Vietnamese Easy Garlic Shrimp Recipe
by This Vietnamese Easy Garlic Shrimp is hands down my favorite way to cook shrimp. Golden seared on the outside, juicy inside, and drenched in spicy chili garlic sauce. You can have this Paleo, Whole30, and Keto Garlic Shrimp stir-fry all year round!
Pair the sweet juicy garlic jumbo shrimp with my Vietnamese air fried chicken wings and Shirataki noodle salad for a fantastic food feast!
This Vietnamese Easy Garlic Shrimp is a total crowd pleaser to make all year round. Healthy and easy Paleo shrimp recipe packs with loads of flavor. Pair the spicy garlic shrimp with a side of broccoli fried rice or Instant Pot mashed sweet potatoes for a low carb, Whole30, and Paleo meal!
Vietnamese Easy Garlic Shrimp With Big Flavors!
My easy garlic shrimp stir-fry is inspired by Vietnamese Tom Rim – Vietnamese caramelized shrimp recipe. It’s an easy stir-fried shrimp dish with a sweet and savory sauce. I omitted the sugar in the traditional recipes because coconut aminos naturally taste sweeter and once the sauce hits the hot skillet the caramelization turns the sauce sweet naturally.
To make a really awesome Spicy Garlic Shrimp Vietnamese-style, you’ll need to pre-heat the skillet really well. If you aren’t sure how to pre-heat your skillet, check out the article I wrote about how to make the best pan-seared beef stir-fry. I talked about how to properly prepare your skillet and test the temperature for the perfect sear!
This easy garlic shrimp stir-fry literally takes minutes to make! The only time you need is probably waiting for the shrimp to get marinated. I recommend that you marinate the shrimp for 30 minutes before stir-frying.
The bold flavor of this garlic shrimp recipe comes from the fragrant oil with garlic, chili, and scallions. My grandmother always says that once you fragrant oil it then further fragrant everything else. So don’t be shy away from using tons of aromatics. I remove the seeds of the chili peppers so they are mainly for color purposes. It won’t be that spicy. :))
Sometimes, you’ll also find people use shallots to replace scallions. I think both are interchangeable so feel free to swap the ingredients.
Is shrimp on the Whole30 diet?
Yes. Shrimp is Whole30 friendly. Shrimp is easy to prepare and an excellent source of lean protein. My Vietnamese easy garlic shrimp, Shrimp and zucchini noodle pasta, and Chinese jumbo shrimp stir-fry are all low carb, keto, paleo, and Whole30.
Pair This Stir-Fried Vietnamese Garlic Shrimp With These Side Dishes:
- Chinese garlic smashed cucumbers
- Japanese spinach salad
- Chinese carrot-celery slaw
- Bok choy dim sum
- Baby bok choy stir-fry with shiitake
- Chinese broccoli stir-fry
- Snow pea leaves stir-fry
- Chinese mustard greens
- More side dishes here
If you give this Vietnamese Easy Garlic Shrimp a try, please rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’ll help more people see my blog so that I can continue sharing more healthy and delicious Asian-inspired Paleo recipes with you! Thanks in advance!
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Vietnamese Easy Garlic Shrimp (Paleo, Whole30, Keto)
Ingredients
Vietnamese easy garlic shrimp marinade:
- 1 lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 2 tsp garlic, minced (about 1 clove)
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- ⅛ tsp coarse sea salt
Other:
- 0.8 oz. garlic, minced (about 4 cloves)
- 3 bulbs scallions, diced and use only white & pale green parts
- 1.5 oz. red serrano or fresno chili peppers, deseeded and finely chopped
- 4 tbsp avocado oil, divided
- 1 tbsp I Heart Umami Vegetarian Oyster Sauce, or 1 tbsp coconut aminos
- Small handful Cilantro leaves, chopped. Optional
Instructions
- Butterfly shrimp by inserting a knife about three-quarters of the way into shrimp near the head and cut nearly all the way down the center of the shrimp’s back to the tail.
- Combine shrimp with garlic, fish sauce, and salt in a bowl. Cover and marinate for 30 minutes.
- In the meantime, prepare garlic, scallions, and chili peppers. Set them in one bowl.
- Preheat a wok or stainless steel skillet over medium-high heat until it feels too hot to place your palm near the surface (about 2-3 inches away from the skillet), add 2 tbsp oil. Swil to distribute the oil evenly.
- Turn the heat to high. Be careful the splatter. Add shrimp and try to distribute them in one even layer. Fry about 2 minutes without touching then flip to cook 1 minute additional. Set them aside in a medium size serving plate.
- Your skillet should be dry (not waterat this point before moving onto the next step.
