Szechuan Shrimp Noodles – Skinny and Spicy

Spice up your weekly meal prep with these delicious Szechuan Shrimp noodles. These protein-packed, flavorful shrimps paired with chewy noodles make a super delicious and macro-friendly meal.

Jump to:

• 🍎 Calories and Nutrition – How I Made It Healthy
• 💡Tips and Tricks
• 📋 Ingredient Notes
• 🔪 Step by Step Instructions
• 🍳 Recipe

🍎 Calories and Nutrition – How I Made It Healthy

Typically, Szechuan shrimp is seemingly pretty healthy, given that is predominantly shrimp. But looking at typical recipes, which can include a lot of oil and cornstarch, the calories can easily add up when eaten at higher quantities, while still not feeling full enough. In fact, the oil and cornstarch can easily make up more than 50% of the calories per serving for this dish!

For this recipe, I omit the higher calorie ingredients that the dish can live without while still using the spices that bring out the flavor in this dish. By doing this, I'm able to make this dish only 300 calories, even after adding a serving of noodles!

To keep calories low, I do the following:

• I used cooking spray instead of oil, and omitted cornstarch and nuts from this recipe -- all of which are higher calorie ingredients that I felt the dish could do without. Oil typically runs about 100 calories per tablespoon and cornstarch runs at about 100 calories per ounce. Omitting these ingredients will not change the flavor of the dish, as the flavor comes from the spices and sauces which are considerably lower in calories.
• Used 3 oz shrimp, which is about 10 size 31/40 shrimps at about 70 calories. 
• Use only 55g of noodles -- use a food scale to weigh this out. It’s worth the investment, especially for those of you who are serious about tracking calories accurately! I got my food scale from Amazon for only around $12.

💡Tips and Tricks

Making the Szechuan Sauce

The key to achieving the flavor in this dish is the Doubanjiang, Szechuan peppercorn, and chilis. Although there's some room to adjust for various types of chilis here, the doubanjiang and szechuan peppercorns are essential to the dish so there would not really be any straightforward substitutes there. Thankfully, you can easily acquire this ingredients at your nearest Chinese super market or order them through Amazon in the links above.

Shrimp Sizing - Can I Use Other Shrimp Sizes?

Any shrimp sizes would work here- you can refer to this guide on shrimp sizing to determine the right amount of shrimp to use.

What if I don't have this type of noodle? What goes with the szechuan shrimp besides noodles?

Any flour-based noodle would go well with the szechuan shrimp. Otherwise, a side of rice and/or veggies would also be delicious with these shrimps. You can also opt to have the dish by itself for a low-carb meal. 

For more delicious low-calorie Chinese recipes, check out my Chinese Take Out recipe collection.
This recipe was inspired by Omnivore’s Cookbook Sichuan Shrimp recipe. Thanks for the amazingly delicious recipe!

📋 Ingredient Notes

Shrimp & Marinade

• 3 oz Shrimp
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing Wine
• 1 tablespoon Soy sauce
• Salt

Noodles & Stir Fry

• Cooking spray
• 55 g Wide noodles
• 1-2 Thai chilis (Or any dried chili - adjust based on spice tolerance)
• 1 teaspoon Szechuan peppercorn
• 1 clove Garlic
• ¼ Onion, chopped
• 1-2 Mushrooms
• 1 teaspoon Ginger
• 2 teaspoon Doubanjiang
• 2 teaspoon Dark soy sauce
• Scallions (For garnish)

🔪 Step by Step Instructions

1. Start by cooking noodles according to package directions and set aside.
2. Assemble shrimp marinade ingredients and marinade for 5-15 minutes.
3. Ground szechuan peppercorn, garlic, and thai chilis into a thick paste in a mortar and pestle. Alternatively, chop them until fine.
4. Heat a pan and spray with cooking span. Add in the chili peppercorn mixture along with the ginger, mushrooms, and onion and cook for 2-3 minutes.
5. Add in shrimp while reserving the marinade and cook about 1-2 minutes each side or until the shrimp begins to curl.
6. Mix in the doubanjiang, remaining marinade, and dark soy sauce in with the cooked noodles. Stir thoroughly until the sauce coats the noodles thoroughly.
7. Remove from heat, garnish with scallions, and enjoy the heat responsibly!

🍳 Recipe