This easy Shrimp Stir Fry with a honey garlic stir fry sauce is one of those quick and easy dinners that tastes just like takeout. The sauce is made with a combination of honey, fresh garlic, fresh ginger, orange juice, and soy sauce for an irristiable sweet and savory flavor.
It's almost fall! Can you believe it? After the year we've all had, I'm so happy to be inching ever-so-closer to a new year. And fall to me means comfort food and my go-to comfort food? Well it tends to generally be all foods Asian (and Mexican). In this case, it's a honey garlic shrimp stir fry. Using quick-cooking shrimp, a ton of fresh veggies, garlic, ginger, and a sauce made slightly salty, slightly sweet, and slightly tangy, I think you'll agree this dish hits all the right comfort food notes.
Plus, it's warm, hardy, filling, and of course, way better for you than takeout! So next time you want to reach for your keys and head to the nearest Chinese restaurant, take this ingredients list to the grocery store instead and add this recipe to your meal plans for the week!
How do you make Honey Garlic Shrimp Stir Fry?
Making this simply could not be any easier! Ready? Let's do this!
First, mix together the stir fry sauce: OJ, soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, cornstarch, and red pepper flakes. Then set that aside and move on to the shrimp.
Pat the thawed shrimp dry using a paper towel to help the shrimp crisp up as you cook them. Heat the coconut oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add the shrimp to the pain in the oil in a single layer and cook for 2 minutes per side or until just opaque and cooked through. Take those out of the skillet and set aside for a minute.
Add red bell peppers, sugar snap peas, asparagus, garlic, and ginger to the same pan. Cook these veggies down for 5-7 minutes or until they are bright green and tender-crisp. Stir as needed to combine.
Add the shrimp and sauce back to the skillet. Bring the whole mixture to a simmer and cook for 1-2 minutes until it thickens and bubbles a bit.
Garnish with sesame seeds, green onions, and/or orange zest and serve!
Shrimp Stir Fry Recipe Ideas
- Turn up the heat: While I already suggest adding red pepper flakes to the sauce, you can certainly add more, or add sliced or diced jalapenos to the veggie mix when you're cooking that down, or top with hot sauce.
- Customize the vegetables: Some other vegetable ideas to use in this stir fry include broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, bok choy, green beans, thinly sliced carrots, celery, and mushrooms.
- Change the protein: Shrimp just really works in this recipe, but I think chicken and pork would too. Slice the meat into thin strips or use ground if that's what you have on hand. Another idea would be to use scallops or even extra firm tofu.
- Change the sauce: I love the acidity and brightness of orange juice in the stir fry sauce, but not everyone does. You can omit it and swap it out for chicken or vegetable broth or stock, or use pineapple juice or a 50/50 water and lemon juice combo.
What is Stir-Frying?
What does it mean to stir fry something? Well, it's an ancient Chinese cooking technique that uses a wok to cook up veggies and proteins in hot oil. Cooking in a wok makes the job go faster, but you don't have to have a wok for cooking up this dish. A pan or skillet will work just fine.
So long as you don't use too much oil or choose a healthy oil like coconut, stir-frying is a very healthy cooking method for getting lots of veggies together in one dish and adding sauce to the mixture, plus a protein if you like.
Tips & Tricks for Making a Stir Fry
- Have everything cut up and ready to go so that you can add the ingredients as instructed. If you are busy cutting up veggies while the shrimp is cooking you'll end up overcooking them, and vice-versa!
- Stir the sauce around often so that it coats all the veggie and shrimp as it warms back up.
- Also, let the sauce thicken a bit in the pan before serving for best taste and results.
- Let the stir fry come to room temperature before putting in the fridge or freezer. Leftovers will keep up to three days in the fridge or three months in the freezer in an airtight container.
More Stir Fry Recipes
- Chicken and Asparagus Stir Fry
- Beef and Bok Choy Stir Fry
- Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry
- Asian Ground Turkey Stir Fry
- Thai Basil Shrimp Stir Fry