How to Make the Honey Walnut Shrimp Sauce
I like to start out by making the homemade sweet sauce. You can quickly whip it up and then keep it stored in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it.
- Combine the ingredients. Add the paleo approved mayonnaise, honey, fresh lemon juice, and (optionally) cayenne pepper to a bowl and mix to combine.
- Refrigerate. Refrigerate the sauce until ready to use.
How to Make Candied Honey Walnuts
Once the sauce is in the refrigerator, you can preheat your oven and turn your attention to the candied walnuts:
- Preheat the oven. Preheat your oven to 320℉.
- Roast the walnuts. Add the walnuts to a baking pan and roast for approximately 8-10 minutes. Make sure not to burn them as this will result in a bitter sauce. Set aside once done.
- Boil the water and honey. Add water and honey to a small saucepan and heat over medium high heat. Bring to a boil.
- Cook. Cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until the liquid has mostly evaporated.
- Add the walnuts. Stir the roasted walnuts into the honey mixture.
- Set aside. Arrange the walnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and set aside.
How to Prep the Shrimp for Cooking
Keep the following tips in mind when you’re prepping the shrimp to make this recipe:
- Check for freshness. The first thing you’ll want to do is check to make sure that the shrimp are fresh. Avoid cooking with shrimp that give off an ammonia-like odor or that are already partly orange in some parts.
- Rinse the shrimp in fresh cold water.
- Remove the shell. Gently pull the legs and shell off the shrimp. You can also remove the tail if you would like.
- Remove the vein. Make a shallow cut on the back of the shrimp and use a small knife or a toothpick to pull out the vein.
- Keep shrimp in ice water. After prepping, keep your prepared shrimp in a bowl of ice water until you’re ready to cook them.
How to Make Honey Walnut Shrimp
Lastly, you’ll be putting it all together with the shrimp until it’s nicely glazed with the egg mixture:
- Whisk together the egg and tapioca starch. Whisk the egg white in a shallow dish then add the tapioca starch. Keep mixing until the mixture is smooth without any clumps. This is the secret to that outer coating on the shrimp.
- Preheat the cooking skillet. Add ¼ cup of olive oil to a large non-stick skillet and heat over medium high heat.
- Toss the fresh shrimp in the egg white mixture.
- Cook the shrimp. Cook the shrimp in batches at 2 minutes per side.
- Finish it off. Add the cooked shrimp, candied walnuts, and the prepared sweet sauce to a large bowl and toss to combine.
- (Optional) Garnish. Sprinkle with sliced green onion and sesame seeds if using.
- Serve. Serve with cauliflower rice (click here for details on how to make homemade cauliflower rice).
Can I Use Frozen Shrimp for This Recipe?
In the event that you can’t get your hands on fresh shrimp, it’s perfectly fine to use frozen shrimp as a replacement.
If you’re using frozen shrimp, prepping them would be slightly different from the instructions outlined above. I would thaw the frozen shrimp out first until they’re almost completely thawed but still plenty chilled.
Or to save on a lot of prep time, you could simply use frozen shrimp that’s already been peeled and deveined.
(You may also like: Sheet Pan Shrimp with Zucchini Noodles)
