Hunan Shrimp Recipe

This Hunan shrimp recipe recreates the region’s staple: plump shrimp and green beans coated in a savory, sweet, hot sauce.

What Is Hunan Shrimp?

Hunan (reads huːˈnæn) is a region in China known for its hot, spicy cuisine. No matter whether it's stewed, deep-fried, stir-fried, pot-roasted, braised, or smoked, the dishes are always fused with plenty of robust spices, especially dry chili powder.

Hunan shrimp is categorized as a saucy, spicy stir-fry. Shrimp is cooked with garlic and green beans, then simmered in a sauce made of soy sauce, oyster sauce, and chili bean paste.

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Our Hunan shrimp recipe isn’t spicy like the original, as we want everyone to be able to enjoy it. If you prefer it spicy, we’ll show you how to achieve the authentic heat in the ingredients section.

Hunan Shrimp vs. Szechuan Shrimp

Both cuisines are famous for using an abundance of hot chili peppers in their foods. However, Szechuan dishes (shrimp included) have Szechuan peppercorns, which taste citrus-like and give the tongue a tingly-numbing sensation. This experience is described as ‘mala’, and something many people love about the cuisine.

If you ever want to switch things up a bit, substitute the shrimp for some beef with our Hunan Beef Recipe.

Is This Recipe Healthy?

The spicy shrimp and green bean stir-fry is often served with cooked rice to make it a wholesome meal. It provides you with an array of necessary nutrients: proteins, fiber, carbohydrates, and tons of micronutrients.

Besides getting necessary nutrients, our definition of healthy eating also requires limiting your intake of calories, sodium, and saturated fat. The dish has almost zero saturated fat, but, being often seasoned with plenty of salt and served without a designated amount, it can contain high levels of sodium and calories.

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1. Sodium

By going easy on the salt, we designed each serving of the shrimp to yield just 595.3 mg sodium. Compared to the 2300 limitation the USDA suggests on sodium intake, this is a good amount for a main dish.

2. Calories

We also designed each portion of the dish to give you just around 500 calories, 478 to be exact. As you’ll be eating it with two side dishes, such a figure is quite reasonable.

You can check our healthy eating guidelines for a clearer view of what you should look out for in your foods.

Main Ingredients

1. Shrimp

This dish welcomes shrimp of all sizes. Personally, we prefer larger ones as they are equal in size to the green beans and hence improve the aesthetic.

To save time peeling, deveining, and removing the heads, you can look for prepared shrimp in the frozen food section. They often come in jumbo and large sizes.

2. Vegetables

Green beans are the classic option, but similarly green, crunchy vegetables that hold their shape after cooking work too. We can think of snap peas, asparagus, and broccoli.

If green beans are your preferred choice, it’s good practice to cut off the pointy ends. They have a bad texture when cooked and don’t do anything for the final presentation, either.

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3. Hunan Sauce

The sauce that brings everything together is composed of:

• Garlic: the cuisine often puts tons of it into its dishes. Only garlic, no onions — their aroma is replaced with green onions, garnished at the end.
• Rice vinegar and honey: it’s the balance between the tanginess and sweetness that makes the sauce so addictive. Rice vinegar is substitutable with white vinegar only, as other vinegars’ aromas don’t match.
• Oyster sauce and soy sauce: the main seasoning sauces of Chinese cooking, adding umami, saltiness, and a beautiful dark color — a good salt replacement.
• Ketchup: it’s a simple ingredient to give your dish an appetizing red color, especially for spicy foods. It also adds some tanginess.
• Sriracha and paprika: they’re easier to find than chili bean paste and give a warm sensation instead of intense heat. You can use the paste or the original ingredients in the same amounts (or more) for the authentic heat.
• Cornstarch slurry: we wanted the flavorful sauce to cling onto the shrimp and green beans, so we used this ingredient. Making it with chicken broth gives more flavor, but you can use plain water instead — the difference should be subtle.

As with most Chinese dishes, the finishing touches include chopped green onions and some toasted sesame seeds. 

How to Store and Reheat the Leftover

Keep this stir-fry in the fridge and try to consume it within 4 days. Or freeze it for up to 6 months, and label it, so you know when it expires.

Saucy dishes are difficult to remove from their container once frozen. We find using Ziplocs or biodegradable bags makes the task much easier.

Reheat the dish in a saucepan for 3-4 minutes if refrigerated and 7-8 if frozen.

Cooked rice can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days and is best reheated by microwaving or steaming. Rice shouldn’t be frozen, as it loses its delicious fluffy texture when thawed.

What to Serve

We toned down the robust flavors with a hearty cabbage potato soup with juicy slices of carrot and white radish. Next, we served a glass of chilled, sweet-and-tangy green grape juice with the meal to round it off.

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These Shrimp Recipes Are Also Worth a Try!

• Firecracker Shrimp Recipe
• Oven-Baked Shrimp Recipe
• Pineapple Shrimp Recipe
• Cajun Shrimp and Rice Recipe

Hunan Shrimp Recipe

5 from 1 vote

This Hunan shrimp recipe combines shrimp, green beans, and a range of amazing flavors. This delicious meal takes less than 20 minutes.

- by Tuyet Pham, Luna Regina, 2021-12-20

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• cook TIME 12 mins
• prep TIME 5 mins
• total TIME 17 mins

• COURSE Main Course
• CUISINE Chinese, Hunanese
• SERVINGS
  4

  servings
• CALORIES 478 kcal

INGREDIENTS

1x2x3x

• 12 oz peeled shrimp (from 24 oz whole shrimp)
• 8 oz green beans (both ends trimmed)
• 2 oz green onions (chopped)
• 2 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp oyster sauce
• 2 tsp sriracha
• 1 tbsp garlic (about 3 cloves, minced)
• 2 tbsp canola oil (divided)
• 2 tsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp honey
• 1/2 cup unsalted chicken broth
• 1 tsp Heinz ketchup
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds (toasted)
• 3 1/2 cups cooked medium-grain rice

INSTRUCTIONS

Image instructions

1

In a bowl, combine 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tsp rice vinegar, 2 tsp sriracha, 1 tsp honey, 1 tsp ketchup, 1/2 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp oyster sauce with 2 tsp cornstarch. Slowly dilute the mixture with 1/2 cup chicken broth and set aside.

2

Heat 1 tbsp canola oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Sauté 8 oz green beans for about 3 minutes, stir constantly, then set aside.

3

Add the remaining oil (1 tbsp) and sauté 1 tbsp minced garlic for about 30 seconds.

4

Add 12 oz peeled shrimp and stir to cook for 3 minutes.

5

Pour in the sauce. Let simmer for 1 minute.

6

Add the green beans back and reduce for another minute or until the sauce reaches your desired consistency.

7

Remove the skillet from the heat and garnish with 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds and 2 oz chopped green onions. Enjoy with 3 1/2 cups cooked rice.

NUTRITION

Nutrition Facts

Hunan Shrimp Recipe

Amount Per Serving (1 serving)

Calories 478Calories from Fat 81

% Daily Value*

Fat 9g

14%

Saturated Fat 1g

6%

Polyunsaturated Fat 3g

Monounsaturated Fat 5g

Cholesterol 274mg

91%

Sodium 595mg

26%

Potassium 687mg

20%

Carbohydrate 57g

19%

Fiber 3g

13%

Sugar 5g

6%

Protein 41g

82%

Vitamin A 656IU

13%

Vitamin C 10mg

12%

Calcium 170mg

17%

Iron 5mg

28%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Keywords: how to make hunan shrimp, hunan shrimp, hunan shrimp recipe