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← Older revision		Revision as of 15:14, 23 September 2026
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	{{Infobox chinese food		{{Infobox chinese food
			\| image = Honey Walnut Shrimp.jpg
			\| caption = Honey walnut shrimp with candied walnuts (Li Wah, Cleveland)
	\| alternate_name = Honey walnut prawns; candied walnut shrimp; mìzhī hétáo xiā; mayonnaise-honey battered shrimp		\| alternate_name = Honey walnut prawns; candied walnut shrimp; mìzhī hétáo xiā; mayonnaise-honey battered shrimp
	\| pinyin = Hétao xiā / Mìzhī hétáo xiā		\| pinyin = Hétao xiā / Mìzhī hétáo xiā

Admin: [CFWK] Enrich from verified facts (original English)

2026-09-23T01:25:59Z

[CFWK] Enrich from verified facts (original English)

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:25, 23 September 2026
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	{{#seo:		{{#seo:
	\|title=Honey Walnut Shrimp (核桃虾) - Chinese Food Wiki		\|title=Honey Walnut Shrimp (核桃虾) - Chinese Food Wiki
	\|keywords=Honey Walnut Shrimp,核桃虾,American Chinese,Orange Chicken~~,Beef and Broccoli~~		\|keywords=Honey Walnut Shrimp,核桃虾,蜜汁核桃蝦,American Chinese,Hong Kong banquet,Orange Chicken
	\|description=Honey Walnut Shrimp is a diaspora Chinese dish of crispy battered shrimp in sweet mayo~~-honey~~ sauce topped with candied walnuts.		\|description=Honey Walnut Shrimp is a Hong Kong–influenced diaspora Chinese dish of crispy battered shrimp in sweet mayo sauce topped with candied walnuts, now a U.S. Chinese banquet and takeout favorite.
	}}		}}

	{{Infobox chinese food		{{Infobox chinese food
	\| alternate_name = Honey walnut prawns; candied walnut shrimp; mayonnaise-honey battered shrimp		\| alternate_name = Honey walnut prawns; candied walnut shrimp; mìzhī hétáo xiā; mayonnaise-honey battered shrimp
	\| pinyin = Hétao xiā		\| pinyin = Hétao xiā / Mìzhī hétáo xiā
	\| type = Battered shrimp with candied walnuts		\| type = Battered shrimp with candied walnuts
	\| course = Main / banquet		\| course = Main / banquet
	\| country = China		\| country = China (diaspora / Hong Kong–influenced)
	\| region = Chinese diaspora (esp. American Chinese / Hong ~~Kong–influenced~~ banquet)		\| region = Chinese diaspora (esp. American Chinese); Hong Kong–style banquet circuits
	\| other = Crispy battered shrimp tossed in sweet mayonnaise-honey sauce with candied walnuts; diaspora banquet favorite		\| other = Crispy battered shrimp tossed in sweet mayonnaise-honey (often condensed-milk) sauce with candied walnuts; diaspora banquet and takeout favorite — not a classical inland provincial staple
	}}		}}

	'''Honey Walnut Shrimp''' (Simplified Chinese: 核桃虾; Traditional Chinese: 核桃蝦; Pinyin: ''Hétao xiā''~~; also honey walnut prawns~~) is a ~~Chinese diaspora banquet and restaurant dish of~~ lightly battered, deep-fried shrimp ~~coated~~ in a sweet mayonnaise-~~and-honey (or condensed-milk)~~ sauce and ~~finished~~ with candied walnuts. ~~It sits on~~ English ~~menus~~ with [[Orange Chicken]] and [[Beef and Broccoli]] ~~as a sweet~~-~~savory crowd~~-~~pleaser rather than as a classical provincial banquet name from one inland province~~<ref name="wp">[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_walnut_shrimp English Wikipedia]</ref>.		'''Honey Walnut Shrimp''' (Simplified Chinese: 核桃虾 or 蜜汁核桃虾; Traditional Chinese: 核桃蝦 / 蜜汁核桃蝦; Pinyin: ''Hétao xiā'' / ''Mìzhī hétáo xiā'') is a lightly battered, deep-fried shrimp dish finished in a pale sweet mayonnaise-based sauce and topped with candied walnuts. English Wikipedia and diaspora food writing class it as a <b>Western-inspired Cantonese</b> banquet item associated with Hong Kong–style cooking that later became a fixture of American Chinese restaurant and banquet menus—sitting beside crowd-pleasers such as [[Orange Chicken]] and [[Beef and Broccoli]] on many English menus, while remaining distinct in technique and origin story from those Sichuan-American or stir-fry icons.<ref name="wp">[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_walnut_shrimp English Wikipedia — Honey walnut shrimp]</ref><ref name="resy">[https://blog.resy.com/2020/08/the-chinese-american-dish-that-isnt-really/ Resy: Melissa Hung on honey walnut shrimp as Hong Kong–to–U.S. banquet dish]</ref>

