Honey Lime Garlic Shrimp

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Last minute dinner date plans? Hungry but too lazy to spend an hour in the kitchen? This recipe has you covered. One of the easiest, fastest, and yummiest meals in my repertoire.

This dish comes together in as fast as 15 minutes. More if you marinade the shrimp (and I will never not advise you to marinade if given the choice). But sometimes life is rough and you only got 15 minutes to make dinner. So LET’S START.

I’ve already ranted about the seafood industry in my soy-maple salmon recipe. You can learn about my opinions about it there, but I have an additional comment for shrimp. Unless you live right next to the coast, or you have a 100% reliable way of getting fresh-off-the-boat shrimp, do NOT buy ‘fresh’ shrimp from your grocery store.

I live in Montreal guys, there’s no such thing as ‘fresh’ shrimp. When caught, the fishermen freeze shrimp immediately to preserve freshness. Meaning that the shrimp you can get at your grocery store that is thawed out in those little Styrofoam packages are NOT fresh, since they’ve been previously frozen for who knows how many times. So the solution is: buy frozen shrimp!

Always read the packaging and make sure your food comes from a reliable source, and when in doubt buy frozen! I also recommend buying unpeeled but that’s a debate for another time because this is supposed to be a quick post lol.

Let’s get going.

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Honey Lime Garlic Shrimp

Course: Main Course
Keyword: easy dinner, honey garlic, shrimp

Ingredients

  • 450 g shrimp thawed*, peeled**, deveined (~1lb)
  • 3~4 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2~3 tbsp honey or maple syrup
  • 3 cloves garlic grated
  • 1 tsp ginger grated
  • Juice of half a lime or more to taste
  • 1 tbsp cooking oil more as needed
  • 2 stalks green onion chopped, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

  • Whisk together everything except the oil, green onion, and shrimp.
  • Marinade shrimp in the sauce for 15 min. Longer if possible. Keep the marinade for later when done***.
  • Heat a heavy skillet over medium high and add the oil. Pan sear the shrimp in batches, do not overcrowd the pan if you want a nice char on the shrimp.
  • Let cook on one side for 1~2 minutes, then flip once a golden crust forms.
  • Right after you flip to the other side, add the marinade you used into the pan. If the pan is hot and you have a wide surface there will be a lot of steam so make sure your kitchen fan is on!
  • Mix the shrimp with the sauce thoroughly, make sure to pick up all the little charred bits on the surface of the pan for more flavor.
  • Enjoy! Serve with lime wedges and top with green onion!

Notes

* If using frozen shrimp, take out the amount you need from the bag, submerge in cold (do not use hot) water, and let sit for around 30 min. Change out the water halfway. When defrosted, pat dry and shrimp is now ready to use. You can also thaw overnight in the fridge in a covered container.
** Save the shells in a bag in the freezer, and make shrimp stock once you’ve collected enough of them! 
*** A lot of recipes tell you to use half the marinade for the shrimp and reserve the rest to cook. You can do that (or just use all the sauce at the end if you don’t marinade the shrimp), but any harmful bacteria that the marinade would have after coming in contact with the raw shrimp will disappear if you let it boil for a minute. If you’re scared of overcooking the shrimp just take it out, cook the marinade and let it boil for a bit, then add the shrimp back in to coat.

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