Bubble Fried Shrimp Recipe

Pop! The shrimp bubbles up!

Bubble fried shrimp is a classic Cantonese dish which is also very popular in mainland China. 

The shrimp will bubble up and float in the oil! Try squeezing some mayo into the bubble crust, you will immediately understand what I meant by saying “crispy outside and creamy inside“!

How to test the oil temperature for the bubble fried shrimp?

To make crispy coated bubble fried shrimps, we will need to fry the shrimp twice: first time at 350℉ (177 ℃), second time at 375℉ ( 190℃).

It’s important to fry the bubble shrimp at the correct oil temperature: the shrimp might get stuck to the bottom of the saucepan if the oil is not hot enough, while it might crack if the oil is too hot. 

If you don’t have a thermometer, here is how to text the oil temperature by observing the batter:

Dip the tips of chopsticks (or a spoon) into the batter, carefully drop a drop of batter into the hot oil.

If the batter sinks to the bottom then rise within 1 second, the oil has reached 350℉ (177 ℃).

If the batter sink slightly and rises immediately without reaching to the bottom of the saucepan, the oil has reached 375℉ (190 ℃).

Batter for Bubble Fried Shrimp

A hundred Cantonese chefs a hundred different versions of bubble shrimp’s secret batter recipes.

For example, some of them only use flour, baking powder and cornstarch, some of them use yeast and glutinous rice flour, while some suggest using a combination of baking powder, cornstarch, all purpose flour, potato starch, and glutinous rice flour.

One common thing is that, they won’t release the full recipe online 😂

I’ve adjusted my batter recipe for 4 times, and finally found out the most successful combination:

• 1⅓ tbsp all purpose flour (10g)
• ½ tsp baking powder (2g)
• 3⅓ tbsp cornstarch (25g)
• 8 tbsp potato starch (60g)
• 1 tbsp water (15g)
• 3 large egg whites (96g)
• ½ cup vegetable oil – for the batter (100g)

These are what I found based on my 3 failure and 1 successful experiences:

1. The more all purpose flour we add, the thicker the bubble crust will be. 
2. By substituting the potato starch in this current recipe with glutinous rice flour, the bubble crust will taste much crispier, but the bubbles will look much smaller.
3. By substituting the potato starch in this current recipe with cornstarch, the bubbles will be bigger, but they will turn soft quickly once cooled down.
4. If we use whole eggs instead of egg whites only, the bubble will look darker and smaller.
5. Double frying can make the bubbles look more golden brown and stay crispy for a longer time.
6. Adding yeast to the batter doesn’t make much difference compared with using baking powder along. 
7. The batter recipe works well for both large and small shrimp. If you want to use large shrimp, you can make a few slits in the belly side of the shrimp, otherwise they might crawl up once fried, and it might crack the bubble crust.

EQUIPMENT

• saucepan (for deep frying)

• kitchen scale (recommended but optional)

INGREDIENTS

• 1½ cup raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (I used frozen Wild Caught Key West Pink Raw Shrimp. They are quitesmall, about 31-40 shrimp per pound. You can use fresh shrimps, or larger shrimps.)

• 4 slices ginger
• ⅓ tsp salt
• ½ tsp white pepper powder (can be substituted by black pepper)

Batter:

• 1⅓ tbsp all purpose flour (10g)
• ½ tsp baking powder (2g)
• 3⅓ tbsp cornstarch (25g)
• 8 tbsp potato starch (60g; or use cornstarch as a substitute)
• 1 tbsp water (15g)
• 3 large egg whites (96g)
• ½ cup vegetable oil – for the batter (100g)

Others:

• 3 cup vegetable oil – for deep frying (0.75Qt)
• Dan-O’s original seasoning, or Japanese mayonnaise, or any other seasonings you like.  

Step-by-step INSTRUCTIONS

1. Thaw 2 cups of frozen shrimp in the fridge overnight. Rinse and pat dry with kitchen towel, put them into a medium bowl. (Or you can use 1½ cup of fresh shrimp.)

2. Add ginger slices, salt, and white pepper powder to the shrimp, mix well. Set aside to marinate for about 5 minutes.

3. Add all purpose flour, baking powder, cornstarch, potato starch, water, and egg whites to a mixing bowl. Stir in one direction with a whisk until smooth.

4. Add ½ cup of vegetable oil to the batter. Stir in one direction with a whisk until smooth. The batter should have a custard sauce texture, it be just thick enough to coat the shrimp. (I said “mix until it looks like yogurt” in the video. But it should be thinner than yogurt. It should look like those bottled yogurt drink, e.g. Chobani.)

5. Pour vegetable oil into a saucepan (I added 3 cups of oil to an 1.5-quart saucepan). Heat up the oil over medium high heat to 350°F. (See tips above 👍 for how to test the oil temperature.)

6. Pick out the ginger slices from the shrimp. Add shrimp to batter, mix well so that each shrimp is coated with batter.

7. Carefully add shrimp to the oil. Deep fry the shrimp with medium heat. If your saucepan is the same size as mine, add no more than 5 shrimp at a time.

8. If any shrimp is stuck at the bottom of the sauce pan, gently push it with a spoon, it will bubble up and float to the surface immediately. Deep fry the shrimp for 2 to 3 minutes (based on the size) until slightly yellow.

9. Drain fried shrimp on a cooling rack or paper towel. Keep frying the remaining shrimp.

10. Once all the shrimp has been deep fried once, heat up the oil over medium high heat until it reaches 375°F. (See tips above for how to test the oil temperature.)

11. Add fried shrimps back to the oil to fry over medium high heat for about 30 seconds until they look golden. You can fry them for a longer time time if you want them to look golden brown.

12. Drain fried shrimp on a cooling rack or paper towel. Put to a serving plate.

13. Serve with spices seasonings or dipping sauce of your choice. (See Note below for what I used.)

NOTES

1. Since that particular Tiktok video was sponsored by Dan-O’s seasoning, I used it’s original seasoning, which was made of garlic, sea salt, onion, parsley, lemon peel and cayenne pepper to season my bubble fried shrimps.

    After I turned off the camera, both Mr He and I agreed that the flavor and aroma of this seasoning went perfectly with my bubble fried shrimp.

    But you don’t have to buy this seasoning for this particular dish, it can be substituted with any kind of seasoning you like.

2. Another way to enjoy this dish is to poke a tiny hole on the bubble, and squeeze some Japanese Mayonnaise into the hole. Or, to make things easier, you can serve this dish with a small bowl of mayonnaise on the side.

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