These Thai Style Marinated Prawns (shrimp) are marinated in a flavour-packed aromatic marinade and then sautéed to perfection. Spicy, garlicky and zesty, they’re ready from start to finish in just 30 minutes!
Happy lunar new year!!
This year’s the Year of the Dragon!
Also known as Chinese new year, lunar new year is celebrated across many different Asian countries and now across the world as well. Celebrations are often centred around food, where family and friends gather together to enjoy dishes imbued with prosperity and luck. Many of the food eaten have significant meaning; dumplings for example represent wealth because their shape is like the ancient Chinese currency, the ingot. Spring rolls also represent wealth because their shape and colour are similar to a gold bar.
The significance extends to actual dishes, like yi mein longevity noodles – the longer your noodle, the longer your life – to preparations like steamed whole fish, representing abundance and surplus – eat one side during the new year celebrations and save the other side for the next day, therefore bringing your ‘surplus’ with you to the following year.
Other seafood also have fortuitous meanings. Prawns, for example, known as ha in Cantonese, are a homonym for laughter, symbolising happiness, laughter and liveliness for the year to come.
This Thai Style Marinated Prawns recipe is quick and easy enough for a weeknight as it suitable for a festive banquet. It can be served as starter, a side dish, or for an extra auspicious dish, on top of a pomelo or other citrus salad – also known as good fortune fruit!
Why you’ll Love this Thai Style Marinated Prawns Recipe
- Spicy and zingy. Marinating the prawns for just 10 minutes means they’re packed full of flavour before they even hit the pan! Chillies, lemongrass, ginger and garlic form the base of the marinade.
- Quick and easy. Once they’re in the pan, these prawns take just 3-4 minutes to cook. Sure, you have to wait 10 minutes while they marinate, but you can make a side to accompany the prawns or wash the dishes while you wait!
- Versatile. These prawns are tasty enough to be enjoyed on their own but also complimentary enough to be served with other dishes to make a feast! They pair exceptionally well with citrus salads and vermicelli rice noodles.
Cook with me
Thai Style Marinated Prawns Recipe Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this delightfully zingy and spicy recipe:
- Prawns. Let’s all agree that being served prawns with the tails still attached makes for an annoying eating experience. But let’s all also agree that they look so much more photogenic with the tails on. Whether you leave them on or not when you cook this recipe is completely up to you. I used large prawns, but medium prawns will work well too. Jumbo prawns will also work well, you’ll just have to cook them for a touch longer. You can use fresh prawns that you peel yourself, ready peeled and deveined prawns (like I used) or frozen prawns for this recipe.
- Garlic, ginger and shallots. The holy trinity when it comes to Southeast Asian marinades.
- Lemongrass. Adds a distinctive aromatic and floral savoury citrus flavour that pairs really well with prawns. If you can’t get your hands on any, substitute with lemon zest (as well as the lime zest listed below).
- Chilli. I use the smaller red bird’s eye chillies for this prawn recipe, and while there’s a hum of chilli, it’s not burn-your-face-off hot because the other ingredient temper the heat. If you’re sensitive to spice, remove the sees or use the long red chillies instead.
- Oil. I used olive oil because I had run out of vegetable oil, but most neutral oils will work for this recipe.
- Fish sauce. Just a little for some salty, umami oomph. I promise you can’t taste the fishiness. You can always substitute it for vegan fish sauce, liquid aminos or in a pinch, soy sauce.
- Lime. For zesty freshness, it lifts the marinade, making all the other ingredients shine. Make sure you have a second lime to serve and let people squeeze over more if they like.
- Coriander. Love it or hate it, it’s a staple in flavour in Thai cuisine. And though used here as a garnish, it does add a pleasant green freshness to the prawns. Thai basil would be a great substitute.
- White sugar. IF NEEDED to balance out the marinade once the fish sauce and lime juice has been added. Mix in ½ teaspoon at a time before tasting and adjusting.
Find the exact quantities in the recipe card below.
How to Make this Thai Style Marinated Prawns Recipe
You can serve these Thai Style Marinated Prawns just as they are, with any leftover marinade from the pan served as a dipping sauce. They also make a great topping for citrus salads like a pomelo salad, or served with vermicelli rice noodles.
