By Jehan Yusoof  |  Updated September 25, 2026  |  ★ 4.2 (5 reviews)  |  2 Comments.

Devilled prawns or deviled shrimp is a popular Sri Lankan prawn recipe for all you spicy seafood lovers.
It’s a prawn dish you eat with your fingers, peeling the shells as you go.
Serve with rice or noodles, or as a starter or party bite with the shell off.
You can decide the heat level from mild to full Sri Lankan-level spicy.

★★★★★
If you try this, I’d love to know how it turned out. Just tap the stars in the recipe card; it helps other cooks find this recipe.

What are Devilled Prawns?

IF you come across a recipe that begins with “devilled”, it means hot and spicy.
And when it comes to these devilled prawns, it is a stir-fry with chunky onions, peppers and tomatoes in a sticky, spicy sauce.
You can distinguish the Sri Lankan devilled prawn recipe from other spicy Asian prawn recipes because of the clean flavours and easy ingredients used.
The best part of cooking devil prawn is that you can cook them shell on or off, mild, spicy or sweet.

Why this recipe works

• It’s quick with a minimum effort marinade.
• Tempering starts with curry leaves, pandan, ginger and garlic that flavour the oil.
• Tomatoes, peppers, green chillies, and onions are cooked for 3 to 5 minutes, so they retain their crunch with the soft prawns.
• Finally, the sauce is added and cooked for 3 minutes on low heat, so it coats the prawns without turning the prawns rubbery.

Ingredients to make the devilled prawns

• Prawns: cleaned and deveined (you have the option to cook with the shell on or off; refer to the notes on tips and questions)
• Lime juice
• Oil
• Curry leaves
• Pandan leaf(opt out if this ingredient is not available to you)
• Ginger
• Garlic
• Large onions
• Banana peppers, capsicums or bell peppers
• Green chillies
• Tomatoes
• Tomato sauce or chilli sauce
• Sugar: add only if you want some sweetness
• Red chilli flakes
• Red chilli powder

• Tips and suggestions for devilled prawns
  • Drain any excess water and pat dry after cleaning the prawns; wet prawns steam instead of searing.
• Shell on or shell off?
  • Making the recipe with the shell allows you to cook and sear it for a longer time.
  • If you choose to make this recipe with deshelled prawns, avoid cooking for a longer period. Overcooked prawns take on a rubbery texture.
  • Having tried both methods, I prefer to cook with the shell on, though peeling it off while eating can be time-consuming.

What you will need in the kitchen

• Chopping board and knife.
• A glass bowl to marinate the prawns.
• Small bowl or large plate to hold the ingredients.
• A large wok or frying pan and a wooden spoon.
• Serving platter and spoon

How to cook Sri Lankan devilled prawns (step-by-step)

PHOTO TUTORIAL

Prep work to make the spicy prawn stir-fry

Have all the ingredients you need to make the devilled prawns ready.
Clean and devein the prawns.
Drain any excess water and pat dry with kitchen paper towels.

Marinating the prawns

Place them in a bowl(use a glass bowl; it’s easier to get rid of any residual smell of prawns than in a plastic bowl).
Add lime juice, a pinch of salt and set aside for 10-15 minutes.

Tempering the ingredients

Place a large wok or frying pan over low to medium heat and pour in the oil.
Add the curry leaves, pandan, ginger and garlic.
Cook over low-medium heat.

Add onions, peppers, and tomatoes

Increase the heat to medium and add in the onion wedges, capsicums, green chillies, and tomato wedges.
Toss and cook them; add a tablespoon of oil if you find the onions or capsicums sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Try not to overcook, or cook until the onions and capsicums turn too soft.

Add the marinated prawns to the wok.

Adding the sauce

Cook until they turn pink.
At this point, you can decide if you want to slightly sear the prawns, onions, and capsicums over high heat to give them a more barbecue flavour.
You can do this by tossing the ingredients over high heat.

If not, immediately follow the next step below.
Add tomato sauce (or use your favourite hot sauce), red chilli flakes (reduce as per your need), red chilli powder, and season with salt.
Combine all the ingredients with the prawns and other elements and cook for another 5 minutes over low heat.

2 to 3 minutes before you remove the prawns from the fire, taste and check if all the flavours are as you want.
To add sweetness to the devilled shrimp, sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar, and continue to cook until combined.
Serve warm with any of the side dish recommendations given above.

What to serve with devilled prawns

You can easily serve the devilled prawns as a starter or party bite.
Remove the shells or use deshelled prawns, but if your family and friends don’t mind using their fingers, I would really suggest leaving the shells on.

