Shrimp Chop Suey tastes like it came from a restaurant. It has juicy pink shrimp, vegetables cooked in oil, and a thickened sauce with Chinese cooking wine added for flavor.
This one-pan meal is quick, healthy, and comforting. It’s a great alternative to takeout when you want to eat in.
Chop suey is a classic Chinese-American dish that has been popular on restaurant menus for over a century. While recipes can vary shrimp chop suey in particular is a quick, easy and delicious weeknight meal. In this article we’ll cover everything you need to know about this tasty stir fry!
A Brief History of Chop Suey
The origins of chop suey can be traced back to Chinese immigrants in America in the late 1800s The dish was likely born out of the need to quickly whip up meals using inexpensive ingredients on hand.
While the exact origins are debated, chop suey grew in popularity across the country in the early 20th century. Chinese restaurants featured the dish prominently on menus as one of their Americanized specialties.
The name “chop suey” roughly translates to “mixed pieces” in Chinese. So in essence it’s a simple stir fry made with assorted vegetables and meat in a flavorful sauce.
Over time, variations emerged like chicken chop suey, shrimp chop suey, beef chop suey, etc. But the preparation method generally remains the same.
What is in Shrimp Chop Suey?
The components of shrimp chop suey include:
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Protein – Shrimp is the star ingredient. Chopped into bite-size pieces, the shrimp cooks quickly and adds lots of flavor.
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Vegetables – A medley of sliced veggies like onions, carrots, celery, bell peppers and snap peas. Bean sprouts are also typically used.
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Sauce – The hallmark savory sauce contains ingredients like chicken broth, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, garlic, ginger and cornstarch.
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Starch – Chop suey is usually served over a bed of steamed rice or noodles.
The vegetables and protein get quickly stir-fried then coated in the luscious sauce. Few other ingredients can pack so much flavor and nutrition in one pan!
Step-By-Step Instructions
Here is an overview of how to make shrimp chop suey at home:
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Prep the ingredients – Wash and chop the vegetables. Peel, devein and chop the shrimp. Mix the sauce ingredients together.
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Cook the vegetables – Heat oil in a wok or large skillet. Add the onions, celery, carrots and other vegetables. Stir fry for 4-5 minutes.
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Add the shrimp – Next, add the shrimp and stir fry just until they turn pink. This only takes a minute or two.
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Make the sauce – Give the sauce a final whisk and pour it into the pan. Cook for another minute as the sauce thickens and coats everything.
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Serve – Scoop the hot chop suey over freshly steamed rice or noodles. Garnish with green onions if desired. Enjoy!
With just 20-30 minutes of active cooking time, anyone can whip up an amazing shrimp chop suey. It’s also highly customizable based on the vegetables, protein and starch you have on hand.
Sauces for Shrimp Chop Suey
The sauce is what really brings the components together and gives chop suey its characteristic flavor. Here are some common ingredients used:
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Chicken or vegetable broth – Provides a savory base of flavor
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Soy sauce – For saltiness, savoriness and color
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Oyster sauce – Adds richness
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Rice wine – Provides sweetness
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Sesame oil – Nutty, toasted aroma
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Cornstarch – Thickens the sauce so it nicely coats the ingredients
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Ginger and garlic – Fundamental flavors in Chinese cooking
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Spices – White pepper, red pepper flakes
For an even easier shortcut, you can use a pre-made stir fry sauce instead of making it from scratch. Stir fry sauces are sold at most grocery stores.
Shrimp Chop Suey Variations
One of the best things about chop suey is how versatile it is. You can customize it to your tastes and what you have available. Some ideas include:
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Substitute chicken, beef, pork or tofu for the shrimp
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Use different vegetables like mushrooms, broccoli, baby corn, etc.
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Add some spice with chili garlic sauce or red pepper flakes
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For extra flavor, stir in cashews or peanuts
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Make it vegetarian by using vegetable broth and omitting the meat
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Serve over cauliflower rice instead of regular rice for low-carb
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Garnish with chopped scallions, cilantro or sesame seeds
So feel free to get creative and put your own spin on this classic! The basic technique remains the same.
