Hot and Spicy Shrimp (Jalapeño Pepper Shrimp)

Recently our favorite Chinese restaurant in town closed because of a fire inside the kitchen. Luckily, no one was hurt and they are planning to reopen. But that means we’re on our own to recreate our favorite dishes, like this hot and spicy shrimp stir fry! I’ve also seen it labeled as “Jalapeño Pepper Shrimp” but no matter what you call it, this hot and spicy shrimp dish is a FAVORITE around my house.

This dish has minimal ingredients and whips up quickly. Don’t worry if you’re not a huge fan of spicy food, because jalapeños don’t bring a ton of heat. You can also temper the heat down by using less jalapeños, or removing all the seeds and membranes as this is where most of the heat lies.

Hot and Spicy Shrimp Ingredients

There’s really nothing fancy here, but there is one ingredient that you might not be familiar with – Shaoxing Wine.

Don’t skip the Shaoxing wine

This Chinese cooking wine can be found in the Asian aisle of your grocery store, at an Asian market, or on Amazon. We LOVE shaoxing wine because it creates such a delicious flavor in this hot and spicy shrimp stir fry. We also add it to our fried rice, dumpling filling, to deglaze our pan when making stir fries, to marinate beef and pork….it’s truly a staple around here. Definitely pick up a bottle of this so you can elevate your at-home Asian cooking!

Other than the Chinese cooking wine, you’ll need thawed shrimp, sesame oil, soy sauce, scallions, garlic, jalapeños, and a bit of brown sugar and cornstarch. That’s it!

You won’t believe how much flavor this jalapeño pepper shrimp stir fry has with just these simple ingredients!

How to Make Hot Pepper Shrimp

You’ll start by cleaning and rinsing your thawed shrimp. Pat shrimp dry with a paper towel, and lightly sprinkle with the cornstarch, gently stirring to coat.

Heat a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add sesame oil, and once hot, add in the coated shrimp in a single layer. Cook for 2-3 minutes per side until shrimp is plump and cooked through.

While the hot and spicy shrimp is cooking, prepare your sauce. Mix together water, soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine and brown sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.

Once shrimp are cooked, remove from pan and set aside.

Return the same pan to heat and drizzle in more sesame oil. Add the garlic, scallions, and jalapeño to your skillet.

Saute aromatics until fragrant and lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Make sure to stir constantly so nothing sticks. Your kitchen will start to smell so good at this point!

Once fragrant, you’ll add the shrimp back to the pan, and then add in the sauce.

Stir the mixture for about one minute, until the sauce starts to thicken and coat the shrimp.

That’s it! Serve with your favorite steamed rice, cauliflower rice, or with a side of vegetables.

Hot and spicy shrimp is a “dry” stir-fry, which means there isn’t a lot of sauce. If you like your stir fry with a lot of sauce to drizzle over rice, you can easily double the sauce!

FAQ

What is a good Shaoxing Rice Wine Substitute?

To be honest, none of these substitutes will be a perfect match, but are considered good Shaoxing rice wine subsititutes:

• Dry sherry – Easily found in the grocery store, a simple dry sherry can be a good Shaoxing rice wine substitute.
• Mirin – This is a Japanese cooking wine. Mirin has quite a bit of sugar, so if you use this, please know that your hot and spicy shrimp sauce will taste sweeter.
• Cooking sake or Japanese rice wine – these would be an acceptable substitute for Shaoxing rice wine, but has a milder flavor.

If you love spicy Asian flavors, give my gochujang pork or my spicy beef noodle soup a try!