The Best Bang Bang Shrimp Recipe: Better Than Bonefish Grill

America has a long-standing love affair with Asian food.

This dish originally comes from Thailand and is named for the sweet, spicy sauce that coats the shrimp.

It’s spicy, tangy, and sweet with a little heat that makes it the bomb!!!!!

This is a very popular dish at many restaurants, and it is very versatile. The recipe can be adapted for shrimp, chicken, or other types of seafood.

If you don’t particularly like shrimp, you can always substitute some other type of meat and it will still be delicious.

This Bang Bang Shrimp recipe is a restaurant favorite and can be eaten as a “bowl” or as a filling for tacos if you like shrimp tacos. There are probably more uses for it in other dishes as well.

It would be good to experiment with as an alternate filling in hand-made sandwiches (inside a slider, pita, or fluffy buns), stir-fry dishes, and more. It’s definitely worth trying.

The History of Bang Bang Shrimp

This simple shrimp dish was originally Thai in origin, and the original recipe called for chicken.

Shrimp is a variation of the recipe. The chicken got its name for the sound made when pounding the chicken with a mallet.

This variation of the dish is a copycat of the signature dish at the Bonefish Grill.

What Flavors Are In the Sauce?

Since the dish is Thai-inspired, I figured that the spicy flavor most likely came from a combination of sriracha, vinegar, chili garlic sauce, as well as other flavors.

Sriracha is like a Thai hot sauce, it’s sweet and spicy. It is often substituted for ketchup in many Asian and Mexican dishes. It can be found in most grocery stores in the aisle for other hot sauce brands.

The sauce has little flecks of red pepper flakes from the chili sauce, and the smoothness of the sauce comes from the mayonnaise and buttermilk.

If you have Japanese mayonnaise, that is the best because it already has rice wine vinegar and is very smooth.

The popular brand for this is Kewpie, which can be found at most Asian grocery stores and on Amazon.

Variations On The Dish

If you don’t happen to like shrimp or seafood in general, you can substitute chicken, beef, or any type of meat you have on hand.

If you have chicken tenders, chicken strips, or chicken nuggets, you can use them in this recipe. They just need to be in bite-size pieces.

Beef: cut pieces into bite-size chunks and follow the recipe.

Seafood: substitute cod, squid rings, or mussels for the shrimp.

Meatless version: make this dish with cauliflower florets for a Meatless Monday, or when serving a vegetarian or vegan friendly.

You can make this dish with any type of meat, so nobody has to be left out.

Yield: 4

The Best Bang Bang Shrimp Recipe Ever

This Bang bang shrimp recipe takes approximately 30 minutes to prepare and serve. Prep time is about 20 minutes, and 10 minutes cooking time.

Prep Time
20 minutes

Cook Time
10 minutes

Total Time
30 minutes

Ingredients

12 oz medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/3 cup mayonnaise
5 teaspoons sweet Thai chili sauce
3 teaspoons sriracha sauce
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup corn starch

Instructions

Place the shrimp (or alternate meat) in a bowl and add the buttermilk. Let the meat marinate in this mixture while you prepare the other ingredients. Take out two small bowls. Add panko bread crumbs to one bowl, and cornstarch to the other. (yugatech.com) Dip the shrimp in cornstarch until well-coated, and then in the panko and set aside. Repeat with all the shrimp.
Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat with a little olive oil. Add the shrimp slowly, being careful not to crowd the pieces. Remove from the oil when golden brown. Drain on a paper towel. Repeat until all the shrimp are cooked. Alternately, you could cook the shrimp in an air fryer instead of pan-frying.
In a bowl combine the sweet Thai chili sauce, sriracha, mayonnaise, and rice vinegar. Whisk together until smooth, set aside.
Combine the fried shrimp with the prepared sauce until all pieces are evenly coated with sauce. Spoon over steamed rice or shredded cabbage and garnish with scallions, sesame seeds, or anything else you desire. Can be made into a shrimp bowl for a quick lunch or as a filling for tacos.
This recipe makes a great appetizer on a bed of mixed greens or shredded cabbage with chopped scallions and a sprinkling of cilantro. A squeeze of lemon juice also brightens up the dish and gives that creamy sauce a little “zing.”
For a real restaurant-style meal, serve this as an entree with a side of fried rice, steamed broccoli, egg rolls, pot-stickers or dumplings, and chow mein. It will be the best meal you ever ate.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

Amount Per Serving:

Calories: 493Total Fat: 24gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 19gCholesterol: 193mgSodium: 1513mgCarbohydrates: 41gFiber: 2gSugar: 7gProtein: 26g