	== Characteristics ==		== Characteristics ==

	~~Shrimp stay~~ crisp ~~under~~ a creamy-sweet ~~pale~~ sauce~~; walnuts are crunchy~~ and candy-coated. Color is pale gold rather than red ~~chili glaze~~. ~~Portions~~ are ~~shared platter~~ style.		The plate trades on contrast: crisp batter against a creamy-sweet sauce, springy shrimp, and hard candy-coated walnuts. Color stays pale gold rather than chili-red. Sauce formulas commonly combine mayonnaise with honey and/or sweetened condensed milk, sometimes brightened with a little citrus juice; walnuts are separately candied in sugar syrup and added at the end so they stay crunchy.<ref name="wp" /><ref name="lau">[https://www.madewithlau.com/recipes/honey-walnut-shrimp Made With Lau: honey walnut shrimp context (Hong Kong banquet memory; sauce overview)]</ref>

			Unlike many inland Chinese banquet seafood dishes that emphasize clear steaming or light XO-style savoriness, honey walnut shrimp openly uses pantry ingredients associated with twentieth-century globalized kitchens (mayonnaise, condensed milk). That profile is exactly why U.S. diners often assume it is a purely American invention—yet reporting and chef memory more often point to Hong Kong banquet circuits first.<ref name="resy" />

	== Ingredients (overview) ==		== Ingredients (overview) ==

	~~Shrimp~~, batter (~~often~~ water-chestnut flour or ~~cornstarch~~ mixes), mayonnaise, honey or condensed milk, candied walnuts~~, oil~~. ~~Some Hong Kong banquet kitchens use similar mayo~~-~~honey prawn ideas~~.		Typical components (encyclopedic overview, not a recipe): peeled shrimp; a light starch batter (water-chestnut flour, cornstarch, or similar mixes appear in restaurant practice); oil for frying; mayonnaise; honey and/or sweetened condensed milk; candied walnuts (sometimes pecans as a swap); optional lemon juice. Exact sweetness and walnut quantity vary widely by restaurant. This encyclopedia does not provide frying temperatures or step-by-step candy methods.

	== History and culture ==		== History and culture ==

	~~Popularized~~ in overseas ~~Chinese restaurants~~ and ~~some~~ Hong ~~Kong–style~~ banquet ~~halls~~ in the ~~late twentieth century~~. Peer diaspora ~~sweet~~ mains include [[Orange Chicken]] and [[Sesame Chicken]]; ~~savory peers include [[Beef~~ and ~~Broccoli]]~~.		<b>Positioning:</b> Honey walnut shrimp should be read as <b>diaspora / Hong Kong–influenced Chinese restaurant food</b>, not as a single inland province's classical "famous dish" with a Song- or Ming-era gazetteer trail. Chinese-language names such as 蜜汁核桃蝦 ("honey-sauce walnut shrimp") appear in banquet and overseas menus; mainland inland home cooking traditionally did not center mayonnaise-dressed fried shrimp under that name.

			Secondary sources and oral histories commonly <b>attribute</b> invention to Hong Kong banquet kitchens, with spread to the United States in the 1980s–1990s—sometimes linked, in anecdote, to chef migration around the 1997 handover. No single inventor is securely documented; treat the Hong Kong→California/U.S. path as the best-supported scholarly and journalistic consensus, not as a sealed founding myth.<ref name="resy" /><ref name="si">[https://apa.si.edu/picklesandtea/take-out-honey-walnut-shrimp/ Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center — Pickles & Tea: take-out honey walnut shrimp background]</ref><ref name="lau" />

			In American Chinese dining it functions both as a wedding-banquet showpiece and as a takeout "sweet seafood" order. Chain restaurants later amplified recognition, but the dish's identity predates any one chain menu. Peer sweet diaspora mains include [[Orange Chicken]] and [[Sesame Chicken]]; those plates share market niche more than recipe lineage.

			Encyclopedically, the important boundary is <b>not</b> "Chinese vs not Chinese" but <b>which Chinese restaurant world</b>: Hong Kong–style banquet innovation and overseas Cantonese menus, later naturalized into American Chinese takeout. Mainland inland home cooking did not historically treat mayonnaise-candied-walnut shrimp as a provincial "famous dish" akin to Huaiyang nesting duck or Hainan white-cut poultry. Listing the dish on this wiki therefore documents diaspora Chinese food history rather than inventing a false inland gazetteer pedigree.

