Bang bang shrimp, with a spicy and sweet sauce is a perfect copy of Bonefish Grill. Crispy little shrimp, deep fried to perfection. A perfect appetizer for any occasion.
Wednesday is Bonefish Grill bang bang shrimp day, $6.00 for an order. (Used to be $5.00!) Mary Jo and I like to get an order for each of us and get a side salad and call it supper. Add to that a happy hour priced chardonnay, (4 pm until 6:30 pm in Florida). Yummy eats. I’ve been wanting to try to re-create this and finally got around to it. This recipe is pretty darned close to the original recipe from Bonefish Grill.
Copycat Bang Bang Shrimp Recipe
What Does The Sauce Taste Like?
One of the keys to this is getting the sauce right. It’s spicy but not terribly hot. It’s creamy, but not a heavy cream. It tastes Asian inspired and is a good blend of spicy and sweet. The best thing about it is that it compliments the slight crunchiness of the pint sized shrimp so well.
I made mine with mayonnaise, Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce, and Huy Fong chili garlic sauce. These particular ingredients were mentioned in a comment section of another blog by a guy who said he worked at Bonefish Grill. Hey, if he makes it, he should know. It ends up tasting like Bonefish Grill. The proportions could be a little different. The chili garlic sauce is made by the Huy Fong company who makes the famous Rooster brand sriracha sauce and it is plenty spicy. I added two tablespoons to the sauce but you can add less if you don’t like it so spicy. I just ended up adding a teaspoon at a time then tasted it. After 6 teaspoons were added, my taste buds were pretty much accustomed to the heat. Mary Jo thought the heat was just right so I’m sticking with that.
Frying the Shrimp
Another thing is the frying method. Bonefish has nice deep fryers to use. For the home cook, it can be a little harder. I first tried to fry the shrimp in a skillet with about 3/4 inch of oil. After dropping the coated shrimp into the oil and the cornstarch would touch the bottom of the skillet and a lot of the breading stuck to the bottom. It just didn’t work very well. When I thought about a deep fryer, I thought that a basket might be the solution. I couldn’t find a separate basket, but picked up a kitchen spider. This made dropping the shrimp into the oil really easy.
Lower the basket into the oil and fry for about 2 minutes or so, it’s easy to check how brown the shrimp are getting when using the kitchen spider. Then dump the fried shrimp onto a cooling rack set over a layer of paper towels. The cooling rack keeps the shrimp from getting soggy like they would if placed directly on paper towels.
Recipe Ingredients
The shrimp was purchased at Walmart. It was 60-80 size, frozen, shelled and deveined…and it cost $5.00 for 12 ounces. I thawed them, then soaked the shrimp in buttermilk for 30 minutes. Marinating in buttermilk is a step that can be used for other fish, for chicken, for mutton, or even liver to eliminate any fishy or gamey flavors.
Bonefish Grill bang bang shrimp has a distinct crunch, and this was a little harder to recreate. I tried breading with all-purpose flour, straight cornstarch, flour/cornstarch combined, then cornstarch with a little panko breadcrumbs. Straight cornstarch is pretty good, but adding some panko breadcrumbs gave the shrimp a nice crunch that was closer to the Bonefish Grill shrimp.
*After making the recipe again, I added 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the cornstarch dredge and the shrimp browned much better. It makes a really nicely browned shrimp.
What do you Serve with Bang Bang Shrimp?
Bang bang shrimp is an appetizer but it sure could be the main course of a light meal. Fix a leafy greens salad of romaine, arugula, and spinach. Then add an olive oil, vinegar vinaigrette. Creamy dressings such as blue cheese, ranch, or French would be too heavy tasting. Throw on some tomatoes and cucumber if you’d like also. A dry white wine or a not too sweet rosé wine would be perfect too. For a non-alcoholic drink, have some water with a wedge of lemon.
This is the type of appetizer to make if you are having an informal gathering with friends. Once all the ingredients are laid out, the frying goes quickly and you want to eat these soon after they’re done. Serve on a bed of chopped lettuce and garnish with some green onion. This is delicious!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.
Looking for more menu ideas?
- Perfect Salmon Loaf
- Shrimp Penne with Vodka Sauce
- Smoked Salmon, Dill and Capers Appetizer
- Newman’s Own Southwest Dressing Recipe
- Stuffed Cucumber Bites
- Tasty Oven Baked Meatballs
- Crepes St Jacques
- Extra Spicy Shrimp Stir Fry
Bonefish Grill Bang Bang Shrimp
Ingredients
- 12 oz . shrimp , 60-80 size, raw, shelled and de-veined, thawed
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 3 to 4 cups sunflower oil (or other high smoke point oil)
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 2 tbsp panko breadcrumbs
- *1 tsp baking soda
- Lettuce
- green onions
Sauce
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise , (or Miracle Whip for slightly sweeter sauce)
- 3 tbsp Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce
- 2 tbsp Huy Fong chili garlic sauce
Instructions
- Place thawed shrimp in a bowl and cover with buttermilk, soak for 30 minutes or more
- Mix cornstarch, panko crumbs and baking soda in a shallow bowl.
- Place cooking oil in a 2 quart sauce pan and heat oil to 375°
- Remove 10 to 12 shrimp from the buttermilk, pat dry on paper towels, coat with cornstarch/panko mixture, place shrimp in a spider mesh basket and lower into hot oil. (You can also carefully lower the shrimp into the oil one at a time, fry and remove from the oil with a spider).
- Fry for 2 minutes, or until the shrimp is medium browned.
