This 20 minute honey garlic shrimp is a reader favorite recipe. It’s extra quick, very simple, and delivers big flavor. Served with brown rice and vegetables or over a salad, this healthy dish is sure to join your regular dinner rotation.
Are you looking for a super quick, yet flavorful dinner this week? We have it right here for you. This saucy shrimp owes a lot of its flavor to a bold marinade of honey, soy sauce, and garlic, which is music to everyone’s taste buds. For a little extra flavor, we add some minced fresh ginger, but that’s entirely optional.
Video Tutorial
Tell Me About This Honey Garlic Shrimp
- Flavor: The marinade is loaded with flavor, but our favorite part of this dish is the beautiful caramelized bits of honey and garlic stuck to the pan and edges of the shrimp. Scrape it all up to serve because you don’t want to miss those flavorful bites.
- Ease: Regardless of your skill level, this is a very easy dinner recipe. Prepare the marinade, use half for marinating the shrimp, then use the rest as the sauce for cooking the shrimp. It’s convenient that the marinade is also the sauce—we do this for our maple sesame salmon and honey garlic soy glazed salmon recipes too.
- Time: The shrimp takes 5 minutes to cook on the stove, while the marinating takes another 15. You’ll have this unbelievably tasty and simple meal on your table in about 20 minutes.
Choosing the Right Ingredients for Honey Garlic Shrimp
- Shrimp. You can use fresh or frozen raw shrimp. Thaw the shrimp completely before starting. Be sure to peel and devein the shrimp first. You can leave the tails on or remove if desired. If using already cooked shrimp, see recipe note below.
- Honey + garlic + soy. This marinade/sauce is packed with so much glorious flavor and is inspired by some wonderful flavors often used in Asian cuisine. (We also LOVE this honey soy glazed salmon from Omnivore’s Kitchen.)
- Green onions. This optional garnish adds freshness and a nice color contrast.
Overview: How to Make 20 Minute Honey Garlic Shrimp
The full printable recipe is below, but let’s walk through it so you understand each step before you get started.
- Make your marinade.
- Marinate the shrimp. Combine marinade and shrimp and marinate for at least 15 minutes or up to 8-12 hours. We usually only marinate it for about 15 minutes and during this time, you could prepare your side dishes such as steamed vegetables and instant brown rice.
- Cook the shrimp. Cook shrimp in a little olive oil, then flip and pour in the remaining sauce until cooked through.
- Garnish. Top with green onions and serve.
More Favorite Dinner Recipes
- Pesto Shrimp
- Baked Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken
- Sausage Stuffed Peppers
- Walnut Crusted Chicken
- Crab Cakes
- Cilantro Lime Chicken
- Creamy Garlic Chicken
- Zucchini Fritters or Corn Fritters
- Apple Cider Chicken
- Baked Lemon Garlic Salmon
20 Minute Honey Garlic Shrimp
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: serves 4
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This 20 minute honey garlic shrimp is a reader favorite recipe. It’s extra quick, very simple, and delivers big flavor. Served with brown rice and vegetables or over a salad, this healthy dish is sure to join your regular dinner rotation.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/4 cup soy sauce (we usually use reduced sodium)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced (or 1 teaspoon jarred minced garlic)
- optional: 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
- 1 lb medium uncooked shrimp, peeled & deveined
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- optional for garnish: chopped green onion
Instructions
- Whisk the honey, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger (if using) together in a medium bowl. You will use half for the marinade in step 2 and half for cooking the shrimp in step 3.
- Place shrimp in a large sealable container or zipped-top bag. Pour 1/2 of the marinade/sauce mixture on top, give it all a shake or stir, then allow shrimp to marinate in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or for up to 8-12 hours. Cover and refrigerate the rest of the marinade for step 3. (Time-saving tip: while the shrimp is marinating, we usually steam broccoli and microwave some quick brown rice.)
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Place shrimp in the skillet. (Discard used marinade.) Cook shrimp on one side until pink, about 45 seconds, then flip shrimp over. Pour in remaining marinade/sauce and cook it all until shrimp is cooked through, about 1-2 more minutes.
- Serve shrimp with cooked marinade sauce and a garnish of green onion. The sauce is excellent on brown rice and steamed vegetables on the side.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowls | Skillet
- Thicken the sauce? Some readers add 1 teaspoon of cornstarch to the second half of the sauce that will be used for cooking in step 3. This thickens the sauce so it isn’t as watery. To do this, use a fork to mix 1 teaspoon of cornstarch with 1 teaspoon warm water. Once cornstarch has dissolved, stir this into the sauce before using it in step 3.