Tips for Making the Best Chop Suey
Here are some helpful tips to end up with the perfect bowl of shrimp chop suey every time:
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Use a wok or large skillet to give the ingredients plenty of room
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Cut the vegetables uniformly so they cook at the same rate
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Velvet the shrimp by dusting with cornstarch which helps them stay moist
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Sear the shrimp briefly since they only need 1-2 minutes in the pan
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Add vegetables in stages from hardest to most delicate
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Make sure the sauce coats everything without being overly thick
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Taste and adjust seasoning as needed
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Serve immediately over steaming hot rice or noodles
With practice, you’ll be able to whip up restaurant-worthy chop suey in your own kitchen!
Serving Suggestions
While shrimp chop suey is substantial on its own, a few sides can round out the meal:
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Steamed jasmine or brown rice
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Rice noodles or ramen noodles
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Wonton or egg drop soup
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Simple greens like bok choy
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Fresh vegetables like cucumbers, carrots or celery
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Potstickers, crab rangoon or egg rolls
You can also stretch the shrimp chop suey into two meals. Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Reheat in a skillet with a splash of broth until piping hot.
FAQs
Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about shrimp chop suey:
Is chop suey gluten free? It can be made gluten free by using tamari instead of soy sauce and avoiding wheat-based hoisin sauce.
Can I freeze chop suey? Yes, allow it to cool completely then transfer to a freezer bag or container. It will keep for 2-3 months.
What’s the difference between chop suey and chow mein? Chow mein contains noodles stir fried with the other ingredients. Chop suey is served over separate cooked noodles or rice.
How long does chop suey last in the fridge? It will stay fresh for 3-4 days in an airtight container. Make sure to reheat thoroughly before eating.
What is the best rice for chop suey? Long grain white or brown rice works well. For added flavor, try jasmine or basmati rice.
Enjoy Restaurant-Worthy Chop Suey at Home
Keep the basic formula in mind – pick a protein, lots of veggies, luscious sauce and starch. From there, customize to your tastes by switching up ingredients or adding spice, nuts or other embellishments.
With just 20-30 minutes of hands on cooking time, anyone can master shrimp chop suey in their own kitchen. So skip takeout and whip up this tasty stir fry instead! Your tastebuds and wallet will thank you.
❤️ Why I love this recipe
- Making Chinese shrimp chop suey is a great way to use up extra vegetables and save money by not having to go out to eat.
- The thick sauce made with Chinese cooking wine makes this chop suey very different from the kind you’d get at your favorite Chinese restaurant.
- The umami sauce and juicy shrimp make it easy for even picky eaters to eat healthy vegetables.
This recipe for Shrimp Chop Suey tastes like it came from a restaurant, but it’s easy to make in just one pan. Make it for a tasty family meal during the week instead of ordering takeout!
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Please note that the full list of ingredients for this chop suey recipe, along with how much of each you need, is shown in the recipe card below.
- Shrimp — 21-25 count per pound
- Cornstarch
- Light soy sauce — may also use regular
- Oyster sauce
- Chinese cooking wine
- Toasted sesame oil
- White or black pepper
- Water
- Vegetable oil — or other cooking oil
- garlic cloves
- onion
- bok choy
- carrot
- celery
- red bell pepper
- snow peas
- crimini mushrooms (brown variety)
- bean sprouts
Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Mix soy sauce and cornstarch together in a bowl to start making the sauce.
- Stir until lump free. Add the oyster sauce and sesame oil and stir.
- Add water, mirin, and pepper.
- Stir to combine well. Set aside.
- Bok choy should have its ends cut off and be cut into 3″ pieces. Separate the stems from the leaves.
- Put garlic and oil in a wok or skillet and heat them over high heat.
- Put in the sliced onion and cook for one minute, until the onion starts to soften.
- Add bok choy stems, sliced celery, and sliced bell pepper.
- Add snow peas and sliced mushrooms. Cook for 4 minutes.
- Add the shrimp.
- Cook for 1 minute until the shrimp turn pink.
