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You are here: Home / Appetizers / Bonefish Grill Bang Bang Shrimp-Copycat Recipe

Bonefish Grill Bang Bang Shrimp-Copycat Recipe

July 14, 2016 By Joe 59 Comments

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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.

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links.

Recipe was updated May 22. 2023.

Bang bang shrimp copycat recipe with shrimp ready to eat.

Bonefish Grill bang bang shrimp, $12.90 for an order. 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.

Sauce ingredients for the bang bang sauce.

Copycat Bang Bang Shrimp Recipe

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 which 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 and 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.

Shrimp ready to fry on a kitchen spider.

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.

Deep fryer bubbling away.

Bang bang shrimp with chopped green onion.

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.

Bang Bang Shrimp 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, chicken, 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.

Plated breaded shrimp.

Close up of the fried 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!

Looking for more menu ideas?

  • Air Fryer Shrimp from Carole at My Kitchen Escapades (Delish!)
  • Perfect Salmon Loaf
  • Shrimp Penne with Vodka Sauce
  • Smoked Salmon, Dill and Capers Appetizer
  • Crepes St Jacques
  • Extra Spicy Shrimp Stir Fry
Bang bang shrimp.

Bonefish Grill Bang Bang Shrimp

This recipe comes pretty close to the taste and texture of the original Bonefish Grill bang bang shrimp.
4.45 from 20 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: American
Keyword: bang bang shrimp, bonefish grill bang bang shrimp
Prep Time: 50 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes minutes
Total Time: 1 hour hour 2 minutes minutes
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 276kcal
Author: Joe Boyle

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
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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

Notes

  1. Nutrition information is estimated.
  2. Larger shrimp can be used but I was trying to duplicate the authentic Bonefish Grill size. 

Nutrition

Calories: 276kcal
 

Bonefish Grill bang bang shrimp collage.

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Filed Under: Appetizers, Seafood

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Susanne Ridolfi

    May 23, 2022 at 7:42 am

    Made this recipe last night. Delicious! So easy and fast. Will definitely make again. May try this recipe with boneless chicken. Not everyone in my family likes shrimp.

    Reply
    • Joe

      May 23, 2022 at 12:35 pm

      Hi Susanne. Thanks for the comment. This recipe works really well with small chicken bites.

      Reply
  2. Natalie

    January 9, 2020 at 9:36 pm

    Do you think this would do well as an airfryer recipe?

    Appreciate your help and output ahead of time.

    Reply
    • Joe

      January 9, 2020 at 10:49 pm

      Hi Natalie, thanks for the comment. Sorry but an air fryer would not give you the the same results as deep frying.

      Reply
  3. Julie

    July 13, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    So I wanted to make this tonight for dinner and found shrimp on sale but it was 26-30 count. Should I cook them whole or cut them in half? Can’t wait to try!

    Reply
    • Joe

      July 13, 2018 at 1:37 pm

      Julie, just keep them whole. Since they are larger, they may take a few seconds longer to cook, but they will be fine. Enjoy!

      Reply
  4. Davey

    February 26, 2018 at 10:47 pm

    I would like to try this recipe but seafood has an image problem for me they live in their own toilet lol we have a bonefish grill here in Cleveland but I have never been I was wondering can I use my Dutch oven to fry the shrimp in? That is my go to fryer no basket please advise.

    Reply
    • Joe

      February 26, 2018 at 11:10 pm

      Hey Davey…if you don’t agree with shrimp, best not eat this,lol. A dutch oven is perfect for frying in. A basket strainer is the best tool to use for frying these shrimp, but a large slotted spoon would work too. Just work in smaller batches. With the spicy sauce, I think you will love it. Don’t skimp on the sauce ingredients. I don’t know of or recommend substitutes.

      Reply
    • Dean

      June 16, 2018 at 9:41 am

      Chicken works great with this recipe for those who do not like seafood,

      Reply
      • Joe

        June 16, 2018 at 10:01 am

        Thanks Dean. That sounds good.

        Reply
  5. Peg McCarthy

    February 22, 2018 at 12:45 pm

    Daughter Made these last night and they came out terrific. We have them as a whole meal so used larger shrimp and cut in half, used 46 shrimp. Use an electric wok at 375 degrees in canola oil, a small jar was more than enough oil. Cooked crispy 2 minutes each batch and used the mesh spoon to get them out. Otherwise followed his directions. They were spot on delicious. Thank you for the recipe. Looking for more ideas.

    Reply
    • Joe

      February 22, 2018 at 1:14 pm

      Hi Peg. Thanks for the nice comment. Glad you liked the shrimp.

      Reply
  6. Jenn

    February 3, 2018 at 11:23 pm

    Do you use egg at all before placing shrimp
    in the Panko dredge? Making this for Super Bowl!????????

    Reply
    • Joe

      February 4, 2018 at 12:17 am

      Hi Jenn…no egg is used for these. If you soak the shrimp in buttermilk, just pat them with paper towels but keep the shrimp slightly moist. The batter mixture will stick to the shrimp really well.

      Reply
  7. Nikki

    January 13, 2018 at 4:49 am

    5 stars
    I made this for my family and they loved the recipe so much they asked for it the next night as well. Quick and easy meal, thanks for sharing

    Reply
    • Joe

      January 13, 2018 at 7:16 am

      Thanks Nikki. Glad you and your family liked it.

      Reply
  8. Leann

    December 14, 2017 at 1:17 pm

    In searching for Bang Bang recipes I found one prior to yours wherein an actual employee confirmed the ingredients. I was leery. Then I saw yours which had the exact same ingredient but added panko. I think you nailed it!

    Reply
    • Joe

      December 14, 2017 at 2:03 pm

      Hi Leann. Thank you for the nice comment.

      Reply
  9. Shelia

    December 5, 2017 at 7:28 pm

    5 stars
    Thank you for the tips. I used the basket to fry mine. The breading was great and crunchy. I cut down the spicy a bit but we loved this recipe. We did more shrimp and put it on lettuce like a salad. Delicious.

    Reply
    • Joe

      December 5, 2017 at 7:36 pm

      Thanks for the comment Sheila. Glad you liked it.

      Reply
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