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Fried Shrimp Balls - Crispy and crunchy shrimp balls, a popular and delicious Chinese appetizer. Learn how to make this Cantonese dim sum with the recipe.
Shrimp Balls
Recently, I shared an Instagram (follow me!) story of eating fried shrimp balls at a Chinese dim sum restaurant, and many followers asked me for the recipe.
Today, I am sharing with you my shrimp balls recipe. Don’t you think they look oh-so-adorable with the crispy and crunchy skin?
How To Make Shrimp Balls From Scratch
This recipe is from the Crunchy Shrimp Balls recipe in my Easy Chinese Recipes cookbook. My cookbook is the highest rated Chinese cookery book on Amazon, so buy a copy if you haven’t.
How To Make Shrimp Balls
Making shrimp balls is fun. First, you blend the shrimp and the seasonings to form a shrimp paste. Then you cut up the spring roll wrappers into strips.
Wet your hands with some water, make the shrimp paste into balls, roll them over the bed of spring roll strips, and off they go into a deep fryer or wok for deep-frying. The recipe is super easy and fail proof!
Dim Sum
Fried shrimp ball is a great appetizer. It’s often served as a dim sum at Hong Kong-style restaurants or dim sum restaurants.
Dim Sum is quite a delicacy, with morsels of bite-sized appetizers served in bamboo steamers, or deep-fried to golden perfection.
I love shrimp and I can chow down dozens of these shrimp balls any time of the day! They are just wonderful.
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe is only 171 calories per serving.
What To Serve With Fried Shrimp Balls
For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Fried Shrimp Balls
Ingredients
- 1 lb. helled and deveined shrimp, defrost
- 1 egg white, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon salt or fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon oil or some pork fat
- 3 dashes white pepper powder
- 8 pieces spring roll wrapper, 8-inch square
Instructions
- In a mini food processor, add the shrimp, egg white, salt/fish sauce, sugar, corn starch, sesame oil, oil and white pepper. Blend until the ingredients form the shrimp paste.
- Fold the spring roll wrappers up. Cut the spring roll wrappers into tiny strips using a pair of scissors. Cut them into shorter strips. Lay them on a flat surface. Wet your hands and form the shrimp paste into balls (about 1 tablespoon) and roll the shrimp balls onto the bed of spring roll strips.
- The spring roll strips will stick to the shrimp ball, as shown on the picture below.
- Trim off the spring roll strips using a pair of scissors. Make sure that the strips coat the shrimp ball evenly. You can reuse the strips that had been trimmed off.
- Deep fry the shrimp balls in a deep fryer or wok until they turn golden brown, about 5 minutes. Dish out, drain on paper towels, and serve hot with Thai sweet chili sauce or your favorite chili sauce.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is my families favorite appetizer.
I always make it and its a super hit.
First time I ate it at the Chinese restaurant and then I googled.
Found this recipe and made it. turned out super duper hit.
Try it and you wont regret.
As a matter of fact I’m planning to make it this weekend…
cheers everyone :)
Thanks.
Can I rewarm the cooked shrimp balls? If so, how?
Just reheat with microwave or fry again.
I tried making these and they turned out so good.
I air fried mine for 14 min @325° Crunchy and flavorful.
Can I air fried instead?
Yes you can try!
Can I make the shrimp concoction ahead of time and refrigerate it
Not freezing but you may chill it overnight.
I made 2 versions of this recipe one with and one with out the wrapper strips. I prefer without the strips. They crisped up well and were tasty. The ones with the strips took the same time to cook but the strips were extremely hard. The wrappers were fresh and I had no problems with wontons.
Would these come out well using crab, lobster or salmon?
You need to mix shrimp if using crab, lobster or salmon.
can you make and freeze these and fry from frozen?
No I won’t do that.
Can this be done on Instant Pot and how long
No, you can’t use IP to fry.
The shrimp balls flattened a bit when fried. Tastes great but looked like a hamburger. What could I do to avoid this?
Sounds like your shrimp might be too wet. Did you pat dry?
Hi there, Can I use the same recipe without the wonton skin and steam it as steam shrimp balls ?
Yes you can!
Hi,
Is it possible to air fry the shrimp balls rather than deep frying?
If it’s better to deep fry, can I use avocado, olive or peanut oil?
Yes it should be fine.
What alternative can i use besides the wonton wrapper? I dont have it in my pantry. Tomorrow is football game. Would vietnamese wrapper be okay? Any ideas?
Vietnamese wrapper doesn’t really work for this recipe.