Hawaii shrimp trucks are famous for garlic shrimp. It's easy to make and super garlicky. Squeeze lemon all over and serve with rice (which soaks up the garlic-butter sauce, so good!)
Hawaiian Garlic Shrimp, ready to eat!
It's saucy and savory and even thinking about this makes me salivate...
Waiting in line for garlic shrimp at Giovanni's (Oahu)
What Is Hawaiian Garlic Shrimp?
Hawaiian Garlic Shrimp is a famous local dish in Hawaii. The shrimp trucks parked on the North Shore of Oahu made this dish extra popular.
It's made of fresh local shrimp (or prawns) tossed with flour-paprika-cayenne, then pan-fried and mixed with a garlic butter sauce. The finished dish is always served with rice and a lemon wedge.
Nice crisp shell and lots of garlic butter alllll over ^_^
Why Is It Called Hawaiian Garlic Shrimp?
This is not a Hawaiian dish. This is a local dish. Here's the difference between Hawaiian food and local food.
In Hawaii we call this dish, Garlic Shrimp. On the mainland people call it, Hawaiian Garlic Shrimp. People vacationed in Hawaii, tried this dish, went home and told their friends about Hawaiian garlic shrimp. The name took hold.
That's where the mistake was made. Garlic shrimp is from Hawaii, but that doesn't make it Hawaiian food. Garlic shrimp is local food.
Local food is unique to Hawaii. It is the category of food that came from blending different cultures that exist in Hawaii. These cultures include Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, and many more. Examples of local food include shave ice, saimin, loco moco, spam musubi, and manapua.
Note: I titled this post Hawaiian Garlic Shrimp, not to further reinforce the name but in the hopes that people will find this post and realize that Hawaiian garlic shrimp is in fact, just garlic shrimp! Mainly, I'm just hoping everyone enjoys the food in Hawaii.
So what's the correct name for this dish? Just call it "garlic shrimp from Hawaii."
Waiting in line for garlic shrimp at Romy's (Oahu)
Shrimp in Hawaii
We're lucky to get fresh local shrimp in Hawaii. Once you taste Hawaii shrimp (and the many kinds of fresh Hawaii seafood), other shrimp just can't compare ^_^
Have you heard about the shrimp trucks of Hawaii? That's what most people think of when you mention shrimp in Hawaii. The most famous of these shrimp trucks are on the North Shore of Oahu.
There are two "main" trucks and people are forever comparing which one is better. Honestly, they are both delicious and I could never pick one favorite:
Garlic shrimp plate at Romy's (Oahu)
Romy's Kahuku Prawns and Shrimp
I order the classic butter and garlic shrimp. Comes with two scoops rice and a spicy shoyu dipping sauce. Don't forget to order the li hing pineapples for dessert! Cash only.
Note: Romy's is across the street from Kahuku Farms (a working farm that also makes and sells lilikoi butter mochi, grilled banana bread topped with vanilla-haupia, and acai bowls made from their own acai).
Garlic shrimp plate at Giovanni's (Oahu)
Giovanni's Shrimp Truck
Giovanni's has three locations. Visit the one at 56-505 Kamehameha Highway. (This location is just a few minutes drive from Romy's so you can hit up both). I order the shrimp scampi plate, very garlicky. Comes with two scoops rice and garlic lemon butter sauce all over. Cash only.
Giovanni's recently opened a new location in town (this was a very big deal because before you had to plan a whole day trip around going to the North Shore). It's nice having a town location for when the craving hits, but definitely visit the North Shore original location for the full experience.
Tips on visiting the shrimps trucks: locals and tourists love these two shrimp trucks and they are always super packed and busy. There's often an hour long wait for the food. Most time efficient strategy is to go early, right when they open. That way you might have time to eat at them both!
Make sure to cook the minced garlic in butter until it's golden and crisp.
Hawaiian Garlic Shrimp Method
The formal recipe is at the bottom of the post, but I always include this "method" section where I can go into a little more detail on the recipe. I hope it is helpful.
First, get all the ingredients together:
- Shrimp (deveined, shell-on) - Using shell-on shrimp is key!
- Mochiko flour - I like this recipe best with mochiko flour (we also use mochiko flour for butter mochi and mochiko chicken), but you can substitute regular flour.
- Paprika
- Cayenne pepper - Can skip if you like no heat, but I looove it with cayenne. You can also use black pepper instead.
- Salt
- Garlic, minced - Feel free to use even more garlic!
- Butter
- Olive oil
Now we start cooking!
First you clean and pat dry the shrimp. Get it as dry as possible and set it aside.