- Add the bok choy leaves, bean sprouts, and sauce. Keep cooking for another one to two minutes, or until the sauce thickens into a thick syrup.
- Serve immediately with rice.
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You’ll need the following items to make this recipe successfully.
- Sharp knife
- Cutting board
- Deep skillet or Wok
- Measuring spoons
- Dry measuring cups
- Liquid Measuring cup
- Wooden stirring Spoon
These are the questions we are most frequently asked about making Shrimp Chop Suey.
Shrimp chop suey recipe consists of shrimp, stir fry vegetables, and a rich sauce. This dish is typically served with rice or noodles.
With shrimp chow mein, the starchy part, like noodles, is added to the wok with the rest of the food while it’s cooking. Nosh or rice are cooked separately for shrimp chop suey and are served at the end, with the stir-fry mixture and sauce on top.
Shrimp chop suey is in a cornstarch-thickened sauce. The sauce not only gives the dish a rich flavor, but it also makes it moist enough to serve over rice or noodles.
Shrimp only have one pair of legs, whereas prawns have three pairs of longer legs. Also, shrimp are usually smaller than prawns. Shrimp live in both freshwater and saltwater areas in North America, while prawns are usually found in freshwater areas in Africa and Asia.
- Don’t store leftover Chinese shrimp chop suey with rice or noodles, as these foods will soak up a lot of the sauce.
- If you’d rather have softer vegetables in your stir fry, you could par-boil some of the harder ones first.
- Be careful not to overcook the shrimp. The pan should turn light pink, but they shouldn’t get tough.
- Enjoy this dish with your favorite choice of noodles. This dish is gluten-free if you serve the shrimp chop suey with rice.
- I highly recommend using Chinese cooking wine for this recipe. Every Chinese restaurant uses this ingredient, and it will make this home-cooked dish taste like it came from a restaurant!
- In this recipe for shrimp chop suey, I used light soy sauce, which makes the sauce look lighter. Regular soy sauce works just as well and doesn’t change the color of the sauce. But you can also use dark soy sauce. It will make the sauce darker and taste stronger. Reduce the dark soy sauce to 1 tablespoon.
- To make something vegetarian or oyster-free, use vegetarian oyster sauce instead of regular oyster sauce. This is available at most grocery stores. For a truly vegetarian version, leave out the shrimp and add more vegetables.
- If you can’t find Chinese cooking wine, you can use Mirin, dry sherry, or baking sake from Japan.
- Instead of wine, use chicken broth or water to make a sauce that doesn’t have alcohol in it.
- For a low-carb meal, pair this Chinese shrimp chop suey with cauliflower rice.
- Instead of shrimp, use beef, chicken, or pork.
- If you want to add more crunch, you can sprinkle toasted nuts over the stir fry right before you serve it.
- For a little heat, add a little red chili oil or sriracha sauce to this dish.
Store shrimp chop suey in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. While you can freeze this chop suey, the texture of the vegetables may become affected.
Reheat your stored chop suey in the microwave or a pan over medium heat for a few minutes.
- Simple Chinese Chop Suey: This simple chop suey has bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, onions, and celery. You can add pork, chicken, or beef if you’d like.
- Recipe for Chicken Chop Suey: This dish has noodles, tender strips of chicken, sautéed vegetables, and a rich, savory sauce.
- Hot and Sour Soup is a spicy, comforting Asian soup that will get you warm quickly.
You can eat this Chinese shrimp chop suey with freshly steamed white rice, noodles, or cauliflower rice if you want to cut back on carbs.
You can change the meat and vegetables in a chop suey recipe, which is great. Because of this, I keep adding more chop suey recipes to this blog. I just can’t get enough!
With this quick and easy shrimp chop suey recipe, any home cook can make a restaurant-quality meal for the family with little work and cost.
Tutti a tavolo, è pronto!
Whats new? Check out my All Our Way Store on Amazon. Well be adding more items we love and use or wish we had to make cooking fun and easy.