- Garlic: If using fresh garlic that you mince yourself, use 2 cloves. If using refrigerated jarred minced garlic, use 1 teaspoon (or more, to taste).
- Shrimp: You can remove the tail or leave it on. We recommend using fresh shrimp, but you can use frozen. Thaw before marinating and cooking. If using frozen cooked shrimp, thaw, marinate, and cook as directed. You’ll really just be heating the shrimp up in the sauce.
- Consuming leftover marinade is a debated topic. While you could boil it to rid any contamination, the flavor could possibly change. Do what you’d like. In this recipe we only use half of the sauce for the marinade so we have more for cooking. (We discard the used marinade in step 3.)
Reader Comments and Reviews
I made this tonight. It came out excellent. Thanks. Only problem was I forgot to put it back in the fridge and it was out for 4 hours. Would it be safe to eat the leftovers tomorrow?
Great recipe! We used the corn starch and thickened the sauce and just tossed the shrimp on top of a nice green salad for a quick Friday night meal. Pair with a nice white wine spritzer (St. Germain, Sauvignon Blanc, Soda Water) and we had a wonderful spring dinner.
I couldn’t help but try this recipe when it takes so little time. I didn’t use ginger and we had a package of frozen shrimp that we used. There were no leftovers! Delicious! We only marinated for the 15 minutes and the flavors were wonderful. We served over brown rice and had steamed carrots. Since the shrimp were already cooked, I skipped the oil in the skillet and just poured the marinade in with the shrimp to make sure heated through. Another wonderful recipe! Thanks!
Totally worth peeling raw shrimp for! The sauce is amazing, will definitely be making this again!
The sauce was delicious. I will definitely be trying it again. I left the shrimp in the marinade for about 12 hours before cooking. I might even use chicken next time. 10/10 would eat again !
can i cook them in oven(sheet pan)?
Hi Bessie, we haven’t tried baking this shrimp before but a hot oven for a short amount of time would be best. For best results, though, we recommend sticking with a skillet and cooking on the stove.
I have always thought that 15-20 minutes was enough time to marinade shrimp and that leaving it longer makes it tough. I’m making this tonight and am afraid of marinating longer than 15-20 minutes as I don’t want my beautiful red Argentine shrimp to be tough, yet I want the flavors to be infused. Any thoughts?
Hi Brenda, we’ve marinated the shrimp for as little as 15 minutes and find it still has excellent flavor. Use your best judgement here!
I love to bake and I’ve enjoyed the recipes here but I love seafood too. When I saw the shrimp recipe I had to check it out. I was not disappointed. This recipe packs a strong punch for only having a few ingredients. It’s also quick, easy to make and tasty too! Thank you Sally!
No sorry I did this tonight and it was terrible. There was not enough sauce, shrimp tasted “shrimpy” had an awful taste. Served it with Brocolli and rice and it just did not mesh together. I tried tp dp something different and it was a HUGE mistake. Never again. Terrible recipe, sorry…
Made this for dinner tonight. I used sesame oil instead of vegetable oil to cook the shrimp. I also added the optional ginger to the marinade. I marinated for about an hour and felt that the flavor was sufficiently infused. After the shrimp was cooked, I removed them to a serving dish and thickened the remaining pan sauce with the cornstarch slurry then poured over the shrimp. I did this so that the shrimp would not be over cooked. I served this with white rice and green beans sautéed in sesame oil, soy sauce and minced garlic. It was a big hit with my family. I love the flavor of sesame oil so next time I might drizzle some over the thickened sauce before I pour it over the cooked shrimp. The sauce is really delicious over rice! Maybe it was the honey I used but I did not feel it was too sweet as I’ve seen some people say. Thanks for this great recipe!! It’s being added to our weeknight dinner rotation!
We were in a hurry so only marinated for the minimum 15 minutes which wasn’t enough for the flavors to infuse. Will let the shrimp soak for a few hours next time. Some have mentioned corn starch to thicken, which is a great idea. I ended up cooking for a few extra minutes to reduce the sauce, but of course that overcooked the shrimp (rookie mistake! ). Finally, will add ginger the next time to add a little complexity.
Having said all that, my wife absolutely loved it and it was 4 stars for me. Definitely a keeper.
I’ve made diffrent versions of this recipe and are all so tasty. I recommend removing the shrimp from the pan after cooking it and then reducing the marinade in the pan before adding the shrimp. Then you won’t even need the cornstarch to thicken it.