- Remove the shrimp and place on a cooling rack.
- Repeat for the remaining shrimp.
- Coat the shrimp with the sauce, serve on a bed of chopped lettuce, garnish with chopped green onion.
Sauce
- Mix ingredients well in a small bowl, set aside
Nutrition
We made this last night for appetizer as written and hubby went out of his mind 😄. He thought it was better than bonefish. Loved the sauce. Thank you for the tips and tricks.
Thanks Johanna. I really appreciate your nice comment. So glad it was a hit with your husband.
Absolutely perfect! I usually think “copycat” recipes are close but not quite….but this one is SPOT ON! Thank you for taking the time to decipher the perfect ingredients and directions! Love love love it! Thank you!!
Thanks Mary. So glad you liked it.
My husband doesn’t care for shrimp and LOVED this recipe! I used a deep fryer with basket and they came out perfect and not greasy! Thank you!
Fantastic Andrea, glad you liked this.
Hi! This looks sooo good! I’m making this tonight! Although I’d rather fry them, have you ever baked them? If so, how would you recommend doing it?
Thank you!
Hi Jell. I have not tried baking them. If I were to try this, I’d put a cooling rack into a baking sheet and spray with some non-stick and bake them at a high temperature like 450°. Keep a close eye on them, it may take 10 to 15 minutes to brown. Also, if you are using larger shrimp, you could try to broil them. Put them 6 or 8 inches from the broiler for a couple minutes, then turn and brown the other side. This is really a trial and error situation. Good luck. Let me know how it works out if you try this.
I ended up frying them. I had a problem problem with the breading falling off . I didn’t have a spider basket but next time I will try this method. Also, I couldn’t find sweet chili sauce , that was made in a peanut free facility, so I added plain sriracha chili sauce and added honey. This was very good! Looking forward to making it again and I’ll try baking them, also. Thank you for your recipe!
Hi Jell. I’m glad you tried it. If the cornstarch gets too thick, it will have a tendency to fall off. Next time you will do it perfectly!
I want to make this to take to a friend’s for an appetizer. How do I keep it hot for the 15 minute drive? And should I wait to put the sauce on the shrimp until I get there? Would it work to heat in the oven?
Hi Marcy. I would wait to add the shrimp to the sauce, heat the fried shrimp and sauce as necessary. An oven would be best for the shrimp to make sure it stays a little crispy. Microwave would be fine for the sauce. Then combine the two. Have a fun party.
Perfect! Thanks!
Great recipe! Made this, based on reviews, and it didn’t disappoint! My kids (who are not picky eaters, but know when it’s a good recipe) LOVED it! The only thing I did differently was using a cast-iron pan and frying with small amounts of oil in small batches. Still turned out great!
Making this tonight for my husbands 30th Birthday dinner 🙂 he requested bang bang shrimp from bonefish but didn’t want to go out so I found this recipe and we are so excited to try it!
How was it?!?!
I had a typo in my precious email address-
this is the correct one
I made this tonight & it was amazing! I can’t imagine a better recipe for these shrimp. I read 3 or 4 copycat recipes before settiling on this one, and it is perfect! I followed your directions exactly, along with every tip you gave, and it was wonderful! I am a pretty good cook, & tweak a lot of recipes, but not this one-it is wonderful! Thank you, Joe!
Hi Cynthia. Thank you for the nice review. Glad you liked it.
I Love this recipe. One small change that I think makes it more bang bang like… PEANUT BUTTER. One tablespoon to the sauce gave it that Thai peanut flavor to mix with everything else. I never comment on recipes but the world needs to know about this. One of the best things to ever come out of my kitchen!!
Hey Ryan thanks for the comment. I’ll have to try the peanut butter next time I make this. Interesting flavor profile I’m sure.
I am excited to try this tonight after seeing all the nice comments from people , I have never had bang bang Shrimp But I have always heard they were delicious ! Thank you for sharing
Hello,
I’ve never cooked shrimp at home before but this recipe inspires me to try! Can you clarify– is it supposed to be raw or pre-cooked frozen-shelled-de-veined shrimp?
Thanks!
Hi Caleb, to make this dish, use raw shrimp.
I so loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for your comment Anshu, glad you enjoyed it!
This recipe is amazing! We use to live near a Bone Fish grille but since we moved further away we don’t go as often. I found this recipe one day when I was craving some bang bang shrimp and it tastes EXACTLY like the real thing. This is hands down the most successful copy cat recipe I’ve ever tried. Thank you so much for sharing!!!
Thanks Kelsey. What a nice comment!
Oh my gosh! This looks SO good! I have to make this. Thanks so much for sharing! Now I’m hungry ha.
Hi Ellie. Thanks for the comment…and it is really good!
I have been telling my boyfriend we need to go to Bonefish Grill since we moved near one. I think it’s time to cash in on this because those shrimp look banging….no pun intended lol
Ha Ha…Thanks Marie…Don’t want to come between you two, but try the Bonefish bang bang shrimp. I’ll think you’ll love it! Then try my recipe.!
This looks so yummy I need to try!
Michaela…Invite some friends and have a great appetizer
My boyfriend and I made bang bang shrimp tacos last night using this recipe and they were fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing!
Thanks Laura…that sounds really tasty. I’ll have to try them as tacos.
It looks simply scrumptious!! Can’t wait to try.
Hi Allison, please let us know how it turns out for you. We love shrimp and this is one of our favorite meals with a salad and a glass of wine.
Thanks for your nice comment!
If you like shrimp, it’s really worth your time to make this recipe. It’s really delicious!