the shrimp with the vegetable ingredients to create a sticky paste-like texture. This will ensure a crunchy, light texture in the finished shrimp cakes.
Hope this shrimp cake recipe has made it to you in time for your Chinese New Year celebrations! And in case you haven’t thought about Chinese New Year just yet, remember that it’s on February 5 this year, only two weeks away! It’s time to send out your invites and plan your menu, and hopefully these shrimp cakes make the final cut!
Chinese Shrimp Cakes: Recipe Instructions
Thaw the shrimp and pat them dry with a paper towel. Transfer to a cutting board.
Lightly “smash” them with the side of a knife, and coarsely chop them.
Be careful not mince the shrimp into pieces that are too small.
Split a small carrot (about 50 g) in half crosswise and then lengthwise, and blanch the pieces in boiling water for about 2 minutes until lightly softened. Drain and finely dice the blanched carrot.
In a mixing bowl, combine the coarsely chopped shrimp, finely diced carrot, minced water chestnuts, ¼ cup cilantro, 1 teaspoon grated ginger, 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine, ½ teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper, 2 teaspoons oyster sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, ¼ teaspoon sugar, and 1 teaspoon cornstarch.
Whip everything together for about 5 to 10 minutes in one direction, until the mixture is sticky and all ingredients are well combined.
Now, heat a flat bottomed frying pan over medium high heat (nonstick or cast iron works best), until it starts to smoke lightly. Add 2 tablespoons oil and turn the heat down to medium. Take a large spoonful of the shrimp mixture, and use another spoon to form a ball.
Drop it into the pan and quickly press it into a disc. (To avoid sticking, you can brush the spoons with oil beforehand.)
Pan-fry each side for about 3 minutes, until golden brown.
Add the last tablespoon of oil if needed during pan-frying. This recipe makes about 10 shrimp cakes.
Chinese Shrimp Cakes
Ingredients
- 1 pound shrimp (450g, thawed, peeled and deveined)
- 1 small carrot (about 50g)
- 5 water chestnuts (minced, freshly peeled or from a can)
- 1/4 cup cilantro (15 g, finely chopped)
- 1 teaspoon ginger (grated)
- 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons oil (for pan-frying)
Instructions
- Pat the shrimp dry with a paper towel. Lightly “smash” them with the side of a knife, and coarsely chop them. Be careful not mince the shrimp into pieces that are too small.
- Split a small carrot (about 50 g) in half crosswise and then lengthwise, and blanch the pieces in boiling water for about 2 minutes until lightly softened. Drain and finely dice the blanched carrot.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the coarsely chopped shrimp, finely diced carrot, minced water chestnuts, ¼ cup cilantro, 1 teaspoon grated ginger, 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine, ½ teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper, 2 teaspoons oyster sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, ¼ teaspoon sugar, and 1 teaspoon cornstarch. Whip everything together for about 5 to 10 minutes in one direction, until the mixture is sticky and all ingredients are well combined.
- Now, heat a flat bottomed frying pan over medium high heat (nonstick or cast iron works best), until it starts to smoke lightly. Add 2 tablespoons oil and turn the heat down to medium. Take a large spoonful of the shrimp mixture, and use another spoon to form a ball.
- Drop it into the pan and quickly press it into a disc. (To avoid sticking, you can brush the spoons with oil beforehand.)
- Pan-fry each side for about 3 minutes, until golden brown. Add the last tablespoon of oil if needed during pan-frying.
Tips & Notes:
nutrition facts
How can water chestnuts be replaced?
You can use bamboo shoots, asparagus, or just omit it :-)
Hi judy! What kind of dipping sauce would you suggest that would go well with the shrimp cakes? Thank you!
Hi Celine, I am not a sauce person, but if I had to pick, I’d pick seafood soy sauce combined with a little bit of chili oil.
delicious
Yes, I have to agree, this dish is so delicious.
It tasted great. What do you mean by “whip the mixture in one direction “. What do you use to “whip”
Hi Roger, just use chopsticks, a spoon, fork, or spatula, and stir in one direction like you’re whipping.
I love all your recipes and have tried many of your dim sum recipes with great success. I tried making this and the flavors are spot on–loved it. However, it was hard to keep my shrimp cakes from falling apart. Maybe I didn’t whip the shrimp mixture long enough?
Hi Amy, yes, you definitely must mix it until the shrimp gets “sticky” without any visible large chunks, and then it will hold together. Happy cooking!
Judy
I made the shrimp cakes for dinner tonight. I thought they came out great and were very tasty. I did feel I needed to put them thru my processor ever so gently after stirring them for 5+ minutes and not getting them to the consistency that I thought resembled yours in the recipe. I served them on steamed buns with a little mayo/sriracha and my husband loved them. These def as far as I’m concerned we’re better than momofuku’s. YUM! Thanks again for all your recipes. I wanted to attach photos but I’m not seeing that option!!
Hey Tracy, thank you so much for your kind words and for sharing your experience! You can DM us photos on Instagram or post on Instagram and tag @thewoksoflife so we can see them. :) Otherwise, you can also share photos with us via email––my email is [email protected]
I had looked forward to making these for so very long, and was so disappointed with the result. It’s probably something I did, not anything wrong with the recipe, so for now I have not rated this. Most importantly, these were not at all crisp as I had expected. Perhaps I didn’t whip them long enough before cooking? Also, I used a 3 oz scoop which made them somewhat larger than contemplated (I got 8 patties rather than 10). Perhaps I did not flatten them enough? When they were well browned, they were not done inside. I ended up putting them in a 400 degree oven for 5-10 min hoping they would cook fully and crisp up. They cooked to the point of rubbery but never crisped. Help!
What type if utensil do you use to whip this recipe? I used a fork for about 7 minutes.
Chopsticks!
Thank you, but why did these not crisp? I followed the directions precisely.
Hi okiegirl, these Chinese Shrimp Cakes are more crunchy (from the texture of the shrimp) than crispy. They can’t be crisp since there is no coating.
Hi Judy
I tried this recipe two nights ago. It was going well, but alas, they pretty much fell apart during cooking. I used a large well-seasoned cast iron frying pan and didn’t crowd them but they stuck. I see you recommend not using an egg beater – I used a whisk, maybe that’s a problem too? Maybe one more tsp of corn starch? And next time – there will be one – I will use a non-stick pan.
Even though it they fell apart, they still tasted great.
Hi Jeff, you can use the cast iron pan next time. And there is one trick––you must preheat the pan until it starts to lightly smoke before adding oil and start cooking. This step will prevent sticking like a non-stick pan. :-)
Hi Judy
Thank you for sharing this very delicious and easy recipe.
I wanted to try this for weeks now. Last night I finally was able to cook it. They turned out great, even though I used frozen shrimps. I just made sure that the shrimps were really dry. The consistency was firm and good.
I most definetly will make this many times again.
Thanks for this great website and delicous recipes.
Yeahhh…hooray. Good job, Sonja!
These look lovely, I think this presentation looks better than shrimp balls. Can these be made ahead from frozen shrimp and refrozen again? Starting to prepare for new years
Hi Kennedy, since it’s not a good idea to re-freeze shrimp (it changes the texture significantly), I would advise against it.