I’m making this tonight, but since all the sauce will be cooked after marinating the shrimp, why dispose of the marinade?
Hi Debbie! Consuming leftover marinade is a debated topic. While you could boil it to rid any contamination, the flavor could possibly change. Do what you’d like and are most comfortable with. In this recipe we only use half of the sauce for the marinade so we have more for cooking. (We discard the used marinade in step 3.) Hope you enjoy this recipe!
Very tasty I enjoyed it and easy-to-follow recipe I’m not a crook like I was my first time and very good I could do with a woman’s touch p**
I made this last night for dinner with rice and carrot and it was amazing It was fast , easy and full of flavor only used 1/2 the marinade and the ginger gave it a tangy flavor. My husbands loved it too.
I’ve been coming to this site for the oatmeal cream pies recipe for years. I had no idea you had recipes for dinner as well.
I wanted a quick and easy recipe for shrimp, and I originally found another website. Halfway through, I saw that it was inspired by, lo and behold, a Sally’s Baking Addiction recipe, aka this one. I wish I had just found this page first, because the other site didn’t mention using only 1/2 the marinade at a time and that the ginger wasn’t nearly as necessary.
Anyways, I’m impressed with how the inspired recipe turned out, and when I use only your recipe tomorrow with less ginger, I know this’ll be 5 stars.
Thank you for doing what you’ve been doing for the past several years.
Very flavorful for such a short ingredient list. I paired this with steam-in-bag edamame and rice from the freezer. Delicious and super quick to come together. Thanks!
would it be a problem to use cooked shrimp?
Hi Jocelyn! If using frozen cooked shrimp, thaw, marinate, and cook as directed. You’ll really just be heating the shrimp up in the sauce. See the recipe notes for details.
Very good!! The sauce works great on chicken & pork. It can be a bit sweet for some…..Just add some kind of acidity to sauce in pan. NOT TO MARINADE!
for seafood I recommend lemon juice or dry white wine ( about 2-3 TBLS) to taste. Poultry or pork I recommend white wine, or a few splashes of vinegar. Red pepper flakes works great if you like a bit of heat. Works well with firm tofu.
Very good recipe. A little too sweet for my taste. Next time I plan on trying some red pepper flakes to kick it up a notch.
I used Lawrey’s pineapple teriyaki marinade instead of soy and added the honey and garlic. Also added lemon when serving which really added another dimension to the sauce. It was so so good!!
Good! I had no honey or soy sauce, so I used agave nectar and coconut aminos, same amounts. Sautéed frozen cauliflower rice, frozen green beans, and a fresh bell pepper in sesame oil, coconut oil and togarashi spice. Added the marinated shrimp and like others added a bit of corn starch to thicken sauce. Added salt and pepper throughout cooking.
I love this recipe. I have made it plenty times before, and it is so satisfying to me. Thank you!
Easy recipe. I added a little red crushed pepper flakes and threw in some fresh green beans.
I sautéed with coconut oil which was divine (think coconut fried shrimp)
I loved it and so did my boyfriend. Made with broccoli and brown rice. He is making it for himself tomorrow!
Me and my hubby loved it.
I did season my shrimp with goya seasoning.
I also added a shallot to the sauce and snap peas to the shrimp. Served it with brown basmati rice and broccolini. I will be making this again.
This was really delicious! Added a teaspoon of corn starch to the extra sauce and tossed it in the last 30 sec. of sauteeing. Made a bacon fried rice to serve with the shrimp. Will make again!
This is my new favorite dish. I am a sucker for honey and garlic so this checks all the right boxes. The flavors are so good. Best shrimp I’ve made! I used a 90 second microwave brown rice package and worked out really well!
Not sure why this recipe is do highly rated. It is quick, which is nice. I put it over sushi rice. I just think there are far more authentic and flavorful (and as quick) shrimp recipes. My family rated it “ehh..mediocre..don’t make again.” And that is with fresh garlic and ginger.
Agreed. Easy but not great.
Great flavors!
We love sauce so….
I doubled the sauce in a pot so I would have some to pour over rice and shrimp. I just seared the shrimp after marinating without adding the sauce. It was super delicious.
Delish!!! I added Broccoli to my shrimp and sauce. Also, I used a little Cajun seasoning to bring a little spice and heat.
We love this dish, I make it often for me and my daughter! I’ve thought the sauce was a bit thin but I see I should just add corn starch so I’ll do that next time. So easy, so tasty, so healthy!