Sweet and Sour Shrimp With Broccoli
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy.
This healthier version of the Chinese restaurant-style sweet and sour shrimp is one of the easiest (and tastiest) weeknight suppers you can make.
A healthier version of the Chinese restaurant-style dish that is typically battered and deep-fried, this sweet and sour shrimp with broccoli is one of the easiest (and tastiest) suppers you can make. Start a pot of rice before you begin prepping and 30 minutes later, your dinner is done. I always stock up on the 2-lb bags of frozen shrimp when they are on sale at my supermarket; that makes this recipe a convenient and affordable meal, too.
What you’ll need to make sweet and sour shrimp
Before we get to the recipe, a note on buying shrimp: The “fresh” shrimp you see in the seafood case at the supermarket is typically thawed frozen shrimp, and you never know how long it’s been sitting there.
Almost all shrimp are cleaned and flash frozen shortly after being caught, so for the freshest shrimp, you’re better off buying it frozen and defrosting it yourself. For this recipe, I buy shrimp labeled “shell split and deveined.” Come dinnertime, all I have to do is run the shrimp under cold water to quickly defrost and then peel.
How to make sweet and sour shrimp
Begin with the sauce: In a medium bowl, combine the ketchup, soy sauce, sugar, chili sauce, cornstarch, and rice vinegar. Whisk until completely smooth, then whisk in the chicken broth. Set aside.
Prep the scallions, garlic, and ginger.
Set a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add the oil and heat until shimmering. Add the light green scallions, ginger, and garlic.
Cook, stirring frequently, until soft, about 2 minutes. Do not brown.
Add the shrimp.
Cook, stirring frequently, until mostly pink and curled, but not cooked through, about 2 minutes.
Add the sauce and broccoli to the pan.
Cook, stirring frequently, until the sauce is thickened and the shrimp and broccoli are cooked through, about 3 minutes.
Sprinkle the dark green scallions over top.
Serve with rice and enjoy.
You may also like
- Ginger, Garlic & Chili Shrimp
- Vietnamese Caramel Shrimp
- Shrimp Pad Thai
- Thai-Style Ginger & Sweet Red Chili Shrimp
Sweet and Sour Shrimp with Broccoli
This healthier version of the Chinese restaurant-style sweet and sour shrimp is one of the easiest (and tastiest) weeknight suppers you can make.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons ketchup
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 4 teaspoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon Asian chili sauce, such as Sambal Oelek (available in Asian aisle of most supermarkets)
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2½ tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 bunch scallions, finely sliced, light and dark green parts divided
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger (see note)
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 pounds extra-large (26/30) or jumbo (21/25) shrimp, peeled and deveined, thawed if frozen
- 2½ cups broccoli florets
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine the ketchup, soy sauce, sugar, chile sauce, cornstarch and rice vinegar. Whisk until completely smooth, then whisk in the chicken broth. Set aside.
- Set a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add the oil and heat until shimmering. Add the light green scallions, ginger, and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until soft, about 2 minutes. Do not brown. Add the shrimp and cook, stirring frequently, until mostly pink and curled, but not cooked through, about 2 minutes. Add the sauce and broccoli to the pan. Cook, stirring frequently, until the sauce is thickened and the shrimp and broccoli are cooked through, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle the dark green scallions over top and serve with rice.
- Note: Check out easy guidance on how to peel, grate, and chop fresh ginger here.
Nutrition Information
Powered by 
- Per serving (4 servings)
- Calories: 347
- Fat: 13 g
- Saturated fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 21 g
- Sugar: 8 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 35 g
- Sodium: 2152 mg
- Cholesterol: 286 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
See more recipes:
Comments
Add a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
This was really good and everyone liked it. I can’t tolerate raw scallions so I added some more chili sauce to my dish for some extra zing as a personal preference.
Made this last night consistent with recipe and it turned out great. Highly recommend.
Made this for dinner with friends and served with cauliflower rice. I did add 1 red bell pepper and 1 sweet onion, both chopped and sautéed briefly with the broccoli in another pan before I added to the shrimp, garlic, green onions, and ginger. Really good. Will definitely make again.
Great recipe and very easy to make. Dish turned out delicious. Thank you.
This was very good, I liked the sour notes in the sauce. Not your typical sweet & sour takeout.
