This crispy shrimp is coated in a sweet mayo-based sauce and sprinkled with candied walnuts. You get a little bit of nutty crunch in between bites of tender-crisp shrimp and creamy sweet sauce.
Combine water and sugar in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Bring to boil over med high heat, add walnuts.
Stir then allow to boil for 2 minutes. Drain walnuts and pat dry with paper towels. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together egg and flour for dipping shrimp.
Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat.
Dip shrimp in batter and place in skillet, being careful not to crowd them. Fry a 2 minutes on each side. Drain on paper towels. Set aside.
To make the sauce, in a medium bowl mix mayonnaise, honey, red pepper flakes, and sweetened condensed milk.
In a large bowl, combine walnuts, shrimp, and sauce. Using gloved hands, gently coat the shrimp and walnuts with the sauce. TIP: We suggest using gloved hands instead of stirring with a spoon so you don’t knock all the cooked batter off the shrimp.
Notes
Shrimp only takes a couple minutes to cook. Overcooking shrimp will change the texture and they will become rubbery.
We are using 1 pound of large uncooked shrimp that have been deveined, peeled, and have had the tails removed. Technically you can use any size shrimp you'd like for this recipe, just keep in mind that the size will matter for how long you will need to cook them. Shrimp is done cooking when it begins turning opaque/white in color with bright pink hues. It can be difficult to tell when the shrimp is done cooking if it's been dredged, so follow the 2-3 minute rule on each side to avoid overcooking the shrimp.
You can use olive oil, canola oil, vegetable oil, or peanut oil to fry the shrimp.