The best American-Chinese comfort food is Shrimp Chop Suey, which is made with juicy pink shrimp, a variety of vegetables, and a rich, thickened sauce. It is served over freshly steamed rice.
Next time youre in the mood for a stir-fry recipe, try our Italian Stir Fry With Shrimp. It strays from the usual soy-based Asian flavors and captures the essence of the Italian. If you want an Italian shrimp dinner with lots of creaminess, try our Tuscan Shrimp in a Creamy Garlic Butter Sauce.
If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
Traditional Shrimp Chop Suey
- 16 oz. 453 grams (21 to 25 count) of peeled and deveined shrimp per pound
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1½ tablespoons all-purpose or light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
- 1 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine or Mirin
- ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- Dash of white pepper or black
- ¾ cup water 185 ml.
- 1 ½ tablespoon vegetable oil or other cooking oil
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- ½ onion sliced (you may use white, brown, yellow)
- 2 stems bok choy or other Asian greens
- 1 medium carrot thinly sliced
- 1 stalk celery thinly sliced
- 1 red bell pepper sliced
- 1 cup snow peas ends trimmed
- ½ cup small crimini mushrooms sliced
- 1 cup bean sprouts
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds optional
- Place the cornstarch and soy sauce in a bowl. Mix until lump free. Then add remaining Sauce ingredients and stir. Set aside .
- Bok choy should be cut into 3-inch (7 cm) pieces after the stem is cut off. Separate stems from leaves.
- Chop carrot – Peel then cut into 1. 3-inch(3cm) pieces. Then slice into thin pieces.
- Slice celery – Thinly slice the celery stalk.
- Red Bell Pepper – Remove the seeds and thinly slice.
- Ice peas: Cut the snow peas in half across the middle if they are long.
- In a wok or skillet over high heat, heat the vegetable oil. Add garlic and stir quickly, then add onion. Stir the onion around constantly for one minute, until it starts to wilt.
- Celery, carrot, snow peas, mushrooms, and the stems of the bok choy should all be added. Stir fry for 4 minutes.
- Clean the shrimp and add them. Cook for one minute, or until the top turns pink from white. Don’t overcook.
- Add bok choy leaves, bean sprouts and Sauce. Add the sauce and stir-fry for one to two minutes, until it thickens into a thick syrup. Vegetables should still be tender/crisp, not soggy and soft. Sprinkle with a bit of sesame seeds (optional).
- Put it on the table right away with rice. For a low-carb and low-calorie option, try cauliflower rice!
- Don’t store leftover Chinese shrimp chop suey with rice or noodles, as these foods will soak up a lot of the sauce.
- If you’d rather have softer vegetables in your stir fry, you could par-boil some of the harder ones first.
- Be careful not to overcook the shrimp. The pan should turn light pink, but they shouldn’t get tough.
- Enjoy this dish with your favorite choice of noodles. This dish is gluten-free if you serve the shrimp chop suey with rice.
- I highly recommend using Chinese cooking wine for this recipe. Every Chinese restaurant uses this ingredient, and it will make this home-cooked dish taste like it came from a restaurant!
- In this recipe for shrimp chop suey, I used light soy sauce, which makes the sauce look lighter. Regular soy sauce works just as well and doesn’t change the color of the sauce. But you can also use dark soy sauce. It will make the sauce darker and taste stronger. Reduce the dark soy sauce to 1 tablespoon.
- To make something vegetarian or oyster-free, use vegetarian oyster sauce instead of regular oyster sauce. This is available at most grocery stores. For a truly vegetarian version, leave out the shrimp and add more vegetables.
- If you can’t find Chinese cooking wine, you can use Mirin, dry sherry, or baking sake from Japan.
- Instead of wine, use chicken broth or water to make a sauce that doesn’t have alcohol in it.
- For a low-carb meal, pair this Chinese shrimp chop suey with cauliflower rice.
- Instead of shrimp, use beef, chicken, or pork.
- If you want to add more crunch, you can sprinkle toasted nuts over the stir fry right before you serve it.
- For a little heat, add a little red chili oil or sriracha sauce to this dish.