The dry mix (mochiko flour, paparika, cayenne pepper) for the shrimp coating
Then combine the mochiko flour, paparika, cayenne pepper, and salt in a mixing bowl.
Do your best to get an even coating on the shrimp shells
Add the shrimp and toss so that each shrimp is evenly dusted in the flour mixture. Set this aside.
Melt butter first and then add garlic.
Now get a pan, put it on the stove and turn it to medium heat. Put in the butter. Once the butter is melted, add in the minced garlic. Saute the garlic for about 3 minutes, till it's all toasty and nice.
Your kitchen should be smelling amazing right about now. Once it's ready, turn off the stove and pour all the garlic and butter into a bowl.
Put the shrimp in a single layer only.
Add the olive oil to the pan and turn the heat up to medium-high. Add the shrimp in a single layer. Don't overcrowd the pan, you can do this in two batches if needed.
Note: If you overcrowd the shrimp, they will start to steam instead of browning nicely (we want that deep golden, crisp shell).
Cook the shrimp for about 2 minutes on each side.
Now pour the garlic butter back into the pan, and saute the shrimp with the garlic butter for one more minute until everything smells amazing and is nicely combined.
You are finished! Slide it over a big bowl of rice. Squeeze some lemon all over and enjoy!
Substitutions
- The recipe calls for mochiko flour. You can substitute this with regular flour.
- The recipe calls for deveined, shell-on shrimp. Devouring the crisp garlic bits and butter sauce all over the shells is part of the whole experience, but if you must, you can also make this with peeled shrimp. It's less "work" in the end, but please give it a try with shell-on shrimp at least once!
- Can substitute black pepper for the cayenne pepper.
- I use one head of garlic for every 12 ounces of shrimp. Feel free to increase the garlic as much as you like (we've even made this with two heads of garlic). This is a case in which you can never have too much garlic. The rice soaks up all the garlic butter and it is super onolicious.
Tips
- Make sure you remove garlic butter from the pan (pour it into a bowl) before cooking the shrimp. It's tempting to add the shrimp right in the pan (because it saves time)...but if you do this, the garlic will burn by the time the shrimp is done cooking.
- Dry the shrimp real good before dusting with the mochiko flour, paprika, cayenne, salt mixture. Otherwise it will get clumpy and you don't get that nice crust.
Time to eat!
Hawaiian Garlic Shrimp Recipe
See below ^_^
Hawaiian Garlic Shrimp
Hawaii shrimp trucks are famous for garlic shrimp. It's easy to make and super garlicky. Make sure to eat with rice (it's amazing with the garlic-butter sauce!)
Ingredients
- 12 ounces shrimp (deveined, shell-on)
- 2 tablespoons mochiko flour (can substitute regular flour)
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 head garlic, minced
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- Pat the shrimp dry and set aside.
- Combine mochiko flour, paprika, cayenne pepper, and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the shrimp, toss to coat, and set aside.
- In a large pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Once melted, add the garlic and cook till toasty and golden brown (about 3 minutes). Pour the garlic and butter out into a bowl.
- Add olive oil to the skillet. Once the oil is warm, add the shrimp (single layer only, do this in two batches if needed). Cook the shrimp for about 2 minutes on each side, till it's nicely crisp and browned.
- Pour the garlic butter back into the pan, and mix with the shrimp. Cook for another minute, and then you're done! Squeeze lemon all over and eat with rice.
Aloha, Kathy,
We visited Giovanni shrimp truck on the north shore of Oahu. Long lines and was disappointed in the overcooked rice and not tasty shrimp. So…
Found your recipe and made it tonight. My husband both had the same thought that’s way better than Giovanni’s! Thanks for the recipe. It’s a keeper.
Thank you very much, Cabdy! I'm so happy you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Kathy
We have made a few different versions of Hawaiian garlic shrimp, but this one is definitely the best. Thank you for the notes on different kinds of flour. We have shrimp recipes in Canada, like many places in the world with fisheries, but nothing like this. California was the closest place I've lived to having access to Hawaiian food.
Aloha and thank you so much, Erin! 🙂
- Kathy
Is there a gluten-free flour I could substitute for the flour?
Mochiko flour is rice flour. Naturally gf
I believe this would be more enjoyable for more people if she'd used "tail-on", not "shell-on" shrimp.
Thanks for the recipe - It was delicious!
I put the seasoning and shrimp into a plastic bag, shook it around, and pulled the shrimp out when it was time to cook. I also tried putting it in with the butter and garlic, but before the garlic had browned. The shrimp cooked and the garlic actually still needed 1-2 minutes to finish.
