Cantonese Shrimp and Eggs (滑蛋蝦仁) is a classic dish that transforms scrambled eggs into an epic dinnertime experience. The trick is the simple addition of a cornstarch slurry, which makes the eggs extra tender and silky!

When you make this dish at home, you’ll truly feel like you’re a master of your wok and kitchen!

The Cornstarch Slurry Secret

This is not the last you will hear from me about cornstarch and eggs, but it is a pressing dish that we should address, since the last time we did was in 2014, when my dad shared his Scrambled Eggs and Shrimp with Chinese Toon Sprouts.

Since then, I have grown super fond of this dish. More recently, I took it upon myself to further learn the way of the scrambled egg. And I will start out by telling you up front:

The trick is adding a cornstarch slurry to your beaten eggs. Beat the eggs vigorously until large bubbles form (but only just). Perhaps as a bonus, keep your eggs cold until you’re ready to beat them and cook them.

That’s in order of importance, too, by the way.

Video: Watch How I Make It

For more kitchen hijinks and to see how the recipe comes together in real time, head to our youtube channel!

Letting the Secrets Out of the Bag

There are quite few Chinese cooking tricks that aren’t so secret anymore. We’ve shared many of them on The Woks of Life since 2013.

For example:

velveting your meats and seafood will transform your stir-fry game
dark soy sauce is how you achieve stunningly savory and visually appealing stir-fried noodles
and heating up your wok until it’s just smoking before adding cold oil to it will help create a nonstick surface and wok hei

Another easy trick is the aforementioned cornstarch slurry in your scrambled eggs. We’re often instructing you to use a mixture of cornstarch and water in the last couple minutes of wok cooking to thicken sauces, but it also has a transformative effect on eggs!

It’s a trick that Mandy Lee of Lady and Pups first turned many on to in her recipe for scrambled eggs using milk plus a cornstarch slurry. I forgot about it for a while until a couple of years ago when I was deep in Karate-Kid style-scrambled-egg-on-repeat mode for my much-needed dopamine-inducing breakfasts (circa 2020…).

This is a Cantonese kitchen secret, which my dad and aunts later affirmed. My aunt (dad Bill’s oldest sister) very nonchalantly mentioned that it’s a trick she’s known for years. THANKS FOR TELLING ME SOONER, ELDERS!

Welp, like so many aspects of learning how to cook Chinese food, the tricks were hiding under my nose all along—in the older generation!

Tips for a Great Scrambled Egg and Shrimp Stir-fry

A few success tips for this dish:

Beat the eggs vigorously for 30 seconds. You’re looking for a mix of large and small bubbles.
Your eggs should stay in the refrigerator until you’re ready to beat them, season them, and get them into the wok. It’s not something you should agonize over, but room temperature eggs will do you no favors. This is wisdom I picked up from my dad via my grandpa/yeye when making egg foo young—cold eggs stay more cohesive. Room temperature eggs don’t.
Don’t overcook your shrimp! When you pre-cook them, they don’t need to get any color. They should actually be underdone, because they finish cooking when you add them back to the egg—and continue to cook/steam on the plate. Shrimp are far too easy to overcook. Once they’re orange and still slightly raw in the center, take them out of the wok!
High heat and lots of oil are key to silky Chinese-style scrambled eggs. I built this into the recipe. If you were adapting this to make regular scrambled eggs, you don’t need so much oil. But in this stir-frying context, it makes a difference!
You want the eggs to puff up immediately and cook, but not be so hot that they immediately form an omelet. Pushing them around fairly quickly will help you avoid the omelet effect. You’ll see in the video I was a bit shy in doing this, but I still got a nice result.
The eggs should be wobbly and almost enveloping the shrimp. You don’t want any browning on the eggs!

The more you cook scrambled eggs the Chinese way, the better your feel for all of this will be!

A Note on Timing

This dish is best made right before you’re ready to eat it. Enjoy it hot and fresh. Like most shrimp dishes, it doesn’t reheat well, though you can prepare and velvet the shrimp in advance!

If you’re making rice and a veggie to go with it, make sure the rice is ready in the rice cooker, and cook the veggies beforehand. If making several Chinese dishes, I would make this one last.

Cantonese Shrimp and Eggs: Recipe Instructions

Add the peeled, deveined shrimp to a medium bowl, along with the oil, sugar, salt, white pepper, and cornstarch. Mix until well combined.

Crack the eggs into a large bowl, and add the white pepper, sesame oil, and salt. Prepare the cornstarch slurry. You’ll add it right before you’re ready to cook the eggs. Beat the eggs until large bubbles form—about 30 seconds, maybe a little longer if you’re not so confident beating eggs.

Preheat your wok over medium heat until it’s just starting to smoke. Add 1 tablespoon of oil around the perimeter. Spread the shrimp in one layer, and cook until they’ve juuust turned orange. They should still look a bit raw in the center. Transfer back to the marinating bowl. They will finish cooking later.

Stir up your cornstarch slurry to make sure the cornstarch is dispersed in the water, and add it to the eggs. Beat a few times to make sure the cornstarch is incorporated and the eggs are aerated. Increase the heat to high.

pouring cornstarch slurry into beaten egg

When the wok begins to smoke again, add the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil, followed by the eggs. They will immediately puff up and cook. Quickly use your wok spatula to gently push the eggs across the wok. Do this a few times.

When the eggs are beginning to set but still mostly runny, add the shrimp.

As you push the eggs around, layers of egg will cook and pile on top of each other, creating a fluffy effect, and the shrimp will get distributed throughout the eggs. As the egg cooks, you can fold it on top of itself.