Bursting with a tangy and sweet flavor, this Sweet and Sour Shrimp is ready in 20 minutes and made with no processed sugar. It is also lower in sodium and fat than restaurant versions!

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Enjoy the flavors of takeout without the heft, sodium, and processed sugar with this Sweet and Sour Shrimp Recipe! This dish is ready in under 25 minutes, family-friendly, and loaded with juicy pineapple, sweet peppers, and tender shrimp. Make it for dinner tonight!

A few months ago, when writing shrimp recipes for my new cookbook, I realized that I had yet to share a shrimp recipe on the blog. I've been so caught up in my love affair with salmon that shrimp totally passed my mind.

But, after testing multiple versions of the shrimp scampi for the cookbook, I realized that shrimp deserves a little bit of my heart -- and space on the blog -- too.

So today I'm setting out to set right this wrong. I figure there's no better way to do it than share this Sweet and Sour Shrimp recipe with you.

Sweet and sour dishes and stir-fries are something I enjoyed often as a kid but tended to steer away from as an adult. Often deep-fried and full of sodium (and possibly MSG) when served in restaurants, they're dishes that usually leave me not feeling so great after the meal.

So, I decided to design a recipe that has all the flavor of takeout or restaurant sweet and sour shrimp while being more nutritious and made with whole foods.

One that instead of leaving me with a food coma, would energize and sustain me.

Starting with pineapple juice as a base, I created a sauce that had just enough reduced-sodium soy sauce for umami, apple cider vinegar for tang, and toasted sesame oil for savoriness. Instead of using processed white sugar, I rounded the sauce out with raw honey and ground ginger -- two naturally sweet ingredients that also add delicious dimension.

Let's also not forget a final squeeze of sriracha into the sauce. Enough to add a kick, but not bowl you over.

Finally, when you have a sauce this good there's really no reason to have to deep fry your shrimp. Instead, we give it a quick stir-fry over high heat, leaving it tender and delicious. Toss this shrimp in the sauce with stir-fried peppers and onions and canned pineapple and we are good to go.

Serve this dish over freshly steamed white or brown rice -- or heat some up from frozen for ultra convenience -- and we have a recipe that I am more than excited to share as my first shrimp recipe on the blog! I hope you enjoy it, friend. 💖

This shrimp stir-fry recipe is...

• Ready in 20 minutes
• Bursting with a tangy and sweet flavor
• Processed sugar-free
• Lower in sodium and fat
• Made with clean ingredients
• Rich in protein
• Family-friendly

If you're looking for a new healthy dinner idea, this recipe is for you!

Recipe ingredients:

This list of recipe ingredients looks long, but please don't let it scare you! Many of the ingredients are either pantry staples or easy to find vegetables.

• Pineapple juice - naturally sweetens the sauce
• Canned Pineapple - strain the juice out for the sauce and use the chunks for the stir-fry (see my notes below for more on this!)
• Apple cider vinegar
• Reduced-sodium soy sauce
• Ginger powder - for natural sweetness with a little kick!
• Toasted sesame oil - adds savory notes to the sauce, balancing it out
• Honey - preferably raw. Regular honey works as well, though.
• Sriracha - adjust the amount used to your liking
• Cornstarch
• Avocado or coconut oil - or any other mild oil that can handle high heat
• Sweet onion
• Sweet pepper - red, orange, or yellow are perfect
• Green onions
• Raw peeled & deveined shrimp, tails removed - use raw shrimp. See my notes below on how to remove the tails if you can't find tailless shrimp removed (like I experienced)
• Cilantro (optional) - we'll be using it as a garnish; use if you please!
• Steamed rice - see my notes below on how to prepare this quickly

Ingredient substitutions

• Coconut liquid aminos - substitute this for soy sauce to make this recipe gluten-free
• Agave syrup - works as a replacement for the honey. The flavor will be slightly different if you use this, but it will still be sweet and tart
• Frozen pineapple - you can use frozen pineapple in place of canned. Just stir-fry them with the vegetables during the last few minutes of their cooking time and continue with the rest of the recipe as directed
• Vegetables - thinly sliced carrots, celery, more sweet peppers, or broccoli all work in this recipe, too. You want 2 ½ cups total of vegetables.

How do you cut the tails off of shrimp?

If you can't find tailless shrimp, you can either pinch or cut the tails off. You can also do like I did and just leave them on. It's super easy to eat around them!

How do you thaw frozen shrimp?

How to make sweet and sour shrimp:

1. Whisk together the sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a small mixing bowl or measuring cup.
2. Heat a 12-inch non-stick skillet or large wok over medium-high heat. Add the oil and heat until it sputters when flicked with water
3. Add the vegetables to the pan and stir-fry until the onions are translucent and the peppers are tender. Pour the veggies into a large bowl and set aside.
4. Add the rest of the oil to the pan and stir-fry the shrimp until they are just pink.
5. Return the vegetables to the pan with the shrimp. Stir in the sweet and sour sauce and pineapple. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1-2 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened up.
6. Serve hot over rice with cilantro and/or sliced green onions to garnish (if desired).

Recipe pro-tips:

1. Use a hot skillet - one of the foundations of stir-fry cooking is using a hot skillet. It cooks the food quickly while still keeping the vegetables crisp.
2. Stir the vegetables and shrimp frequently - another tenant of stir-fry cooking is stirring the ingredients often. Stir them every at least every 15 seconds, or more if the ingredients are cooking quicker.
3. Don't overcook the shrimp - In this recipe, we will cook the shrimp partway on its own and the rest of the way with the sauce and vegetables. So, don't cook your shrimp all the way through before we add in the other ingredients. If you do, they will get rubbery and chewy (not fun).
4. Start your rice before you start the stir fry (if you're cooking it from scratch) - if you're cooking your rice from scratch, start it before you start the stir-fry. For other ways to cook your rice quickly, read my notes below!

How do you make rice fast?

This is always something I factor in when making a stir-fry: how do I time the rice to be done when the dish is done? It's particularly complicated when I make brown rice-- which often takes a bit longer to cook. Here are my tips on how to time the cooking and make rice quickly:

1. Use frozen rice -- freeze your own rice while doing meal prep for the week or buy frozen rice from the supermarket. Trader Joe's has many healthy options!
2. Use precooked rice -- almost all the brands I've seen are ready in under 2 minutes! Just pop open the pouch, following the reheating instructions, and you're all set.
3. Use instant rice -- most are ready in under 10 minutes.
4. Cook your rice in the instant pot -- this is my preferred step these days. Brown rice cooks in 15 minutes (with a 10-minute natural release) so I start it 5 minutes before I cook and the timing works out perfectly. Pro-tip: add the rice to the pot with boiling water (instead of room temperature) to speed up the cooking time.

Tools needed to make sweet and sour shrimp:

• Small mixing bowl or cup
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Cutting board
• Chef Knife
• Wooden stirring spoon or heat-safe spatula
• Large (12-inch) non-stick skillet or wok

More quick dinner recipes:

• Spicy Brown Sugar Salmon
• Peanut Butter Chicken Curry
• House Special Fried Rice
• Chicken and Vegetable Stir-Fry
• Thai Green Chicken Curry
• Salmon Panang Curry
• Egg Roll in a Skillet
• Homemade Ramen with Seasoned Ground Turkey

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