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    Home » Recipes » Pantry

    Chinese Salt and Pepper Shrimp

    May 14, 2018 by Elaine 31 Comments | Jump to Recipe

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    Chinese style deep fried salt and pepper shrimp is a great appetizer or snack with excellent crispy shell and tender inside.

    salt and pepper shrimp|chinasichuanfood.com

    In Sichuan province, we are using the mixed salt and Szechuan peppercorn (花椒) as the main flavor of a series of dishes including salt and pepper small potato, salt and pepper mushroom, salt and pepper chicken and etc. Although shrimp is not an native ingredient in inland Sichuan province, but we have ways to make them outstanding.

    salt and pepper shrimp|chinasichuanfood.com

    I understand that cooking  unshelled shrimp might be a litter weird. However they are the perfect protection of the meat inside during the deep-frying or sautéing process. In addition, the shrimp shell is quite good after pan-frying. You can resort to this post to know the tips about how to devein the shrimp without removing shells.

    Cook's Note

    1. You can use well salt or coarse salt for this recipe.
    2. Sichuan peppercorn can be replaced by black pepper. But I highly recommend using Sichuan peppercorn for an authentic taste.

    Ingredients

    • 300g shrimp, deveined
    • ½ tsp. salt (well salt)
    • 1 thumb ginger, cut into smaller sizes
    • ¼ cup cornstarch
    • 1 tsp. salt
    • 1 tbsp. whole Sichuan peppercorn
    • oil for shallow frying
    • 2 garlic cloves, minced
    • 1 scallion white, minced
    • ¼ fresh green pepper, minced (optional)
    • ¼ fresh red pepper, minced (optional)

    Steps

    Devein the shrimp and marinate with salt and ginger. Set aside for 15 minutes.

    salt and pepper shrimp|chinasichuanfood.com

    During this process, let make the real deal "salt and pepper". Toast Sichuan peppercorn with salt over slow fire until aromatic (takes around 1 minute). Transfer the mixture out and then ground into powder.

    salt and pepper shrimp|chinasichuanfood.com

    Coat with starch.

    salt and pepper shrimp|chinasichuanfood.com

    Heat up oil in wok until you can see waves on the surface. Fry the shrimp for  to 1 minute by two batches. Transfer shrimp out.  High oil temperature is the key factor to a great flavor.

    salt and pepper shrimp|chinasichuanfood.com

    salt and pepper shrimp|chinasichuanfood.com

    Pour the extra oil out and leave only around ½ tablespoon.  Fry garlic, scallion and chopped fresh peppers until aromatic.

    salt and pepper shrimp|chinasichuanfood.com

    Return the shrimp and sprinkle ¾ of the salt and pepper.

    salt and pepper shrimp|chinasichuanfood.com

    Transfer out and sprinkle the remaining on the surface or on small corner of the serving plate.

    salt and pepper shrimp|chinasichuanfood.com

    salt and pepper shrimp|chinasichuanfood.com

    Other Chinese style shrimp recipe

    • Ketchup shrimp, a slightly savory and sweet shrimp
    • Soft fried shrimp, fried shrimp with  a lighter batter
    • Shrimp with scrambled egg, extremely tender shrimp with scrambled egg
    • Shrimp egg foo young, pan-fried egg cake with fresh shrimp
    salt and pepper shrimp|chinasichuanfood.com

    Chinese Salt and Pepper Shrimp

    Chinese style crispy salt and pepper shrimp
    5 from 6 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Main Course, Snack
    Cuisine: Chinese
    Keyword: pepper, shrimp
    Prep Time: 10 minutes
    Cook Time: 15 minutes
    Total Time: 25 minutes
    Servings: 2
    Calories: 236kcal
    Author: Elaine

    Ingredients

    • 300 g shrimp ,deveined
    • ½ tsp. salt
    • 1 thumb ginger ,cut into smaller sizes
    • ¼ cup cornstarch
    • 1 tsp. salt
    • 1 tbsp. whole Sichuan peppercorn
    • oil for shallow frying
    • 2 garlic cloves ,minced
    • 1 scallion white ,minced
    • ¼ fresh green pepper ,minced (optional)
    • ¼ fresh red pepper ,minced (optional)

    Instructions

    • Devein the shrimp and marinate with salt and ginger. Set aside for 15 minutes.
    • During this process, let make the real deal "salt and pepper". Toast Sichuan peppercorn with salt over slow fire until aromatic (takes around 1 minute). Transfer the mixture out and then ground into powder.
    • Coat shrimp with starch. Shake off extra starch before frying.
    • Heat up oil in wok until you can see waves on the surface. Fry the shrimp for to 1 minute by two batches. Transfer shrimp out. High oil temperature is the key factor to a great flavor.
    • Pour the extra oil out and leave only around ½ tablespoon. Fry garlic, scallion and chopped fresh peppers until aromatic.
    • Return the shrimp and sprinkle ¾ of the salt and pepper.
    • Transfer out and sprinkle the remaining on the surface or on small corner of the serving plate.