Here’s the quick rundown on how to make the recipe:
- Make the marinade. Place all the aromatics in a blender and blitz until finely chopped. Tip the aromatics out into a bowl.
- Marinate the prawns. To the blended aromatics add the oil, lime juice and zest and fish sauce. Add the prawns and allow to marinate for at least 10 minutes, though 20 minutes is better if you have the time.
- Sauté the prawns. Heat a large, heavy-based frying pan over medium high heat and then add the prawns AND the marinade. Cook, for 1-2 minutes per side depending on the size of your prawns.
- Serve. Immediately remove the prawns from the pan so they don’t continue cooking with the residual heat. If there’s any marinade left in the pan, use it as a dipping sauce. Top with fresh coriander and serve with extra lime wedges.
Tips on Cooking Prawns
- How do you know when prawns are cooked? Prawns are ready when they have curled into a C shape and pink on both side with no translucent or grey spots. Large prawns like I’ve used in the recipe are perfectly cooked after 2 minutes on each side.
- Don’t overcrowd the pan. You want to sauté not steam the prawns. Use a large enough frying pan or cook the prawns in batches if need be.
- Frozen prawns. If you’re using frozen prawns, make sure they are completely defrosted and patted dry with a paper towel before you add them to the marinade. I find the best way to defrost prawns is to use the direct water method – place frozen prawns in a bowl of cold water and they’ll defrost in about 10-15 minutes. Drain and pat them dry before using. DO NOT use warm or hot water or let prawns defrost sitting out in room temperature. You should be ready to cook the defrosted prawns almost immediately.
- Whole prawns. If you’re using whole prawns, you’ll need around double the weight, 500g, to get 250g of shelled prawns.
Love punchy Asian flavours? Try these recipes too:
- Pomelo and Salmon Vermicelli Noodle Salad
- Chang’s Crispy Noodle Salad
- Vietnamese Gỏi Salad with Prawns, Tofu and Pomelo
- Nuoc Cham (Vietnamese Dipping Sauce)
- Roasted Tomato, Coriander and Noodle Soup
Have you made these Thai Style Marinated Prawns yet? Be sure to leave a comment and let me know. Or take a pic and tag me over on Instagram, I love seeing what you guys are making from the blog!
Recipe
Thai Style Marinated Prawns
Ingredients
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled
- 1 shallot, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 lemongrass stalk, white and light green parts only, tougher outer leaves removed and coarsely chopped
- 2 red bird’s eye chillis, coarsely chopped
- 80 ml olive oil, or any neutral oil
- Zest and juice of 1 lime
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- White sugar, optional and if needed
- 250 g large green prawns, peeled, tails intact
- Extra lime wedges to serve
- ½ bunch coriander, finely chopped
Instructions
- To a food processor or immersion blender bowl add the garlic, ginger, shallot, lemongrass and chillies. Blitz until everything is finely chopped and mixed together.2 garlic cloves, 2 cm piece of fresh ginger, 1 shallot, 1 lemongrass stalk, 2 red bird’s eye chillis
- Empty the blitzed aromatics out into a large, flat bowl. Add the oil, lime juice and zest and fish sauce. Stir and taste. Adjust as needed to your taste by adding extra lime, fish sauce, or white sugar.80 ml olive oil, Zest and juice of 1 lime, 1 tablespoon fish sauce, White sugar
- Pat the prawns dry with some paper towel and then add them to the marinade. Turn to coat them evenly in the marinade and set them aside to marinate for 10-20 minutes (but no longer or the prawns could become watery).250 g large green prawns
- When ready to cook, heat a large, heavy-based frying pan over medium high heat. When hot, add the prawns AND the marinade. Quickly spread the prawns apart in a single layer so they can all cook evenly. Cook for 1-2 minutes per side depending on the size of the prawns. Prawns are cooked when they create a C shape, are plump, pink and opaque all over.
- Immediately remove the prawns from the pan so they don’t continue cooking with the residual heat. If there is any marinade left in the pan, serve it as a dipping sauce. Scatter some chopped coriander over the prawns and serve them with extra lime wedges on the side.Extra lime wedges to serve, ½ bunch coriander
