A Cantonese banquet dish of large prawns, shelled and lightly battered, deep-fried until crisp, then folded off the heat into a creamy sweet glaze of mayonnaise, condensed milk, and honey, and scattered with candied walnuts. The sauce coats rather than soaks, so the prawns stay crunchy under a glossy pale dressing; the walnuts are blanched, sugar-coated, and fried separately so they shatter. It is plated warm, often on a bed of shredded lettuce, and is one of the most familiar Cantonese-style dishes on American Chinese restaurant menus.
Honey-walnut shrimp is a Western-influenced Cantonese dish; reference works describe it as a Hong Kong creation in the mayonnaise-dressed style that Cantonese banquet cooking absorbed, before it spread to the United States. Its exact date and inventor are unrecorded. The mayonnaise-and-condensed-milk glaze places it among the 沙律 (salad-dressing) seafood dishes that became fashionable in late-twentieth-century Hong Kong, where dressed prawns and crab were banquet staples. Carried abroad with Cantonese emigration, it became a fixture of American Chinese menus and was later popularized further by large restaurant chains; for that reason it is far more often eaten in the diaspora than in China, and many Chinese diners encounter it first as an overseas dish rather than a mainland home recipe.
A whole prawn under a thin, blistered crust gives a clean snap, then springs to a juicy bite; the glaze is mild and milky-sweet, glossy and clinging without dripping. The candied walnuts crack apart with a brittle, faintly bitter-sweet crunch that cuts the richness. Done well, the prawn crust stays crisp inside its coat of sauce and the dressing is balanced, not cloying. Done badly, the prawns are dressed too early or in too much sauce and go soggy and heavy, the mayonnaise tastes raw and greasy, or the walnuts are scorched and turn acrid.
The dish rests on keeping a fried crust crisp under a moist, fat-rich dressing. The prawns are coated in a thin starch or egg-white batter and fried hot enough to set a dry, porous shell that seals in juice; the sauce is folded in only after frying and away from the heat, so the mayonnaise emulsion does not break and the sugars cannot draw water back out of the crust to soften it. Mayonnaise is itself an oil-in-water emulsion stabilized by egg-yolk lecithin, which gives the glaze body and cling at room temperature; condensed milk and honey supply the sweetness and a faint caramel note without thinning it. The walnuts are blanched to remove tannin bitterness, coated in sugar syrup, and fried so the syrup crystallizes into a hard, glassy shell — a candy coat that stays crunchy and contrasts the soft prawn.
Variations
The nut is sometimes pecan rather than walnut, and a few cooks use cashew. The dressing varies from a plain mayonnaise base to versions sweetened and tinted with condensed milk, or brightened with a little lemon juice; some add a spoon of fruit such as canned pineapple or a drizzle of fruit syrup. The same sweet salad-dressing treatment is given to other seafood as 沙律虾 (salad prawns) and to fried fish or crab. A savory cousin keeps the candied walnuts but dresses the prawns instead in a clear or garlicky sauce rather than the mayonnaise glaze.
On the Palate
Where Honey-Walnut Shrimp sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 3
How it's made
7 steps · 30 min active + 15 min waiting
- 112 min
Blanch shelled walnut halves in boiling water for a minute to draw out bitterness, drain, toss in sugar (or simmer briefly in sugar syrup) to coat, then fry in moderate oil until golden and crisp; lift out and cool on a rack so they harden.
Watch outBlanch the walnuts, coat in sugar, fry to golden, then cool on a rack until hard — cooled on paper they steam soft and lose the crunch.
- 26 min
Shell and devein the prawns, leaving the tail on if you like; pat them thoroughly dry and season lightly with salt and a little Shaoxing wine.
- 33 min
Coat the prawns in a thin batter of cornstarch and egg white (or a light starch dusting) so they fry up crisp rather than gummy.
- 46 min
Heat oil to about 70% hot (around 170°C) and deep-fry the prawns in batches just until the crust is firm and pale gold and the prawns curl; drain well on paper.
Watch outFry the prawns at about 70 percent heat just until the crust firms and pale gold and they curl — over-frying dries the flesh before the dressing goes on.
- 52 min
Whisk a dressing of mayonnaise, condensed milk (or sugar), and a little honey, with a squeeze of lemon if you like, until smooth and pourable.
- 61 min
Off the heat, gently fold the hot drained prawns into the dressing so each is coated but the crust stays crisp.
Watch outFold the hot prawns into the mayo dressing off the heat — on the heat the emulsion breaks and the sugars pull water back to soften the crust.
- 71 min
Pile the prawns over a bed of shredded lettuce, scatter the candied walnuts over the top, and serve at once while crisp.
