Shrimp Stir Fry is a quick and healthy dish to serve any time of the week. Simple homemade stir fry sauce, juicy shrimp, and so many different vegetables come together in one delicious dish that everyone will love. This stir fry sauce is a a little sweet and a little spicy and goes perfectly with shrimp, vegetables, or chicken.
When you’re in a mood for another stir fry, also try our Sesame Steak Stir Fry.
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Stir fry dinners are my favorite to make on busy weeknights! Even when I only have 30 minutes to make dinner or if I’m just too tired, I know it will be easy and delicious. Shrimp stir fry is a one-pan recipe, which means less dishes to clean and that’s always a big win in my kitchen! The ingredients in a stir fry are easy to customize with whatever you happen to have on hand, so don’t feel free to play around with this easy recipe.
The most complicated thing about this recipe is deciding which vegetables to get. There are my favorite few vegetables that I always include in all my stir fry dishes and those are bell peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, green onions, and snow peas. Besides that, it’s really whatever I have in the fridge that I need to use. Even if it’s just half a zucchini, I throw that in. The main thing to remember about the vegetables in the stir fry is the order to add them.
Soft and delicate vegetables should be added last because they cook so fast and can be too mushy if overcooked. Start cooking heartier, harder vegetables like onions, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and others first to give them a little extra time to soften. When it comes to shrimp, I like to get to use bigger ones because they’re meatier and juicier. Shrimp also cook very fast so there is also much less chance to overcook the larger ones.
Ingredient Notes:
Shrimp – You can use frozen shrimp. Be sure to let them slowly thaw in the fridge prior to cooking.
Mushrooms – I use baby bella mushrooms, but you can use any mushroom that you like.
Bell Peppers – While red and yellow peppers add the right touch of color to this stir fry, you can use green or orange ones instead if you’d like.
Soy Sauce – This is a key ingredient to the stir fry sauce! You can swap it with tamari or coconut aminos if you want to, especially if you need this recipe to be gluten-free.
Chicken Broth – You can use chicken stock or chicken broth. Feel free to swap this with vegetable broth for a vegetarian-friendly sauce.
Honey – This adds just the right touch of sweetness to help balance the other bold flavors at play.
See recipe card for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
Cooking Instructions
Prepare: This is more of a pre-step! Peel and de-vein shrimp if needed. Make the stir-fry sauce by whisking together the ingredients. Chop vegetables and set aside.
Sauté the vegetables: Preheat a large pan or wok over medium heat and add peanut oil. Sauté the veggies, mixing often, until start to soften (1). Don’t cook vegetables all the way because it will continue to cook after you take it out of the pan and later with sauce.
Sauté the shrimp: Remove the veggies from the pan and add a little more oil. Sauté the shrimp over medium-high heat until both sides are opaque. Add vegetables back into the pan and stir (2).
Add sauce and serve: Give the sauce one more whisk, then stir it into the pan (3). Stir well and cook for a few minutes, just until sauce thickens. Stir in the green onions and serve (4).
PRO TIP: Be careful not to overcook the shrimp! Cook shrimp just until they turn opaque. When overcooked, shrimp can be tough and chewy.
Recipe FAQs
The veggies I always make sure to include are broccoli, mushrooms, snow peas, bell peppers, and green onions.
Feel free to add more! Some other tasty additions include asparagus, cauliflower, carrots, red onions, zucchini, summer squash, green beans, and baby corn.
Stir fry is great when served over rice, brown rice, quinoa, or mixed with noodles. Try it with our favorite coconut rice. When using noodles, you can choose any Asian noodles like lo mein noodles, glass noodles, rice noodles, or ramen.
Of course, stir fry of any kind is also great with just vegetables! If you’re planning on serving it without rice or noodles, simply add extra vegetables to bulk it up.
If you need to make this stir fry gluten free, simple swap low sodium soy sauce for gluten free soy sauce, tamari, or coconut aminos. Remaining ingredients should already be gluten free but double check the labels to make sure.
