This crispy hot honey shrimp is my new favorite shrimp recipe and it’s not even close. The crispy shrimp combined with the sweetness from the hot honey is a match made in heaven. This was also the first time I have ever tried hot honey and I will now be using it on everything.
Important steps for the crispiest hot honey shrimp
Use corn starch
In this recipe, I use corn as my only coating agent. I add corn starch into the marinade which will thicken it. The thicker marinade will make it easier for the corn starch coating to absorb afterwards.
From my experience, corn starch also creates a crispier batter that lasts even 30 minutes to an hour after cooking. The flour based coating will absorb more oil and soften faster.
Allow the coating to rest before frying
By allowing the corn starch to absorb the moisture from the shrimp and marinade, the batter will stick much better to the shrimp. This will also prevent any white spots and corn starch from falling off during the frying process. This step is crucial if you want perfectly golden colored shrimp using corn starch instead of flour.
Make sure your frying oil is hot enough
Since shrimp cook very quickly (about 2-3 minutes), it is important to get the correct color and crispiness on the shrimp in a short period of time. After experimenting with temperatures, I found that keeping the oil around 360F – 375F yields the best results in that short period of time.
Important ingredients for hot honey shrimp
Hot honey
The hot honey only consists of 3 ingredients. That is honey, hot sauce, and chili flakes. Depending on how spicy your hot sauce and chili flakes are, you should adjust ratios. I used the spiciest hot sauce I could find in my cabinet so I only added 1 tbsp. If you are using a hot sauce that is similar spice levels to franks or sriracha I would add at least 2 tbsp.
For the chili flakes, I added 1 tbsp of gochugaru which is a Korean red pepper flake that is quite mild in spice level. I use this ingredient a lot in my recipes and this is what it looks like:
Hot Honey Shrimp
Ingredients
Shrimp marinade
- 1 lb shrimp (u16-20)
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 large egg
- 2½ tbsp corn starch
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 tsp white pepper
Shrimp coating
- 1 cup corn starch
Hot honey
- ½ cup honey
- 1-2 tbsp hot sauce (depends on spice level)
- 1 tbsp chili flakes
Instructions
- Devein and shell your shrimp and place into a bowl along with the rest of the shrimp marinade ingredients.1 lb shrimp, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp salt, 1 large egg, 2½ tbsp corn starch, 3 cloves garlic, 1 tsp white pepper
- Let the shrimp marinate as long as you like.
- Completely coat shrimp in corn starch. I use a plastic bag to help coat all the shrimp at once.1 cup corn starch
- Allow the shrimp to rest 15 minutes. This will hydrate the corn starch making of an extra crispy texture that wont fall off.
- While you let the shrimp rest, make the hot honey by combining all the hot honey ingredients in a pan. Turn the heat up to medium and once it starts to bubble, remove and set aside for later.½ cup honey, 1-2 tbsp hot sauce, 1 tbsp chili flakes
- Fry the shrimp at 375F for 2-3 minutes until golden and crispy.
- Drizzle the hot honey on top of the shrimp and optionally top with chives.
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