Delicious and flavour-packed Chinese prawn stir fry done in 20 minutes. This quick and easy recipe is perfect for busy weeknights or weekend gatherings.
Serve these succulent and tasty stir fried prawns with steamed rice and some simply prepared veggies like my garlic spinach stir fry or bok choy soup!
Make sure to drizzle the mouthwatering sauce onto your rice - it's so good.
Love prawns? Check out my other prawn recipes like creamy garlic prawns, prawn noodle stir fry or spicy prawn pasta!
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Ingredients
- Prawns (shrimp) - for convenience, ready-peeled and deveined prawns are perfect for a quick dinner. However, for maximum flavour, best buy prawns whole and peel and devein them at home. The difference is huge. It's a lot more flavoursome and tastier. I always find ready-peeled prawns to taste quite bland. So if you've got the time, I highly recommend peeling prawns yourself.
- Tomato sauce (ketchup) - adds a delicious tanginess and depth to this quick Chinese prawn stir fry. Although not traditionally a Chinese cooking condiment, it's a rather popular one to add oomph to many Chinese dishes now. Many people like to add a squeeze into dishes like Chinese tomato and egg stir fry or simple fried rice like prawn fried rice to elevate its flavour profile. Tomato sauce is also a key ingredient to my mouthwatering, better-than-takeout crispy and spicy honey chicken bites!
- Brown sugar - can use white sugar too, I like using brown sugar in my cooking as the added molasses in brown sugar just makes a dish a little extra tasty. Substitute: honey.
- Shoaxing wine - a widely used Chinese cooking rice wine that adds depth and complexity to a dish. It's added in soups like a heartwarming Chinese pork bone broth soup, stir fries like beef noodle stir fry or braises like hong shao rou (red braised pork) and much more!
- Olive oil - I almost exclusively use extra virgin olive oil in my everyday cooking (except when deep frying of course) due to its health benefits (it's good for you!) I personally don't find the flavour overpowering in my Chinese cooking. Of course, you can always use neutral-tasting oil such as sunflower or canola oil if preferred.
Cooking instructions
This quick and easy Chinese prawn stir fry takes just about 20 minutes to make from prep to serve so it's a fantastic weeknight dinner option.
Prepare ingredients
To start, like all good stir fries, prep all the ingredients needed for this recipe first.
The great thing about a stir fry is that it's quick to cook so get all the ingredients ready to go before turning the stove on. This way, the entire cooking process is seamless and fuss-free.
Spring onions (scallions) - cut into ~5cm (2 inches) in length then thinly slice into matchsticks (like the image above).
Then, thinly slice ginger so that it's roughly the same shape as the spring onions. This way they blend nicely together.
Finely mince garlic and make a quick stir fry sauce. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, shaoxing wine, tomato sauce and sugar. Mix well and set aside.
If using frozen peeled prawns, defrost first and drain well before cooking.
Stir fry
In a large wok or frying pan, stir fry ginger, spring onions and garlic with oil over medium heat for 1-2 minutes or until lightly golden and aromatic.
Push the aromatics to the rims of the wok to make room for prawns.
Add prawns into the middle of the wok and spread the prawns out into a single layer so that each piece gets direct heat from the wok.
Cook over high heat for 1 minute then, flip and cook for a further minute then stir fry for a few more seconds.
Give the sauce mixture a quick mix and pour into the wok.
Stir fry for a further minute over high heat or until prawns are fully cooked.
That's it! Simple and easy.
Serving Suggestions
For a simple dinner, serve this Chinese prawn stir fry with some freshly steamed rice and simply prepared vegetables such as sauteed broccoli, garlic spinach stir fry or bok choy soup.
For a larger meal, take a browse of my Asian recipes category and pick and choose a couple more dishes to go with this one!
Useful tips and tricks
- Peel and devein prawns at home for maximum flavour! It does add ~10 extra minutes to the prep time but it is well worth it.
- How to quickly defrost peeled frozen prawns:
- Place and seal frozen prawns in a zip lock bag (airtight, no air bubbles)
- Submerging in a large bowl of cold tap water for 10 to 15 minutes
- Take prawns out of the zip lock bag into a large bowl, rinse under tap water and drain well. Putting the prawns in a zip lock bag helps retain their flavour (otherwise a lot will get lost if just soaking directly in water)
- Make sure prawns are well drained before stir frying. This will allow proper sizzling and thus 'wok hei' (see my pan fried soy sauce noodles fry for the importance of 'wok hei' in Chinese cooking) for maximum flavour. Sometimes I dab the prawns with paper towels to make sure they're extra dry.
- Add a few drops of sesame oil for extra nutty flavour.
FAQs
By not overcooking! Most peeled prawns take just 2 to 3 minutes to cook over high heat. Prawns are cooked when the colour turns opaque and pink.
Aboslutely! Make sure to defrost completely and drain well before cooking. See 'Useful Tips and Tricks' above for quick defrosting instructions. Cooking frozen prawns directly will result in uneven cooking (most likely overcook) and excess liquids will release whilst cooking, making the stir fry less tasty (no wok hei!)
Sure! Opt for vegetables that cook very quickly such as bok choy, sugar snap peas, snow peas or blanched Chinese broccoli.
Although not necessary, it definitely will improve the texture (no grittiness when eating). To devein prawns, use a small knife to make a shallow slit along the back and remove the dark vein with the tip of the knife.
Leftovers and Storage
Store any leftovers in an airtight container and will last for up to 4 days in the fridge.
Make sure that the prawns are not slimy or have an off smell to it before eating after storage. It means that it's no longer good.
Made this recipe? Let me know your thoughts or questions by dropping a note in the comments section below.
I'd love to hear from you. 🙂
- Gen
📖 Recipe
Chinese Prawn Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 500 g (1 lb) prawns peeled, deveined
- 1 knob ginger sliced into thin matchsticks
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 spring onions sliced into thin matchsticks
- 3 tablespoon olive oil or neutral-tasting oils eg. sunflower
Sauce
- 1½ tablespoon tomato sauce aka ketchup
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon shaoxing wine
- 2 teaspoon sugar brown or white
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine all sauce ingredients, mix and set aside.
- In a large wok or frying pan, stir fry sping onions, ginger and garlic with olive oil over medium heat. About 1-2 minutes or until lightly golden and aromatic. Push aromatics to the rims of the wok/pan.
- Add prawns (make sure well drained) and spread into a single layer over high heat. Cook undisturbed for 1 minute until lightly golden on one side then flip and cook the other side for a further minute.
- Add sauce mixture. Stir fry for 1 minute over hight heat or until prawns are just cooked.
Notes
- Place and seal frozen prawns in a zip lock bag (airtight, no air bubbles)
- Submerging in a large bowl of cold tap water for 10 to 15 minutes
- Take prawns out of the zip lock bag into a large bowl, rinse under tap water and drain well.
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