			Condensed milk in the sauce—surprising to some first-time cooks—fits twentieth-century canned-dairy globalization and café pastry taste as much as it fits "ancient Chinese" mythology. That ingredient clue supports the Western-inspired Cantonese reading found in Wikipedia and journalism.<ref name="wp" />

	== Serving and variations ==		== Serving and variations ==

	Banquet or ~~restaurant main with rice~~. See [[Orange Chicken]], [[Beef and Broccoli]], and [[Chow Mein]].		Served family-style with steamed rice, best eaten soon after saucing so the batter stays relatively crisp. Banquet portions are shared; takeout boxes are common in North America. Variations swap pecans for walnuts, adjust condensed-milk sweetness, or lighten the batter. Hong Kong and overseas Cantonese banquet halls may still list related mayo-honey prawn ideas; younger diners in Hong Kong itself sometimes report the dish as less ubiquitous than in U.S. Chinese restaurants—another hint of its diaspora afterlife.<ref name="lau" />

			See [[Orange Chicken]], [[Beef and Broccoli]], and [[Chow Mein]] for neighboring American Chinese menu context, and [[Hong Kong Food]] for the broader café and banquet landscape that fed overseas Cantonese cooking.

	== See also ==		== See also ==
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	* [[Orange Chicken]]		* [[Orange Chicken]]
	* [[Beef and Broccoli]]		* [[Beef and Broccoli]]
			* [[Sesame Chicken]]
	* [[Chow Mein]]		* [[Chow Mein]]
	* [[Sesame Chicken]]
	* [[Lo Mein]]		* [[Lo Mein]]
			* [[Hong Kong Food]]
	* [[List of dishes (A-Z)]]		* [[List of dishes (A-Z)]]

	== References ==		== References ==
	{{Reflist}}		{{Reflist}}

Admin: [CFWK] create Honey Walnut Shrimp (Round16 P6b dish)

2026-09-22T13:58:19Z

[CFWK] create Honey Walnut Shrimp (Round16 P6b dish)

New page

{{#seo:
|title=Honey Walnut Shrimp (核桃虾) - Chinese Food Wiki
|keywords=Honey Walnut Shrimp,核桃虾,American Chinese,Orange Chicken,Beef and Broccoli
|description=Honey Walnut Shrimp is a diaspora Chinese dish of crispy battered shrimp in sweet mayo-honey sauce topped with candied walnuts.
}}

{{Infobox chinese food
| alternate_name = Honey walnut prawns; candied walnut shrimp; mayonnaise-honey battered shrimp
| pinyin = Hétao xiā
| type = Battered shrimp with candied walnuts
| course = Main / banquet
| country = China
| region = Chinese diaspora (esp. American Chinese / Hong Kong–influenced banquet)
| other = Crispy battered shrimp tossed in sweet mayonnaise-honey sauce with candied walnuts; diaspora banquet favorite
}}

'''Honey Walnut Shrimp''' (Simplified Chinese: 核桃虾; Traditional Chinese: 核桃蝦; Pinyin: ''Hétao xiā''; also honey walnut prawns) is a Chinese diaspora banquet and restaurant dish of lightly battered, deep-fried shrimp coated in a sweet mayonnaise-and-honey (or condensed-milk) sauce and finished with candied walnuts. It sits on English menus with [[Orange Chicken]] and [[Beef and Broccoli]] as a sweet-savory crowd-pleaser rather than as a classical provincial banquet name from one inland province<ref name="wp">[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_walnut_shrimp English Wikipedia]</ref>.

== Characteristics ==

Shrimp stay crisp under a creamy-sweet pale sauce; walnuts are crunchy and candy-coated. Color is pale gold rather than red chili glaze. Portions are shared platter style.

== Ingredients (overview) ==

Shrimp, batter (often water-chestnut flour or cornstarch mixes), mayonnaise, honey or condensed milk, candied walnuts, oil. Some Hong Kong banquet kitchens use similar mayo-honey prawn ideas.

== History and culture ==

Popularized in overseas Chinese restaurants and some Hong Kong–style banquet halls in the late twentieth century. Peer diaspora sweet mains include [[Orange Chicken]] and [[Sesame Chicken]]; savory peers include [[Beef and Broccoli]].

== Serving and variations ==

Banquet or restaurant main with rice. See [[Orange Chicken]], [[Beef and Broccoli]], and [[Chow Mein]].

== See also ==

* [[Orange Chicken]]
* [[Beef and Broccoli]]
* [[Chow Mein]]
* [[Sesame Chicken]]
* [[Lo Mein]]
* [[List of dishes (A-Z)]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

Honey Walnut Shrimp - Revision history

Admin: [CFWK] Wire Commons image into Infobox

Admin: [CFWK] Enrich from verified facts (original English)

Admin: [CFWK] create Honey Walnut Shrimp (Round16 P6b dish)