虾饼源于中国沿海，渔民们为保存虾货可至冬天食用制作而成。「鲜虾饼」当时为了保存夏季量产的鲜虾，到冬天依然可食用所产生出的周边产品。而改良成今日令人喜爱的零食。

将虾子去除眼睛及内脏，打碎并加入玉米粉、蛋与多种配料，揉成面团到一定弹性及韧性，放入蒸笼，等一定时间取出后，变硬、切片、晒干，欲食用再油炸，即是一般所见之虾饼。原味虾饼应是浅褐色。

Prawn crackers, also known as prawn chips and shrimp puffs are deep fried crackers made from starch and prawn that serve as flavouring.

They are a popular snack in parts of Southeast and East Asia. Prawn crackers are a common snack food throughout Southeast Asia, but most closely associated with Indonesia and Malaysia. These are called krupuk udang in Indonesian, prawn crackers in British English and shrimp chips or shrimp crackers in American English. They are known as kroepoek (old Indonesian spelling for krupuk, based on Dutch spelling rules) in Dutch, Krabbenchips (crab chips) in German, chips à la crevette in French and nuvole di drago (dragon clouds) in Italian.