Goodday eh! Thanks for sharing this great Canadian shrimp recipe. The crunchy shells are hard to swallow, but the ample garlic does the trick. Here, we pour on maple syrup during prep and instead of rice, we use French Fries. We call it Crispy Chewy Cracklin Crunchy Garlic Shrimp Poutine. A diet staple from coast to coast. Not recommended for couples on a first date.
@Chrispy Holdroyd, you're not supposed to eat the shells.
In this recipe and a few asian shrimp dishes I make often, you're actually supposed to eat the shells... especially if you're having this at the shrimp trucks in HI! That is the whole point of trying to keep the shells crispy and not overcrowding while cooking. Aloha!
@Roxy,
Who says? U can eat the shells.
I made this for dinner tonight and it's fantastic! I used flour, omitted cayenne and used red pepper flakes (it's just what I had) and it was really good. I'm defiantly saving this. Thank you! I miss the shrimp trucks in Hawaii and it was nice to pretend I was in North Shore again.
Thank you, Kim! So happy you enjoyed 🙂
Made this exactly as written last night, yes the house smelled amazing and the taste was equal! I kept the shells on while cooking but neither one of us was willing to eat the shells so a lot of the fabulous garlic was wasted. Next time I'll try it without the shells but what a great recipe, thank you so much for sharing.
Ah, but you can eat all of the garlicky butter from the shell and then peel them to eat.
Thanks
Thank you so much for this recipe!!
I just cooked this after a long day at work! Really easy to prepare and super quick to cook!
This was amazing! Great advice about the dredging in the comments! Used regular flour. Also served over cauli rice and aside from texture, you wouldn’t know due to the intense flavor of the garlic butter over it! Thanks for sharing this piece of heaven from the north shore!
I luv your link of onolicious Hawaiian food!!!
Does anyone know how to make the vinegar hot sauce they serve with the shrimp?
Aloha! Do you have any tips for the spicy shoyu sauce and the spicy version of this dish? I will be making this recipe this weekend but have a friend who loved Romy’s Spicy shrimp and wanted to see if I could give her some of that spice in hers! Thanks for sharing!
Aloha Jennifer! Good question! Have been working on recipes for those...coming soon hopefully ^_^
- Kathy
Our friends from Iowa, who have visited us several times here on Oahu, have been trying to find a Giovanni-worthy recipe to make at home. They found this and just made it and said that it was fantastic. Just wanted to share that your recipe has fans in the Midwest!
Aloha Matt - Super cool! Thank you very much for the kinds words 🙂 So neat to think of our local shrimp recipe being made in the Midwest!
- Kathy
Made this for dinner tonight. ONOLICIOUS. I could not find Mochiko except at Amazon but didn't have time. Regular flour was fine (but will try Mochiko one day). Used a whole garlic (yes, the more the merrier for me). Awesome. The lemon (used limed) was the perfect touch. You need it. Didn't bother with shoyu sauce because I served it with Hot Sesame Oil Tofu. Thanks Kathy!
Hooray! So glad you enjoyed it, Leo! Love all that extra garlic, good move ^_^
- Kathy
It was delicious! Just one question. Do we eat the shell? I did cause the whole sauce was on it and it turned crispy. Now I’m sitting here like ugh was I supposed to?
Aloha Natalia! You can definitely eat the shell. I don't love eating the shell, but I have many friends who do (I've been told there is a lot calcium in the shells! 🙂
- Kathy
@Natalia, If the skin is crispy enough you can! If it’s a little soggy not so pleasant.
I tried it with a little added flour. Amazing recipe. Compliments to the roof. Thank you for posting this!! Mahalo 💗
Thank you, Gloria! So happy you enjoyed ^_^
- Kathy
While this recipe is okay, I think it works a lot better in a flour dredge, rather than mochiko. Mochiko alone works great as long as some type of liquid is present other than what you're frying in, like in Mochiko Chicken. It browns quickly and if you don't get every bit out of the pan, my second batch had a slightly burnt taste. Mochiko mixed with a little flour is great for frying chicken for Korean Chicken, Garlic Chicken, Sesame and Orange chicken. The flour makes it stick and fries up crispy. I was born and raised in Hawaii, lived there for 47 years before moving to Europe for 10 years, then Alabama. Ate at Giovanni's shrimp truck in Hawaii many (too many to count) times. The taste you get with a flour dredge is closer to their taste and has a smoother mouth feel. Also, the fresh lemon is definitely needed. When quarters are "wilted" with the garlic, then squeezed onto the finished dish, it enhances the sweetness of the shrimp. Mahalo for posting your recipe. I'm always willing to try different versions of things.
Ah, the dredge is the trick! This is helpful, thanks Kathy!