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 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.
Hi Rose, scroll through the post and you’ll see some recommendations of what to serve on the side 🙂 N x
On a whim, I added steamed cauliflower to the sauce and simmered it until it was a thick coating. It was delicious.
Excellent recipe! The shrimp cooked perfectly. Consistency of the sauce was great. Added a tbsp of Thai Red Curry as well, for a little extra kick. Worked great on top of an Asian inspired salad with a light sesame dressing. Thanks!
I only had about 12 shrimp, so to stretch this into more of a meal for my husband and me, I briefly steamed some cauliflower and then tossed in the pan with the sauce and let it cook for a few minutes. It was delicious! I regularly add cauli now.
So so good!!! I usually add extra spice to everything but this was perfect as is. We pair it with roasted thyme/rosemary/parsley potatoes and they work great to soak up all the extra sauce.
Thank you for another wonderful recipe! I made this along with the satay curry and chilli basil chicken stir fry for a dinner with friends and everyone was so impressed! So easy and instructions/ingredients are very clear, no need to modify anything when I cook from your recipes, please never stop doing what you’re doing, Nagi!
Made the chili shrimp and wow it’s hot but great flavor. Tripled the sauce so maybe I added too much sriracha. 🤯
Loved this recipe.. it is hot so as per recipe notes forewarned is forearmed as they say… we love Chillies so loved it. For a twist I added some chopped red capsicum, chopped Spring onion and at last minute some chopped Snap Peas to keep them crisp then added Prawns to stir fry before removing it all as per recipe to cook the sauce and served it with Pad Thai Noodles…. Yum!.. ..recipe is now in the cookbook folder as tried and true (-:
Just made this tonight – still feeling the fire. Absolutely banging flavour. Added mushrooms, mangetout, red onion & red bell pepper on top of egg noodles. Left out the ginger as I had none. Loved it.
I only discovered your fantastic website after searching for a ‘spicy prawn dish’; and let me tell you, this dish was so well received by my girls, I had to make it the night after too. I also made your ‘Malaysian Satay Chicken curry’ as a main….just wow! (made the kecap manis myself also)
For taking the time to create & share such amazing authentic recipes; I’d just like to say thank you.
“Spice level – this is quite spicy!” Nagi, this might be the greatest understatement ever 😂
I’ve made a number of your recipes and they are always hits with the whole family. This was the first time I’ve struggled – the sauce was a raging inferno. Our final sauce at the dinner table had maybe 1/32 of the original sauce recipe in it, and a whole lot of ketchup, sugar, and soy sauce to tone it down for the sensitive palates around the table. Great in theory, but way too spicy for us!
Hi Kim – well it IS Chilli Prawns! Can I if you subbed any of the chilli sauces or mismeasured somewhere? It should definitely be spicy but not inedible hot! N x
I appreciate the reply!
I doubled the recipe, but reduced the chili flakes and sriracha, so I’m really not sure where I went wrong 🙂 I wonder if my sriracha is stronger? I just clicked on your link and the brand you use is different than mine (I used Huy Fong Rooster sriracha).
No love lost from my end, I love your recipes and will keep trying new ones (and repeating the many favourites we have- the beef ramen noodles are the latest fan favourite with my kids!)
Keep up the great work!
I used that same sauce Kim and you are right incredibly spicy and we are big chilli heads so I too wonder if it is the different sriracha sauce. I might try the one Nagi uses and see if that makes the difference as I love the recipe but would love to turn down the heat just a tad. Otherwise I will just reduce the chilli flakes by half. But still a great recipe and my boys all love it!
SO good!!!! the whole family loved this recipe and it was voted a keeper.
We didn’t add as much sriracha but added some tomato puree, olive oil and water to compensate for the lost volume. It was delicious, thank you for the inspiration 🍤❤️
Amazing recipe! Will definitely be cooking again 🙂
Love love love this recipe. My sauce didn’t really go that ‘sticky. I’m guessing I added too much water but what would be the remedy if I did, the sugar or the sriracha??
Nagi
You are the best.. We ad-libbed with some of the ingredients (which usually happens at our place) and, as always, your recipe was indestructible… Finger lickin’ scrumptious!! Thanks again, we love you Nagi xx
I am mad on sea food and your recipes look fantastic
I am mad on sea food and your recipes look fantastic
Here in S.W.France and during lockdown you have taught me to cook your wonderful recipes. Thank you….
Hands down one of my favourite dishes to make! I always come to your recipes. I am so glad that my brother in law told me about your website. Never give up what you do as you make a lot of tummy’s super happy