Szechuan Shrimp is a classic Chinese restaurant dish. A spicy, tangy Szechuan sauce packs a ton of strong flavors on top of tender baby shrimp.
Szechuan Shrimp: Background
I remember Szechuan Shrimp was a once popular Chinese restaurant dish that was second only perhaps to that American takeout standby, Shrimp with Lobster Sauce.
I believe it was during the transformation of the traditional Chinese restaurant menu—formerly predominantly Cantonese—to the much trendier and now mainstream style of Szechuan cooking.
This dish is also a bit of a throwback to the days when “Sichuan” was spelled “Szechuan” pretty much exclusively, and known more as a label for a specific Chinese dish than as an entire province of China’s style of cooking!
These days, authentic Sichuan-style cooking is all the rage in Chinese restaurants with dishes like Mapo Tofu, Twice-cooked Pork, and Sichuan Boiled Beef (Shui Zhu Niu).
That said, Szechuan Shrimp is still holding its own, because despite its less than authentic provenance, it’s still really tasty. Tender shrimp is covered in a concentrated spicy sauce with shallots, peppers, and delightfully nutty water chestnuts. It’s a perfectly orchestrated blend and really makes this dish unique.
Recipe Notes
If you’re not a fan of the crunchy texture of water chestnuts, feel free to leave them out. I also kicked the recipe up slightly by using douban la jiang (chili bean sauce), instead of the usual dried chili flakes.
If you can’t find chili bean sauce online or at your local Asian grocery store, Kaitlin’s hot chili oil is a great substitution.
Speaking of substitutions, the red bell peppers add a nice sweet flavor to the dish. If you really like spicy food, use red Holland or Thai chili peppers!
Enjoy this Szechuan Shrimp with a nice bowl of jasmine rice!
Recipe Instructions
Mix the shrimp together with 1 teaspoon of oil and ½ teaspoon of cornstarch until the shrimp are evenly coated. Set aside.
With the burner on low, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in your wok. Add the ginger and fry for 30 seconds.
Next, add the doubanjiang (chili bean sauce) or the hot chili oil (with chili flakes), the garlic, and the shallots, and continue to stir fry for another 2 minutes.
Next, stir in the ketchup and hoisin sauce, and turn the heat up from low to medium. Let the ketchup and hoisin sauce fry for 1 to 2 minutes to bring out a rich color and flavor. Turn the heat down if it looks like the sauce may burn.
Next, add the Shaoxing wine, water chestnuts (if using), carrots, and the red bell pepper. Stir-fry for another 2 minutes.
Add the chicken stock, and let the mixture come to a boil; then immediately turn the heat down to let the mixture simmer.
Add the rice vinegar, sesame oil, salt, sugar and white pepper, and continue to simmer the sauce for another 3 minutes. When 3 minutes have elapsed, turn the heat up slightly and stir in the shrimp.
Once the shrimp and sauce mixture returns to a steady simmer, stir in the cornstarch slurry until the sauce has thickened. At this point, the shrimp should be opaque and cooked through.
Stir in the scallions.
Serve this spicy Szechuan shrimp with steamed rice!
Szechuan Shrimp, A Classic Chinese Restaurant Dish
Ingredients
- 1 pound shrimp (450g, size 50/60, peeled and de-veined)
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil (plus 2 tablespoons, divided)
- ½ teaspoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon ginger (minced)
- 2 teaspoons doubanjiang (chili bean sauce) (or chili oil (NOTE: the chili oil should have flakes in it)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- ¼ cup shallots or red onion (minced)
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- ¼ cup water chestnuts (chopped, optional)
- 1 medium carrot (very finely chopped)
- ½ red bell pepper (diced)
- 1 cup chicken stock (120 ml)
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon fresh ground white pepper
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch (mixed with 2 tablespoons of water)
- 1 scallion (chopped)
Instructions
- Mix the shrimp together with 1 teaspoon of oil and ½ teaspoon of cornstarch until the shrimp are evenly coated. Set aside.
- With the burner on low, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in your wok. Add the ginger and fry for 30 seconds. Next, add the douban jiang or the hot chili oil (with chili flakes), the garlic, and the shallots, and continue to stir fry for another 2 minutes.
- Next, stir in the ketchup and hoisin sauce, and turn the heat up from low to medium. Let the ketchup and hoisin sauce fry for 1 to 2 minutes to bring out a rich color and flavor. Turn the heat down if it looks like the sauce may burn.
- Next, add the Shaoxing wine, water chestnuts (if using), and the red bell pepper. Stir-fry for another 2 minutes. Add the chicken stock, and let the mixture come to a boil; then immediately turn the heat down to let the mixture simmer.