An excellent and easy recipe! It’s so easy to mix the sauce ingredients and set those aside while doing the minimal prep work with the broccoli, scallions and shrimp. Don’t discount the importance of ketchup as a key ingredient in the sauce. It is frequently used in many Asian restaurants in North America. Ketchup is an extremely complicated, carefully balanced sauce. (It tried to make it once and learned how complex it actually is.)
I made a couple of procedural modifications:
I doubled the amount of sambal oeleck—we like a little heat.
Rather than mincing the garlic and ginger, I smashed the garlic cloves and sliced the ginger into little coins before frying them in the oil. Once they had infused their flavors into the oil, I plucked them out and added the white part of the scallions.
Easy, tasty, adaptable. Checks every box on the survey!
Outstanding, pretty much hit all five of the flavours perfectly. I cut back the chilli sauce to 1 teaspoon and it was just right for us.
A delicious dinner made in no time at all. Was short on the shrimp and broccoli amounts so I added in some baby bok choi. The sauce makes the dish.
Received 5 stars from husband “save this recipe.”
Hi there — I’ve made this recipe MANY times and we all love it. I realize I don’t have any fresh ginger in the house. Can I use ground ginger instead of fresh? If so, how much should I use? thanks so much!
So glad you like it! Yes, you can use ground ginger. I’d use about 1.5 teaspoons. Enjoy!
Yum!!! My picky husband and my Asian tongue loved it. It’s definitely a healthier way to enjoy S&S shrimp. It’s very simple and quick to prepare, as well. Will definitely make it again. Cheers, Jenn!
I like so many of your recipes, but this one was not even close to my favorite. Unfortunately I wasted money on the ingredients because my family didn’t like it. It tasted too much like ketchup and the sugar made it too sweet.
I look forward to trying this! My son doesn’t like shrimp, so could I substitute pork tenderloin here? Or should I go with chicken? Thanks!!
Hi Samantha, I’d go with chicken here. Hope you enjoy!
I love all the recipes here but this one just didn’t taste right. Maybe it was the chicken stock. I ended up throwing away the shrimp because no one would eat it.
I have heard from many people that this is a delicious dish. I don’t eat shellfish and was wondering if I could substitute tofu and if so, would the tofu have to be cooked first?
Thank you!
Marnie
Hi Marnie, I think you could definitely use tofu here. I don’t have experience cooking with tofu, so I’m not sure how long it takes to cook through. I suspect you don’t need to cook it in advance unless it would take significantly more time than the shrimp calls for in the recipe. If it does, you could cook it first and then just stir it in near the end to warm it up and get it covered in the sauce. Please LMK how it turns out if you try it!
Thank you Jenn! I made this dish with tofu and it was delicious! I baked the tofu first and then added it with the broccoli. The only change I would make is to make a little extra sauce because the tofu absorbed some of it. Will definitely make this again!
Glad it worked out and good to know about the sauce (that makes sense). Thanks for reporting back!
We enjoyed this dish which has a more subtle sweet and sour profile than most. Next time I’ll add bell peppers, onion chunks, and pineapple.
I’m not that familiar with buying frozen shrimp and wondered if you’ve had certain brands that you have used and could recommend. Should you look for wild caught or can you use farm raised? Wild caught seems to be really hard to find in frozen shrimp where I live. Thank you for responding as I have wanted to try some of your shrimp recipes for quite some time.
Hi Donna, I’m not loyal to a particular brand; I usually just buy the store brand. If you’re able to find wild-caught, I would buy that. If not, farm-raised will do. Hope you enjoyed the dish if you make it!
Not too sweet, not too sour, not too salty and not too spicy, but incredibly delicious. The sauce is very flavorful and I love the broccoli to balance out the texture. I might try red pepper strips next time in addition to the broccoli. It comes together very quickly and the sauce does thicken beautifully as stated. Served it over Jasmine rice. This recipe will definitely be added to the rotation.
This is a delicious recipe, easier than to pull together than other Asian recipes requiring multiple ingredients. Even with the extra the time to peel and devein myself, dinner was on the table in no time, not feeling hassled as sometimes happens with the speed needed for stir frys. Company worthy.
I always avoid recipes that say “sweet” in the title, but this had little sugar, and the man who goes straight to anything that says “sweet and sour” on a Chinese restaurant menu, loved it. The only thing high is the sodium, but that can’t be helped with shrimp.