Sweet Chili Shrimp with pineapple is the perfect summertime entree ready in just 15 minutes (or less)! Shrimp is pan seared and coated with the best sweet, spicy, and sticky glaze. Serve it over rice or veggies for the best quick and easy dinner!
Sweet Chili Shrimp
I’ve been making this sweet and spicy shrimp for years and it literally never gets old. Tender shrimp and pineapple chunks are coated in a shiny glaze that’s a little spicy, a little sweet, and even a little garlicky! I love piling it on top of fluffy white rice with some crisp green onions on top for the ultimate summer dinner. The best part? It could not be quicker or easier to make! Shrimp cook fast, so be sure to keep a close eye on them and don’t stray too far from your stove top. After they’re cooked, you just have to warm up and thicken the sauce with a little cornstarch. Toss it all together, and voila! You have your new favorite shrimp dinner recipe.
Enjoy more of the very best shrimp recipes like honey garlic shrimp, sriracha shrimp, and bang bang shrimp!
How can you tell when shrimp is cooked?
It’s all too easy to overcook shrimp! Once they’re opaque and their tails have curled to look like the letter C, they’re ready to eat. If you continue cooking them, they’ll get tough and rubbery pretty quickly.
How to Make Sweet Chili Shrimp
- Whisk the marinade. Whisk together the sriracha, soy sauce, honey, garlic, and pineapple juice.
- Coat the shrimp. Add the shrimp to the marinade. Coat them all.
- Cook the shrimp. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the shrimp (with the marinade) and cook for 3-5 minutes.
- Thicken the sauce. Transfer the shrimp to a plate and leave the sauce in the pan. In a bowl, combine the cornstarch and cold water. Stir this slurry into the pan to thicken the sauce.
- Enjoy! Turn off the heat to prevent the shrimp from cooking any more. Add the shrimp back to the pan along with the pineapple chunks. Coat all of the shrimp with the glaze.
Storing and Reheating
Once cooled to room temperature, you can store your leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. When reheating, be careful! If you overheat the shrimp, they’ll get rubbery. I recommend reheating leftovers in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time (or even less) until just warmed through.
I don’t recommend freezing this dish.
Ingredient Notes
- Raw Shrimp – They’ll need to be peeled and deveined. You can use frozen shrimp if you’d like! Just make sure they’re fully thawed prior to cooking.
- Sriracha Chili Sauce – This is a key ingredient. Don’t swap it with anything else!
- Soy Sauce – Tamari or coocnut aminos also work well if preferred.
- Honey – This adds just the right amount of sweetness to pair well with the pineapple juice and cut through the spicy sriracha.
- Garlic – I recommend using fresh garlic for the very best flavor and aroma.
- Pineapple Juice – You can get this from the can of pineapple chunks that you’re also using for this recipe.
- Olive Oil – Avocado oil also works well.
- Pineapple Chunks – I love the juicy, soft texture these provide the dish! And the pop of sweetness is also so satisfying.
- Cornstarch – This is what gives the sauce the best thick, glossy quality. Be careful not to add too much.
- Green Onions and Rice – These are optional, just for serving purposes. They’re my favorite way to serve this summery shrimp dish! Coconut rice is also pretty lovely if you can find it at the grocery store.
Enjoy!
~Nichole
Sweet Chili Shrimp
Ingredients
- 1 Pound Raw Shrimp Peeled and deveined
- 1/3 Cup Sriracha Chili Sauce
- 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
- 2 Tablespoons Honey
- 1/2 Tablespoon Garlic Minced
- 1/4 Cup Pineapple Juice
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 20 Ounce Can Pineapple Chunks
- 2 Teaspoons Corn Starch
- 1 Tablespoon Cold Water
- 2 Green Onions Chopped
- Rice for serving Optional
Instructions
- In a medium bowl combine the sriracha sauce, soy sauce, honey, garlic, and pineapple juice.