• If you want to use it in a Sri Lankan meal, then incorporate or simply substitute the meat dishes in any of the Sri Lankan menu plans given here.
  • Sri Lankan lunch meal plan 1
  • Sri Lankan meal plan 2
  • Sri Lankan Lunch meal plan 3

• Rice dishes to pair with this prawn recipe.
  • How to cook rice on the stove
  • Sri Lankan Yellow Rice(turmeric rice)
  • Ghee rice
  • Easy lemon rice recipe

• Serve the seafood dish with some
  • Stir-fried noodles
  • Mixed vegetable noodles- Sri Lankan style
• Other vegetarian curries to pair with devilled prawns.
  • Sri Lankan fried eggplant/brinjal salad
  • Sri Lankan Potato Curry (ala kiri hodi)
  • Sri Lankan Dhal curry
  • Green beans stir-fry(bonchi thel dala)

More Prawn recipes

Jaffna curry powder prawn curry.
Caramelised garlic prawn stir-fry.
How to make crunchy prawn head fries.
Sri Lankan coconut shrimp curry.
Sri Racha spicy shrimp stir-fry.

Watch more Sri Lankan recipes on my YouTube channel

Continue to Content

Sri Lankan spicy devilled prawns(shrimp).

Yield: 5

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Additional Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Devilled prawns or deviled shrimp is a popular Sri Lankan prawn recipe for all you spicy seafood lovers.

It’s a prawn dish you eat with your fingers, peeling the shells as you go.

Serve with rice or noodles, or as a starter or party bite with the shell off.

You can decide the heat level from mild to full Sri Lankan-level spicy.

4.2 Stars (5 Reviews)

Print

Ingredients

• The ingredients mentioned below use standard measuring cups and spoons.
• 700g prawns cleaned and deveined
• 3 tablespoons of lime juice
• 4 tablespoons of oil (coconut oil or light oil)
• A sprig of curry leaves (substitute with a bay leaf)
• 2-inch piece Pandan leaf (opt-out if this ingredient is not available to you)
• 2 tablespoons of chopped or minced ginger (2″ ginger piece)
• 5 cloves of garlic chopped or minced (about 2 tablespoons)
• 2 large onions (cut into wedges, 4-5 thick pieces from each onion)
• 250g banana peppers (capsicum, cut into 1-2 inch long pieces, substitute with bell peppers)
• 2 medium-sized tomatoes cut into thick wedges(quartered)
• 2 green chillies split in the middle
• 1/4 cup of tomato sauce (use your favourite chilli sauce, reduce or increase the amount depending on how much sauce you want)
• 1-2 tablespoons of red chilli flakes(reduce as per your need as this is quite a lot of red chilli flakes and can be quite spicy)
• 1 teaspoon of red chilli powder

Instructions

Prep and marinate.

1. Clean and devein the prawns (700g), shell on or off.
2. Pat dry to remove excess water with kitchen paper towels.
3. Add the prawns to a glass bowl, add lime juice (3 tablespoons) and salt to season.
4. Combine well. Set aside for 10 minutes.

Tempering the aromatics

1. Heat the oil (coconut oil) in a large skillet or wok over low-medium heat.
2. Add the curry leaves (a sprig of leaves) and pandan (2-inch piece). Let them sizzle.
3. Add minced ginger ( 2 tablespoons)and garlic (2 tablespoons). Stir and let the aromatics release their aroma.

Stir-frying the onions, tomatoes, pepp

1. Slightly increase the heat, add onion wedges (2 large onions), banana peppers (250g), Tomatoes (2 medium-sized), green chillies (2 split in the middle).
2. Mix well, add an extra tablespoons of oil if th ingredients are sticking to the pan.
3. Cook just long enough to maintain their crunchiness.
4. Add the marinated prawns and cook until they turn pink. Decide if you want to slightly sear the prawns, onions and capsicums over a little high heat to give them a barbeque flavour.

Adding the sauce

1. Add tomato sauce (1/4 cup; substitute with hot sauce), red chilli flakes (1 to 2 tablespoons), red chilli powder (1 teaspoon), sugar ( optional, 1 tablespoon if you need it to be sweeter).
2. Season with salt and mix all the ingredients well.
3. Taste and season as required.
4. Serve warm with any of the side dish recommendations given above.
   I'd love to know how it turned out.
   Leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and a comment; I read every one — it helps other visitors trust the recipe and helps them find me too.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield: 5 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 329Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 10gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 292mgSodium: 1381mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 3gSugar: 6gProtein: 34g

Nutrition facts are an estimate and not guaranteed to be accurate. Please see a registered dietitian for special diet advice.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JEHAN
Recipe creator. Food Blogger. Video creator
I’ve been cooking and sharing Sri Lankan recipes, along with other dishes I love making at home on Island Smile since 2015. I’ve tested every recipe on this site more than once in my own kitchen before it goes on the blog.
I grew up eating this food, and I still cook it the way my family taught me, just written down clearly enough for you to follow.
If a recipe doesn’t work the way I say it will, tell me in the comments; I read every one, and I’ll help you fix it.