- Add the rice vinegar, sesame oil, salt, sugar and white pepper, and continue to simmer the sauce for another 3 minutes. When 3 minutes have elapsed, turn the heat up slightly and stir in the shrimp.
- Once the shrimp and sauce mixture returns to a steady simmer, stir in the cornstarch slurry until the sauce has thickened. At this point, the shrimp should be opaque and cooked through. Stir in the scallions. Serve with steamed rice!
Delicious, a little difficult cooking with a paste and not burning it but tasted great. Sweeter than I expected and not as hot. Nearly tried this recipe with gochujiang paste instead of douban jiang however I managed to find a jar at the last minute. Will definitely try again, perhaps I’ll add more of the douban jiang as my friend said it wasn’t spicy enough.
Hi CD, Chinese doubanjiang is quite a bit spicier (and often saltier) than Korean gochujang, which explains why it lacked some spiciness. If you really want to kick it up, you can add some dried chili peppers or even crushed chili peppers. Happy cooking!
amazing as usual discovered your site 2 years ago here in scotland even made that banquet soup for chinese new year this prawn dish is a family favourite
Great, Jim, thank you for leaving us a comment.
Fantastic recipe! Made as instructed and it was soooo good. Yes a good bit of prep (for me) but while cooking it came together easily. And the flavor is exactly like you would find in an upscale American Chinese restaurant. Thank you!!!!
Sorry I posted a second review – I see now I posted one before. I had just made the dish again tonight and was so happy with the results. Best wishes and to all reading – make this if you like Szechuan Shrimp
Thank you so much for your generous words, Tom. Happy wokking!
We made this tonight. It was great. We substituted Jumbo Shrimp for the shrimp in the recipe because we had it at a reasonable price. We reduced the Chili Bean Sauce to 1/8 tsp as we have found that your spicy recipes are too hot for us. We added two tbs of Black Bean Garlic Sauce. The result was fantastic. I like the idea of making this with chicken. We will probably do that the next time. Thanks for the great recipes.
Hi John, using the large shrimp was a great choice and the black bean sauce is a nice twist. Glad you enjoyed it!
Wonderful recipe. I got all the ingredients so I could follow the recipe closely and it was fantastic. So much flavor. The last time I had Szechuan was when I was a kid and it brought back memories. I’ll be trying this with chicken next.
Hi Marsha, I love food that brings backs memories :)
Excellent recipe as presented. I have made several times and it always is great. The first few times I tried doubling the sauce since I love “Americanized” Chinese food but I have to say it is not necessary with this recipe. As written it provides plenty of sauce. If you want more heat I add ground cayenne pepper after cooking.
Bill, Judy, Sarah, and Kaitlin – Thank you
Thank you so much for your input, Tom. I am glad you enjoyed it.
We just had this for our New Year Eve dinner. It was so good. We used the chili crisp spicy sauce, about 2 Tbsp. Perfect- thanks for the great recipe! Happy New Year
Happy New year Jennifer!
I made this recipe last night and love it. I do have to mention that carrots are still omitted in the body of the recipe card, so I did not add them until I added the shrimp but it turned out fine. :-)
Great to hear that you enjoyed it Donald and thanks for pointing out the omission. I just corrected it!
Hello! Will oyster sauce work if I use it to replace the hoisin sauce please? If not, appreciate if you could advise on an acceptable alternative. Thanks and much love for one of my all-time favorite food blogs!
Hi Kamui,
Hoisin sauce has its own special flavor, so for authenticity’s sake, you should get a jar of the hoisin sauce! Happy cooking!
This recipe is definitely a keeper! I did make a few substitutions though, mainly because I had these ingredients on hand, because I like spicy, and because I HAD to have this for dinner last night. Looked so good! LOL. I used a tablespoon each of chili oil and habanero oil in place of the doubanjiang, and I used a tablespoon each of Szechuan spicy stir fry sauce and of sriracha instead of the hoisin, which gave it a perfect spicy flavor! Also probably why the color was a nice rich reddish orange, like yours. I also used carrots (which seem to have been omitted in printable version of recipe), and NO water chestnuts for this girl! If you could see pics side by side, you’d think it was yours! Thanks so much for sharing, I will be making this many, many more times in the future! It was 5 star delicious!!
Hi Catherine, glad you enjoyed it. Pick up a jar of the doubanjing because it is a great ingredient used in many of our recipes and is quite tasty for this dish! Thanks for catching that error in the recipe card. I just fixed it!