- Add the peeled shrimp to the marinade and stir to coat.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add the shrimp along with the marinade and cook for 3-5 minutes, just until shrimp is opaque.
- Use a slotted spoon to remove the shrimp to a plate, leaving the sauce in the pan.
- In a small bowl stir together the cornstarch and cold water.
- Add the cornstarch mixture to the saucepan and simmer until thickened.
- Turn off the heat and add the shrimp back to the pan along with the pineapple chunks. Stir to combine.
- Serve with green onions and rice if desired.
This was just what I was looking for. Spicey, sweet, it was perfect. I used frozen pineapple so added water instead of pineapple juice and it worked fine. So quick and easy with common ingredients that are on hand but tastes like something special.
This was quick and tasty. Thank you! The recipe makes enough sauce that you can add a ton of veggies to it to make it a more balanced all in one meal. I started by sauteing a cup of sliced carrots in a bit of coconut oil, adding 1/3 lb sliced crimini mushrooms, then 2 cups thawed frozen sugar snap peas. Removed the veggies to a bowl and proceeded with the recipe as written (using just 12oz shrimp as that what comes in the package of frozen raw peeled shrimp from Aldi, and a little less than the 20z of pineapple chunks because that’s what I had left over after making a hawaiian pizza a few days aago), adding the veggies back in with the shrimp at the end. I didn’t have scallions on hand, so I used chives instead, and I also subbed tapioca starch for the cornstarch because that’s what I keep in my pantry. I still gave the recipe 5 stars because I don’t feel the modifications or additions changed the basic recipe, and part of what I love is how flexible this is. Made with Sky Valley Sriracha it was definitely spicy, but not overwhelmingly so for our palates. Definitely a keeper.
My husband is a fussy eater. I made this and put over sticky rice. Hardly any left overs. Hubby approved. I did add a few red pepper flakes to give it more spice. It turned out amazing.
Delicious but Wow! This is SPICY— to the point the heat completely over powered the sweet. (And I never shy away from spicy) I will definitely make this again but reduce the amount of siracha and increase the amount of pineapple juice. I used fresh pineapple and fresh juice. Maybe that’s part of the reason the sweet didn’t stand out?
I love the recipe. I am looking for the calories and the other nutrition since I am tracking all my meals. Can you provide the calories, etc. per serving? thanks so much.
Im making this tonight. Can anyone confirm if you’re supposed to include the liquid IN the pineapple can, or are you supposed to drain? It doesn’t specify.
Hi! Use the 1/4 cup of pineapple juice from the can, drain the rest 🙂
I was abandoned for dinner so I was about to order some takeout halal food. There’s this good place around the corner and it sounded pretty good, but I thought NAH, I CAN MAKE SOMETHING WITH WHAT’S IN THE FRIDGE/FREEZER, so that’s what I did. I googled “pineapple shrimp” and by Odin’s Sword found your excellent recipe. I had most of the requisite ingredients: frozen (let it gooooo) shrimp, pineapple juice can (with juice inside), sriracha, and soy sauce packets. Further inspection yielded some minced garlic and leftover green onions that were looking pretty desperate. I dumped the ingredients into the plastic shrimp bag and soon dumped them all into the skillet. After cooking through, I poured the cooking liquid into a cup and grilled the shrimp for yummier texture. Finally, I removed the shrimp and poured the cooking liquid back into the skillet and reduced to a sauce. Wow, I am impressed with myself for improvising, but even more impressed with you for writing this blog that was here for me in my moment of need. Thank you!
That’s quite literally how I learned to cook, by going “nah, I can make something what’s in the fridge” LOL! I love your review and thanks for leaving it! So glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Hi – did you use the liquid in the canned pineapple, in addition to the juice called for? Or is pineapple supposed to be drained?
I drained the pineapple juice but saved it and put in about a tablespoon in with the sticky rice. Amazing flavor when you put the pineapple shrimp over rice
This was really good! Easy to make!
My husband especially would be all over this!