This shrimp stir fry takes fifteen minutes, one pan, and about 35g of protein. Prawns go rubbery in seconds, so it is really a lesson in taking things off the heat early.
Prawns cook in about two minutes and go from tender to rubbery in about thirty seconds after that. There is no gentle decline, it is a cliff. The visual cue is the moment they turn from translucent grey to opaque pink and curl into a loose C shape. A tight O means you have gone too far.
The same logic applies to the garlic. Sliced garlic in a very hot pan burns in under a minute and turns bitter in a way you cannot cook back out. It goes in at the end, not the beginning, which is the opposite of what most stir fry recipes tell you.
Around 35g of protein a serve, very little of it fat, plus a large volume of vegetables and almost no preparation. Prawns are also a good source of selenium and vitamin B12, and they cook from frozen faster than almost anything else you could reach for. On a night when you have come home from an evening Pilates class and cooking feels ambitious, this is fifteen minutes.
Buy green, meaning raw. Pre cooked prawns have already been through the cliff and reheating them in a hot pan takes them somewhere unpleasant. If green prawns are not available, add the cooked ones at the very end with the lemon and parsley, purely to warm through.
It is deliberately low carb as written, which suits an evening meal. Add rice, rice noodles or a thick slice of sourdough if you have trained hard and need more. A spoon of the pan juices over rice is the best part of the dish, so do not leave them in the pan.
This shrimp stir fry recipe is one of 50+ in the Pilates Classes Online recipe library, all cooked and written by Melissa herself. A new one lands every week.
The bits I only worked out after making shrimp stir fry a hundred times.
Everything people ask about shrimp stir fry. Tap any question to open it.
Yes, and most are excellent. Thaw them overnight in the fridge, then pat them very dry, since thawed prawns hold a lot of water.
In Australia we say prawns, and the recipe is the same either way. Look for green prawns, which means raw rather than pre cooked.
Opaque and curled into a loose C. If they have curled into a tight ring, they have gone slightly too far, though they are still perfectly edible.
Not really. Prawns reheat badly and the vegetables lose their crunch. It takes fifteen minutes, so make it fresh and chop the vegetables ahead if you want to save time.
For a light dinner, yes. Add rice or noodles if you have trained hard or if you are eating early and dinner is a long way from breakfast.
Asparagus, snow peas, bok choy and zucchini all work. Aim for something with structure that can handle high heat for a few minutes.
Four more from the library that go well with shrimp stir fry.
Or open the full recipe collection, book your next Pilates class, or have a read of the blog.
Part of the Pilates Classes Online recipe library. 50+ recipes, a new one every week.
Start your 7 day free trial