    Notes

    Recipe first published in 2014 and updated in 2018

    Nutrition

    Calories: 236kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 31g | Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 378mg | Sodium: 2620mg | Potassium: 138mg | Vitamin A: 115IU | Vitamin C: 17mg | Calcium: 223mg | Iron: 3.2mg

    salt and pepper shrimp|chinasichuanfood.com

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Thalia @ butter and brioche

      August 07, 2014 at 10:54 pm

      wow this definitely brings me back to my chinese heritage.. will be recreating the recipe, i have not had salt and pepper shrimp in years!

      Reply
      • Elaine Luo

        August 08, 2014 at 1:45 am

        Thalia,
        Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Summer is a good time for seafood. Enjoy!

        Reply
        • JenLi

          October 31, 2016 at 9:57 am

          Elaine thank you!!:)))

          Reply
    2. Rebekah

      September 26, 2014 at 4:01 am

      Thank you SO much. My 10 year old LOVE this recipe!! (I do too 😉

      Reply
      • Elaine Luo

        September 26, 2014 at 4:30 am

        Thanks Rebakah for your feedback. I am so happy to heart that your guys love it the same as me.

        Reply
    3. Nikki

      April 20, 2015 at 12:09 pm

      Wow omigosh these taste awesome, thank you so much for sharing this recipe Elaine!

      Reply
      • Elaine Luo

        April 21, 2015 at 7:20 pm

        Hi Nikki,
        Thanks for your kind feedback. Your words really made my day! Good luck with your kitchen adventure.

        Reply
    4. Marjorie Merchant

      April 28, 2016 at 3:49 am

      Been looking for a recipe for Salt and Pepper shrimp and thjis looks like a good one to try. Thanks.

      Reply
      • Elaine

        April 28, 2016 at 6:53 pm

        You are the most welcome, Marjorie!

        Reply
    5. Rich

      July 21, 2017 at 8:42 am

      I want to try this. Ordered at a local restaurant and was confused. Two questions:
      How do you devein with the shells on?
      Are you suppose to peel the shrimp before eating it?

      Thankyou
      Rich

      Reply
      • Elaine

        July 21, 2017 at 8:58 pm

        Yes, shrimp can be devein with the shells. I have introduced the skill in this post.
        Shells are just for seasonings, we lick the seasonings firstly and then peel it off.

        Reply
    6. Catherine

      August 01, 2017 at 12:36 am

      HI Elaine
      I found your blog by accident and I am so happy I did!
      I want to thank you for posting this recipe, I made it and my husband loved it. I used to order this dish at a little authentic Chinese restaurant and loved it. They closed and changed owners and the new people didn't make it the same. This tastes just like I remember!

      Reply
    7. James

      October 06, 2017 at 7:06 am

      5 stars
      Can you make this with the shell off

      Reply
      • Elaine

        October 06, 2017 at 9:18 am

        Yes. If you do not like the shells, you can make this with prawns.

        Reply
    8. Rebecca

      April 25, 2018 at 11:05 pm

      5 stars
      Amazing recipe! i really enjoyed it.

      Reply
    9. Sid

      April 27, 2018 at 9:25 pm

      5 stars
      I tried this recipe and it is wonderful! The only thing I changed was I added a few dried thai chilies to the oil along with the garlic to give it a little heat, but I don't think that made much difference either way other than adding a tiny bit of heat. This recipe was incredible - delicious, just the right amount of flavor and numbing from the szechuan pepper, and very easy. Definitely getting added to my regular rotation of recipes.

      Reply
    10. Andreas

      May 17, 2018 at 6:43 am

      5 stars
      Hi Elaine,

      maybe you could add a little bit of explanation to Chinese "Well Salt". I never heard the term before and found only one site in Germany that uses a similar method, albeit without a natural source of water but rather by pumping water into dry rock salt which is called "wet mining" (https://www.salzbergwerk.de/en/salt-mine/technical).

      The most salt I can find is either "rock salt" coming from dry mines or "sea salt" produced by evaporating sea water.

      Reply
      • Elaine

        May 18, 2018 at 9:52 am

        Andreas,
        Good point.
        In Sichuan cuisine, Sichuan salt is an extremely important seasoning. Unlike sea salt, which is produced by gradual solar evaporation from open air salt pans, the well salt in Sichuan actually has two types. One is crystallized from underground salty water (卤水) with the help of heating and the other type is rock salt, using the method you mentioned, pumping water to the rock salt to dissolve firstly and then re-crystallize. The well salt in Sichuan is not purified, so it contains more flavors.

        Reply
        • Andreas

          May 20, 2018 at 4:02 am

          Hi Elaine, thank you for the explanation.

          I'm not too confident, that I can get this kind of salt here. But just in case, how would that be called in Chinese? Google Translate suggested 好的盐. Is that correct?

          Reply
          • Elaine

            May 21, 2018 at 8:45 am

            Andreas,
            It is "井盐" in Chinese.

            Reply
            • Andreas

              May 23, 2018 at 5:13 am

              Haha, I see what the translation software did. It took "well" in the meaning of "good". That's funny 🙂 Thank you again Elaine. Now I don't have to embarrass myself when asking for this.

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