The Only Shrimp You Should Ever Buy For A Stir-Fry

A stir-fry is a reliable way to make use of protein, rice, and/or vegetables, whether you're tossing it all together with teriyaki or preparing a homemade pad thai. But what do you do if you're sick of sticky little cubes of chicken or beef? Well, you're in luck. Using shrimp for your stir-fry is an excellent choice, providing delicious shellfish flavor as well as plenty of nutrients. But what kind of shrimp should you get for the purpose? You're not looking for a special type of shrimp, just a certain size: small or medium will do the job nicely.

When you're making something like a stir-fry, which is typically a low-maintenance weekday meal, you're going to want something that will cook through quickly. Shrimp comes in a range of sizes, from small to colossal (although colossal shrimp are only relatively so), and the smaller ones will cook through at a faster rate, by the same principle that a chicken cutlet will cook through faster than a leg of lamb. If you want a happy medium (so to speak), you should go with medium shrimp, which will cook through nice and quick without overcooking as easily as small shrimp.

Once you've picked the right size for your shrimp stir-fry, you'll have to make some other decisions. You can use fresh or frozen shrimp (although technically all shrimp you get is frozen at some point or another), with fresh being better for taste and frozen being better for convenience. If you do get fresh shrimp, it would be a good idea to peel and devein them — especially that last part, as that will get rid of the crustacean's digestive system and make for an, erm, cleaner eating experience. (If you happen to shop at Whole Foods, their fishmonger can devein and peel them for you with no extra charge.)

Now that you've got your shrimp all sorted out, you're free to assemble your stir-fry any way you please. It only takes three ingredients to make a great stir-fry sauce, after all, and if you want to make things even easier on yourself, you can enrich your vegetable base with some bagged coleslaw mix, the likes of which you can find in just about any produce aisle in America.