Quick Look at Shrimp Teriyaki
- Ready In: 10 minutes
- Serves: 4
- Main Ingredients: raw shrimp, store-bought or homemade teriyaki sauce, broccoli, and rice.
- Dietary Info: dairy-free friendly and whole30 compliant
- Why You’ll Love It: This is an “easy button” meal where we’re using quick cooking shrimp and easy and flexible sides that make this an effortless but complete meal.
Share and summarize this recipe:
Why You’ll Save This
Teriyaki Shrimp And Rice
- Quick: Shrimp is one of those proteins that cooks so quickly and we’re sharing all of our tips to cook them to perfection.
- Flavorful: The key to a great dinner is a great sauce and our popular teriyaki sauce is just that! It’s perfectly thick, silky smooth, and brings the best flavor to this teriyaki shrimp recipe.
- Balanced Ingredients: I always feel like a dinner time hero when I can get a veg, protein, and carb on the table with little effort, which is why I keep this one on repeat for busy weeknights.
Key Ingredients & Substitutions
Be sure to see the recipe card below for a full listing of ingredients, instructions, and estimated nutritional information.
- Shrimp – We typically buy large shrimp which equates to around 26 to 40 shrimp per bag. Smaller shrimp can easily get overcooked and large or jumbo shrimp are difficult to eat due to their size. Regardless of what size you choose, just make sure the tails are removed to save time.
- Teriyaki Sauce – if you have the time, make our easy teriyaki sauce recipe, pineapple teriyaki sauce or Paleo teriyaki sauce to make it gluten-free. And if you don’t have the time, any store-bought version works too!
- Broccoli – Steamed Broccoli takes just 5 minutes, which is exactly why we chose it for this quick dinner recipe. Or swap it out for steamed green beans or grilled bell peppers. If you’re craving more veggies, make it into a teriyaki shrimp stir fry.
- Rice – Instant Pot rice is my go-to when I’m short on time or these little microwavable rice packets.
How To Make Teriyaki Shrimp
Step 1 – Sear the shrimp in some melted butter and a seasoning of salt and pepper.
Step 2 – Once cooked, add some teriyaki sauce and stir to coat.
How To Know When Shrimp
Are Done Cooking?
Large shrimp cook in just 2-3 minutes, but rather than watching the clock, use their color and shape to indicate doneness. Once they become opaque and pink and cook into a C shape, they’re done! If they cook for any longer they can become rubbery vs. tender.
Step 3 – Throw in some steamed broccoli or your favorite veggie and dig in!
What We Learned Testing this Recipe
- Sauce – Because teriyaki sauce has sugar, it tends to burn when introduced to high heat, which is why we waited until near the end of cooking to add it to the pan.
- Shrimp Size – We experimented with small shrimp, which we found were just too easy to overcook. Stick with the large variety.
What Goes Well with Teriyaki Shrimp?(make it a meal)
For this simple dinner, we kept things super easy and served it with some steamed broccoli (buy the one from the store that can be steamed right in the bag) and some packets of microwavable basmati rice. Here are a few different variations to help this meal feel fresh no matter how many times you make it.
- Noodles – Swap rice out for our teriyaki noodles.
- Skewers – Cooking on the grill? Try our grilled shrimp skewers recipe, hold on the seasoning, and add a brushing of teriyaki sauce when serving.
- Pineapple teriyaki shrimp – Our pineapple teriyaki sauce recipe is just as silky smooth as the original but with an added kick of fruitiness.
Teriyaki Shrimp Recipe FAQs
A simple cornstarch slurry made up of 2 ingredients, cornstarch and water, will work to thicken teriyaki sauce.
It can be added to the hot pan in the middle of the cook time for the shrimp and then drizzle a little more on when serving because more sauce is always better than not enough sauce.
The shrimp will curl a bit, turn pink in color and will no longer be translucent. Adding the teriyaki sauce will cover up the pink coloring, but pan fried shrimp only need about 2 minutes per side to cook. So make sure they are turning slightly pink before adding the sauce and let them cook for another 1-2 minutes.
Absolutely! Simply follow our tutorial on how to grill shrimp and brush some teriyaki sauce about half way through the cooking process. Serve with more sauce on top!
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter, regular or plant-based butter
- 1 pound large shrimp, thawed, shelled & tail removed
- kosher salt and ground black pepper
- 3/4 cup teriyaki sauce, plus more for serving, if desired
- 4 cups cooked rice
- recommended serving option: 2-3 cups steamed broccoli
- optional garnish: sesame seeds
Instructions
- Sear Shrimp: Bring a large cast iron skillet to a medium-high heat and add butter to melt. Sear the shrimp in a single layer for 2-3 minutes total and season with salt and pepper. You want them just about fully cooked.
- Add Sauce: Flip the shrimp over and add the teriyaki sauce to the hot pan. Toss to coat and finish cooking for another minute or so or until shrimp is cooked through (don’t cook too long or the teriyaki sauce will get real sticky).
- Serve: Enjoy with cooked rice of your choice and steamed broccoli. Option to drizzle on some more teriyaki sauce and/or a sprinkling of sesame seeds.
Notes
- Teriyaki Sauce: highly recommend making our homemade teriyaki sauce, it’s so easy! But if you really want to get dinner on the table quick, then you can go with a store-bought option, we love House of Tsang Teriyaki Sauce or Primal Kitchen’s Teriyaki Sauce!
- Storage: leftovers can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- Broccoli: we love serving this meal with broccoli – I love steamed broccoli, but you could do roasted as well!
- Rice: I love using the microwave rice packets on busy weeknights – but use whatever works best for you.
- Cook Time: the prep and cook time is only for the shrimp – of course if you make homemade teriyaki sauce, cook rice from scratch and steam broccoli – the total cook time will be more.
Liz Sipley says
Such an easy one to throw together – thank you!
Erin M says
So easy and fast! Delicious!
Erin Jensen says
Yay!!! So happy to hear that, Erin!
Erin says
This was super easy and delicious!!