Air-Fried Bang Bang Shrimp

If you’ve ever been to a Bonefish Grill you will have undoubtedly tried their Bang Bang Shrimp. It’s their famous deep-fried shrimp appetizer that has a creamy spicy mayonnaise-based sauce on top and it has grown to have a bit of a cult following. Before I ever went to a Bonefish Grill I had a friend ask me if I knew how to make Bang Bang Shrimp. That, in fact, was the reason I went to Bonefish for the first time. I didn’t have an answer for my friend, but once I discovered it was a deep-fried dish I didn’t really think about it again. I don’t often deep-fry at home for so many reasons, so I wasn’t about to make bang bang shrimp in my kitchen. Now that air-frying has come into our lives… there is an answer!

The bang bang sauce is very simple. It’s simply mayonnaise, sweet Thai chili sauce and sriracha hot sauce – all whisked together. Couldn’t really be any easier. If you wanted to make the sauce lighter, you could substitute Greek yogurt for the mayonnaise, but it won’t be quite as authentic at the original version. As for the shrimp, you need to dredge it properly (that means flour first, then egg, then crumbs) and adding a little cornstarch to the breadcrumbs helps give the shrimp extra coating and crunch. Then, it’s a straight road to the finish line with a spritz of oil and your air fryer doing the rest.

Air Fryer Bang Bang Panko Breaded Fried Shrimp is a quick and easy, healthy, low-fat air-fried shrimp seafood recipe with bread crumbs, sweet chili and Sriracha dipping sauce. This post will outline how to fry shrimp in the air fryer. You can even try frozen shrimp!  This recipe makes the perfect appetizer or weeknight dinner.

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Ingredients

• 1- pound large cooked shrimp peeled, deveined, and tails removed, defrosted
• olive oil spray

For the coating:

• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 cup panko
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 2 medium eggs
• 1 TBS water

For the Bang Bang Sauce:

• 1/3 cup Greek yogurt, (plain, 2% or nonfat)
• 2 TBS light mayonnaise
• 2 TBS sriracha
• 2 TBS sugar
• 1 TBS rice vinegar

For Garnish:

• chopped green onions or chopped cilantro, optional

Instructions
To coat the shrimp:

1. Setup all of the ingredients; it's easiest to make the air fryer bang bang shrimp in somewhat of an assembly line.
2. Place flour into a large Ziploc bag. Place eggs and water into a small bowl and beat together. Place cornstarch, panko breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika in a shallow container and mix well.
3. Add the shrimp to the plastic bag with the flour and toss to coat. Tap off any excess flour off before the next step.
4. Add a few shrimp to the egg wash, and toss to coat completely. 
5. Add the shrimp to the breadcrumb mixture, toss and press the coating into the shrimp, being sure it sticks. Repeat for all of the shrimp. 
6. Wash hands with Lava® Soap to remove all of the grime from your hands!

To cook the Air Fryer Bang Bang Shrimp:

1. Place the shrimp into the air fryer, adding only as many as will fit in a single layer. Give a quick spray of olive oil over the tops of the shrimp, then close the air fryer.
2. Set the temperature at 400 degrees and the timer to 5 minutes. When the time is up, carefully flip the shrimp over, spray with olive oil, then close and set again to 400 degrees and set the timer for 3 minutes.
3. Remove when the time is up, then repeat until the rest of the shrimp are cooked.

For the sauce:

1. In a small bowl, add Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, sugar, sriracha, and rice vinegar. Whisk to combine; place in fridge until ready to serve.

To serve:

1. Place cooked bang bang shrimp on a tray, then top with bang bang sauce right before serving. Add chopped green onion or chopped cilantro over the top of the bang bang shrimp and enjoy!

Recipe Notes

• Nutritional information (calculated from listed ingredients) based off 6 servings: 226 calories, 4 grams of fat, 27 grams carbohydrates, 20 grams protein, 1 gram fiber, 6 grams sugar. Weight Watchers: 6 points per serving