This is actually a personal preference! If you like your vegetables a little crunchy, cook them less. But, if you like your vegetables soft, cook them a few minutes more. Feel free to taste the vegetables as they cook, to see if they almost reached your desired doneness before taking them out of the pan.
You can easily add spicy to a stir fry by adding some chili peppers. Depending on how much spice you want, choose either a milder pepper like jalapeno, or a spicier pepper like red chili pepper or Thai chili pepper. Amount of peppers will also affect the spice level as well as leaving the seeds in or discarding them. Remember that chili peppers store most of their spice in the seeds.
If you don’t want to add the peppers, you can also spice the dish up with a dash of cayenne pepper.
More Shrimp Recipes to Try:
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Shrimp Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1 lb large shrimp
- 1 bunch broccoli
- 8 oz baby bella mushrooms or other variety
- 8 oz snow peas
- 1/2 cup diced green onion
- 2 bell peppers
Stir Fry Sauce:
- 1/2 cup soy sauce or gluten-free soy, tamari, or coconut aminos
- 1 cup chicken broth can also use vegetable broth
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup honey
- 6 garlic cloves
- 2 tsp chili paste more if you want spicier
- 2 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
Instructions
- Peel and de-vein shrimp if needed. Whisk all ingredients for the sauce together and set aside. Chop vegetables and set aside.
- Preheat a large cooking pan or a wok over medium heat and add peanut oil.
- Saute vegetables, mixing often, until start to soften. Don’t cook vegetables all the way because it will continue to cook after you take it out of the pan and later with sauce.
- Take veggies out of the pan and add a little more oil to the pan.
- Saute shrimp over medium-high heat until just turns opaque on each side.
- Add vegetables back into the pan and stir.
- Whisk the sauce again and pour it into the pan. Stir well and cook for a few minutes, just until sauce thickens.
- Stir in green onions and serve right away.
- You can serve shrimp stir fry over rice, with noodles, or just on it's own.
Video
Notes
- Adding More Spice: You can easily add spicy to a stir fry by adding some chili peppers. Depending on how much spice you want, choose either a milder pepper like jalapeno, or a spicier pepper like red chili pepper or Thai chili pepper. Amount of peppers will also affect the spice level as well as leaving the seeds in or discarding them. Remember that chili peppers store most of their spice in the seeds. If you don’t want to add the peppers, you can also spice the dish up with a dash of cayenne pepper.
- Gluten Free Note: If you need to make this stir fry gluten free, simple swap low sodium soy sauce for gluten free soy sauce, tamari, or coconut aminos. Remaining ingredients should already be gluten free but double check the labels to make sure.
Linda says
What is chili paste??? What could be a substitute?
LyubaB says
It tastes similar to chili sauce but it’s thicker. You could use a little tomato paste with a chili pepper but be careful, some chili peppers are hotter than the paste.
Jordan says
Excellent recipe!
I halved the broccoli and mushrooms because it looked like a lot of veg. I regretted that decision! I used Sesame oil because I didn’t see the Peanut oil listed in the ingredients and didn’t have it on hand. I also added the broccoli to the pan first, cooked it, then added the other vegetables and cooked them longer than recommended.
I’ll be making this one again, but will probably chop some things the day before. It took almost an hour since I had to shell the shrimp–ugh!
LyubaB says
I am glad you liked it. The shell on does taste better in my opinion but your right it definitely takes longer!
Terry says
Can this be made without soy sauce? It causes severe indigestion.
Jeannie says
Hi! I’m new to cooking stir fry. How much peanut oil do I use?
LyubaB says
Sorry, I am just seeing your comment. You can use a tablespoon or 2 of peanut oil.
Angi says
Made tonight for my family. Everyone loved it! That absolutely never happens in our household of 5. Thanks for a wonderful keeper, I didn’t change a thing about the recipe.
LyubaB says
I am so glad everyone liked it, Angi!
Sue says
Very good. Definitely do again.