- While the skillet is still hot, over medium-high heat, add 2 tbsp oil. Add garlic, scallions, and chili. Season with a pinch of salt and saute the aromatics until fragrant, about 10 seconds.
- Add vegetarian oyster sauce and quickly stir-fry the sauce with the aromatics for about 5 seconds. Off heat, spoon the mixture along with the oil over the shrimp.
- Garnish with cilantro, if using. Serve with steamed white rice (for gluten-free meal) or cauliflower rice (low carb).
Notes
- In the winter, cover the sautéed shrimp with a foil wrap to keep warm while you make the sauce.
- If you aren’t sure how to preheat your skillet, check out this article.
- You can also garnish the dish with chopped green scallion parts.
- I use my homemade vegetarian oyster sauce (made with shiitake) for extra flavor and depth. I highly recommend that you give this sauce a try. If in a hurry, use coconut aminos instead.
Nutrition
More healthy and delicious Paleo recipes:
- Halibut Lemon Piccata (Paleo, Whole30, Keto)
- Paleo Salmon Cakes (Paleo, Whole30, Keto)
- Stir-Fried Beef in Oyster Sauce (Paleo, Whole30, Gluten-Free)
- Thai Larb (Paleo, Whole30, Keto)
- Paleo Asian Chicken Cabbage Salad (Paleo, Whole30)
- Thai Basil Beef Stir-Fry (Paleo, Whole30, Keto)
- Paleo Asian Coleslaw
- Keto shrimp avocado salad
- Chinese shrimp and broccoli stir-fry!
- Thai cauliflower fried rice with shrimp!
- Vietnamese dipping sauce (Nuoc Cham) (Paleo, Whole30, Keto)
The shrimp was delicious even though my shrimp gave out a lot of water in the wok and I couldn’t get them to sear. Thank you for another great recipe it’s amazing the flavours just a few simple aromatics bring to the dish.
That’s wonderful! Get the pan hot before adding ingredients are quite important. If the pan is hot (but not to a smoke point), it cooks quickly and sears the shrimp quickly, too before they start getting watery.
I loved this recipe. So tasty and so fast! The description of how to cook the shrimp was great. It was the best I’ve ever done cooking shrimp. The taste was also so good. I ate it three different ways due to leftovers and it was delicious every time!! I did a zoom cook along with two friends and they both loved their dishes as well. Highly recommend these shrimp!
Thank you. It’s a classic example how a few simple ingredients can really make a difference!
Great recipe and it was fantastic with your broccoli rice! My husband and I are trying to change our eating habits and this was a great start to our journey.
So happy to hear. Thank you, Leah!
I wanted to say, i’ve made this dish 3-4 times as is and it is just delicious and easy. Tonight I decide instead of shrimp i wanted to use up my salmon and i just cut the salmon into 1-inch pieces and followed the recipe as written and it turned out so good. Such a great way to get more salmon into my diet.
Thank you!
Thank you so much, Nadia! I love salmon, too! I’m gonna try it with salmon just like you recommended!
Delicious! Lots of flavor and easy to make. Everyone enjoyed. This is another keeper.
Thank you so much!
Another great recipe as usual, thanks for doing what you do I love your website.
Thank you so much, Rishi! Appreciate it!
I love the idea of quick and easy recipes like this!
This garlic shrimp is SO GOOD! I can’t believe how simple it is to make this dish. We love seafood and always happy to find a new way to enjoy it. What a lovely simple dish to make and full of flavor. Thank you, Chihyu!
This looks so fresh and full of delicious flavours! Love how juicy that shrimp looks, I can’t wait to try it!
I really love this recipe. It has lots of flavors and those shrimps look amazing!
Delicious shrimp recipe that looks extremely easy to follow! In fact, I’ve got to check if you’ve got more shrimp recipes because I would want to try them all! This one in particular looks amazing!
Thanks so much, Mirlene!
I love an easy stir fry recipe with shrimp! The flavors in this are spot on 🙂
This looks so dreamy! Love all the garlic here and any excuse to break out my fish sauce makes me so happy!
What a great dish this is. Full of flavor in here. Thanks a lot for this
Soooo delicious!! I can’t stop eating them!! Thank you for this wonderful recipe!!
Drooling at this! Love Asian shrimp dishes and this looks fantastic. Love how easily it all comes together!
Thank you, Jean!
10 out of 10! Loved the heat from the fresno chili and that vegetarian oyster sauce! Will make this again.
Thanks so much. I’m so happy to hear that!
This looks so good! I can’t believe it’s healthy too! Yum!
What a beautiful meal! Plus, I love hearing what your grandmother told you, how sweet.
Thanks, Megan. I miss her very much. 🙂
Sounds super easy and delicious! Can’t wait to try it! 🙂