Quick and Easy King Prawn Chop Suey recipe loaded with prawns, vegetables, and delicious thick chop suey sauce. Skip the Chinese takeaway and make it your own with this simple recipe. Made with everyday cupboard-friendly ingredients. Dinner ready in 15 minutes!
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Preparing a quick and healthy meal for a family on a busy weeknight is not very easy. But you can make it happen with this saucy stir fry recipe. Everything comes together in 15 minutes and is loaded with vegetables. Even my fussy little one who doesn't like vegetables finished one big bowl of rice with prawn chop suey. So it becomes our family favourite and always in our family meal rotation. If we are bored of prawns or chicken, we switch it with tofu or just make vegetable chop suey, without any protein.
If you wish to try it out with chicken, you will definitely love our Chicken Chop Suey recipe which is made with chicken breast.
What is King Prawn Chop Suey?
Chop Suey is a Chinese stir fry meat and vegetables with thick glossy brown sauce. In the UK Chinese restaurants and takeaways, shrimp chop suey is known as Prawn Chop Suey. It is usually served over a bed of plain rice, noodles or crispy fried noodles. The perfect combination of juicy meat/seafood and crisp vegetables with a sweet and savoury sauce. You can add prawns, shrimps, chicken, beef, pork, tofu or your choice of protein.
Every family and restaurant have their own recipes and there are no exact rules to make it. All you need to do is stir fry the protein and vegetables, then stir in the sauce mixture. In this recipe, I am sharing our homemade shrimp chop suey recipe with simple instructions and step by step cooking video.
Following is the quick guide and detailed ingredients and measurements in the recipe card.
Why you will love this recipe
- Quick and easy stir fry it takes very less time to prepare. Perfect for busy weeknights because this recipe don't need many hour to spend time in kitchen.
- This is a very versatile, you can swap the protein and vegetables that you prefer. Toss in any stir fry vegetables that you already have in your fridge.
- One of the healthy and nutritious Chinese stir fry dishes that is very less in oil and loaded with protein and veggies.
- Simple but not bland! Even though this dish is made with basic stir fry sauces, it is incredibly delicious. This is one of the best Chinese stir fry recipe your family will request over and over again.
Ingredients we need
Prawns - Use king prawns, shrimps, tiger prawns or your choice of seafood. Prawns should be peeled and deveined. You can also add squid, scallop, crab meat, fish fillets, fish cake, or fish balls and make it a seafood chop suey.
Vegetables - Carrot, onion, bell peppers, mushroom, mangetout, and bean sprouts are classic vegetables that we love to add. Broccoli, tender stem broccoli, cauliflower, spring onions, baby corn, bok choy, and pak choy are also popular vegetables that are used in chop suey recipes.
Chop Suey Sauce - Chop suey sauce usually consists of oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, corn starch, and water. Depending on the family and restaurant recipes, chop suey sauce can be a clear thick glossy sauce or thick brown sauce. Dark soy sauce can be used to add more brown colour to the sauce.
Ingredients add-on - Apart from meat, seafood and vegetables, Burmese and Filipino chop suey has quail eggs in them. You can add hard-boiled quail eggs too!
How to make it
- First, combine all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl, mix it well and set it aside.
- Saute the king prawns for 1-2 minutes, then add the chopped garlic and stir it well. Season the prawns with salt and fresh ground black pepper. Remove from pan and set it aside.
- Next stir fry the vegetables by adding the hard vegetables first. Stir fry the carrot, baby corn for 1-2 minutes. Follow with the mushroom and mangetout and bell peppers.
- Now pour the sauce mixture in and cook until the sauce become thick and glossy. Place the prawns back in the wok, together with bean sprouts and spring onions.
- Once everything cooked through, transfer to serving plate and serve immediately.
Cooking Tips
- Prepare and gather all ingredients before you start cooking as this is a very fast stir fry.
- As this is a fast and easy recipe, I use pre-peeled and deveined prawns/shrimp to save some time from peeling and cleaning.
- Do not overcook the prawns, once their colour changed, remove them from the pan set them aside before you add the vegetables.
- Cook the hard vegetables first as they need longer time to cook.
- Do not overcrowd the pan, stir fry with batches if needed.
- Mix the sauce well before drizzlling in the stir fry.
- If you love extra sauce, you can double the sauce ingredients.
FAQ
Prawn Chop suey is a prawn and vegetable stir fry smothered in a thick sauce. Meanwhile, king prawn chow mein is a dry stir fry king prawn, vegetable, and egg noodles.
All you need is a bowl of plain cooked rice or noodles. Chop suey with rice is a perfect combination but feel free to serve together with fried rice, noodles, soups or stir-fries and make it a wholesome dinner.
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King Prawn Chop Suey
Ingredients
- 400 g Prawns About 14oz, king prawns, tiger prawns or shrimp, peeled and deveined
- ¼ tsp Salt or salt to taste
- ¼ tsp Black pepper or white pepper
- 2-3 tbsp Oil vegetable, sunflower, canola, peanut, or neutral flavour oil
Vegetables
- 3 cloves Garlic Roughly chopped
- 1 Carrot Cut thin slices
- 10-12 Mangetout Pinch or cut end tips ( see details in note )
- 8-10 Mushroom Cut thin slices
- 100 g Bean sprout About 3.5oz
- 1 Red bell pepper Cut small squares
- 6-8 Baby corn Cut into half lengthways
- 2-3 Spring onions Cut 2" pieces
Chop Suey Sauce
- 2 tbsp Oyster sauce Or vegetarian stir fry sauce
- 2 tbsp Light soy sauce
- ½ tsp Dark soy sauce Optional ( see details in note )
- 2 tsp Sugar
- 2 tsp Shao Xing wine Optional ( see details in note )
- ¼ tsp White pepper
- 2 tsp Corn starch
- 6 tbsp Water
- 1 tsp Sesame oil
Instructions
- Gather all ingredients and prepare the vegetables before cooking start. Mix all the chop suey sauce in a small bowl and set it aside.
- Heat the large wok or pan over medium-high heat, drizzle 1 tablespoon of oil. Stir fry the prawns for 1-2 minutes then add the chopped garlic and continue cook until the garlic is slightly brown. Remove from pan and set it aside.
- In the remaining pan, drizzle a bit more oil add the harder vegetables, carrot, and baby corn. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes and follow with the mushrooms.
- Next, add the bell pepper, mangetout, and stir it well for another 1 minute.
- Now, pour the sauce mixture and stir it well. Once the sauce starts to thick and glossy, place the prawns back in the wok along with bean sprouts and spring onions. Combine all ingredients evenly with the sauce until everything cooked through.
- Transfer to serving plate and serve immediately with a plain rice or noodles.
Notes
- Prawns - King prawns, shrimp, tiger prawns, boneless chicken thighs, or breast can be used. Prawns should be peeled and deveined and pat dry with a paper towel before cooking.
- Shao Xing Wine - is a Chinese cooking rice wine, you can omit it or swap it with dry sherry or Japanese mirin.
- Clear chop suey sauce - skip dark soy sauce if you prefer the clear colour sauce.
- Vegetables - you don't need to add the exact same vegetables used in this recipe, feel free to add your favourite stir fry vegetables.
Karen says
Lovely 😊 thank you
Joanne Drake says
I thought this meal was absolutely beautiful. I will definitely make it again.
Khin says
Glad that you enjoyed it, Joanne! Thanks for trying out and sharing feedback.
Anna says
I made it with shrimp, chicken, and scallops. The sauce was lovely. My family enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Khin says
Happy that you enjoyed it Anna. Perfect combination with chicken, vegetables, and seafood! Love it.