Copycat recipe for Bonefish Grill’s Bang Bang Shrimp

You can’t deny the deliciousness of crispy fried shrimp. Drizzle on some of this creamy spicy bang bang sauce, and it’s a combination like no other. I’ve had so many reader suggestions for this copycat recipe, and I’m so glad I made them. There’s just something fun about making a restaurant favorite at home.

What you need to make Bonefish Grill Bang Bang Shrimp:

For the Sauce:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup Thai sweet chili sauce
1/4 teaspoon Sriracha
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
For the Shrimp:
1 pound medium shrimp shelled and deveined
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 large egg
1 tablespoon hot sauce *optional
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
vegetable oil for frying
parsley, chopped *optional garnish

How to make Bang Bang Shrimp:

Make the Sauce: In a small bowl combine the mayonnaise, sweet chili sauce, Sriracha, rice vinegar and honey. Stir to combine.
Prepare the wet ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg, hot sauce, salt and pepper, to taste; set aside.
Mix together the crispy coating: In another dish, combine the Panko, onion and garlic powder, dried basil, dried oregano, salt and pepper, to taste; set aside.
Prepare the Shrimp for Frying: Add all the shrimp into the buttermilk mixture, then sprinkle the flour and cornstarch over the top. Stir to combine. Working one shrimp at a time, press the shrimp into the Panko mixture, pressing to help coat with the Panko mixture on all sides. Place prepared uncooked shrimp onto a sheet pan lined with parchment, while you warm up the cooking oil.
Fry the Shrimp: In a heavy pan add 2-3 inches of vegetable oil and heat the oil to 375 degrees.
Working in batches, fry the shrimp in the oil until lightly browned, 1-2 minutes on each side.
Once fried move to a paper towel lined plate to absorb any excess oil.
Add the Sauce: Move the shrimp to a serving dish and drizzle the bang bang sauce over the top of the shrimp and serve warm.

Bang Bang Shrimp in the Air Fryer:

To make these shrimp in the air fryer, you will complete all the steps to prepare and coat the shrimp in the seasoned Panko bread crumbs, place all prepared shrimp on a parchment lined sheet pan. Working in batches, air fry each batch for 5 minutes on each side. Drizzle with the Bang Bang sauce and enjoy warm.

Bang Bang Shrimp baked in the Oven.

There are a few different ways to cook these delicious shrimp. You can fry in oil in a skillet, air fry, or bake in the oven. To bake in the oven, preheat oven to 400 F degrees. Bake for 15 minutes.

Cornstarch vs. Panko Coating:

We’ve tried making these crispy fried shrimp with just a cornstarch coating and a Panko (Japanese style bread crumb) coating, and we think the Panko coating gives a much better crispy fried shrimp. It also works better with the bang bang sauce.

What size of shrimp do you need?

We recommend using medium to large sized shrimp. If you want to cut the prep time down, you can buy frozen uncooked shrimp that have already been peeled and deveined. You might need to remove the shrimp tails yourself, which is really easy to do, by gently pulling them off one at a time. This can only be done when the shrimp have thawed.

Soaking the shrimp in buttermilk:

This step is optional, but we love the flavor the buttermilk gives the shrimp. To do this, place the frozen shrimp in the buttermilk to soak overnight. This will be an additional cup of buttermilk to the buttermilk listed in the recipe. When ready to prepare, remove the shrimp from the buttermilk and let excess drip away. Discard this buttermilk down the drain.

Is Bang Bang Sauce spicy?

This sauce is not that spicy. If you prefer it to be more or less spicy, you can really control the heat by how much Sriracha you choose to add into the sauce.

Helpful Tools:

instant read thermometer: this is key to frying, it’s really helpful to know the exact temp of the oil before you start and during the frying process
heavy bottom skillet / frying pan: important for standing the high heat of the oil
sheet pan with parchment and paper towel: use the sheet pan for the prepared shrimp both before and after the cooking process.

Bang Bang Shrimp

Crispy fried shrimp with a delicious creamy and spicy sauce drizzled over the top.

Course Main dish

Cuisine Asian

Keyword Bang Bang Shrimp

Author Kami | NoBiggie.net

Ingredients

For the Bang Bang Sauce:

1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup sweet chili sauce
1/4 teaspoon Sriracha
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon honey

For the Shrimp:

1 lb. medium shrimp shelled and deveined
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 large egg
1 tablespoon hot sauce *optional
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
vegetable oil for frying
Parsley chopped, *optional garnish

Instructions

Make the Bang Bang Sauce:

In a small bowl combine the mayonnaise, sweet chili sauce, Sriracha, rice vinegar and honey. Stir to combine.

Make the Shrimp:

In a large bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg, hot sauce, salt and pepper, to taste; set aside.
In another dish, combine the Panko bread crumbs, onion and garlic powder, dried basil, dried oregano, salt and pepper, to taste; set aside.
Add all the shrimp into the buttermilk mixture, then sprinkle the flour and cornstarch over the wet shrimp, stir to combine and coat. Now working one shrimp at a time press the shrimp into the Panko mixture, pressing to help coat the shrimp with the Panko mixture on all sides. Place prepared uncooked shrimp onto a sheet pan lined with parchment, while you warm up the cooking oil.
In a heavy pan add 2-3 inches of vegetable oil and heat the oil to 375 degrees. use a instant read thermometer to measure the heat.
Working in batches, fry the shrimp in the oil until lightly browned, 1-2 minutes on each side.
Once fried move to a paper towel lined plate to absorb any excess oil.
Move the shrimp to a serving dish and drizzle the bang bang sauce over the top of the shrimp, garnish with chopped parsley and serve warm

Recipe Notes

Notes:
You can soak the shrimp in 1 cup of additional buttermilk overnight while the frozen uncooked shrimp thaw, if you would like. We love the flavor the buttermilk adds to the shrimp. This step is optional.

Making This Recipe? Tag us on Instagram: @NoBiggie using the hashtag #NoBiggieRecipes, so we can see what you are making in the kitchen!