Boom Boom Air Fryer Bang Bang Shrimp

Crispy air fryer bang bang shrimp recipe is a game changer for dinner! Our out of this world homemade bang bang shrimp sauce takes these bite size seafood pieces to the next level I tell you. Lightly breaded and crunchy you can enjoy boom boom (as they call it) as is or tossed with pasta for a complete dinner.

Bang Bang Shrimp Air Fryer

Are you wondering how to make boom boom shrimp or looking for its recipe? So we started by making Instant Pot bang bang shrimp recipe with pasta last week. Since we got the bang bang sauce down pat it was time to use it on something else. I kid you not, I couldn’t make enough of these. After each basket was done it was eaten immediately.

That one had no breading to them. Still delicious but it was missing something. We love ordering this at Panda Express which is crunchy kinda’ like popcorn shrimp but way better. That was our goal to make a great copycat version of that favorite meal.

Ninja Foodi Bang Bang Shrimp

You’re going to start with breading shrimp with breadcrumbs as you would as if they were going to be eaten “plain”. As you know, only dry coatings work with this hot air machine.

Things like tempura batter just make a huge mess and don’t come out well at all. Take our word for it since we’ve been experimenting for years. This works the best!

As for the seasonings you add into the mix, that is up to you. I mean Old Bay is one of my favorites but keeping it simple just add salt and pepper. Make a sort of assembly line so you can dip, coat, and fill your air fryer basket.

Bonefish Bang Bang Shrimp Recipe Air Fryer

You see the biggest air fryer benefit is how it can make your food seem like deep fried but without the oil. This only works if there is a bit of space in between each piece of food.

That way the VERY hot air can circulate well around everything and get even frozen shrimp in air fryer super crunchy. Now let’s move on to this homemade sauce we have here. It is super easy to throw together and a great dip for tons of things.

Air Fryer Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos

Another big tip: Never overlap your food when crisping in your Ninja Foodi or Cosori machine. It really doesn’t matter what brand you have, this is fact. If you want to make air fryer fish tacos out of these you will want it to be the perfect texture.

• Once you’ve preheated your machine, and your breading is on you’ll lay them in a single layer.
• Overlapping will cause them to stick together, but worse off they won’t get crispy all the way around.

Air Fryer Bang Bang Shrimp no Breading

This is what you’re going to need in order to get started on this bit of YUM. If you don’t want to bread the outsides at all you will just need paper towels to dry them off, seasonings, and when cooked you just toss with the sauce at the end.

1. Defrosted shrimp with tails off, shelled, deveined
   1. or use frozen popcorn shrimp cooked, then toss with the sauce recipe below
2. All purpose flour
3. Salt and pepper
4. Breadcrumbs
5. Egg
6. The sauce consists of
   1. mayonnaise or could use greek yogurt if you must
   2. sweet chili sauce
   3. Sriracha if you want it to be sweet and spicy too
   4. Some like a squeeze of fresh lime in it too

You will want a few shallow small bowls to coat with flour egg mixtures. I mean you can just leave them as is without the sauce but if you’ve had it at Bonefish Grill you’ll know how incredible it is.

How do you Fry Shrimp in an Air Fryer?

You’ll want to get your plate of bread crumbs ready first. Then you’ll add the shrimp into a baggie full of your seasoned flour and shake so they’re coated. Dunk into the egg and then the breadcrumbs.

I haven’t used Panko breadcrumbs for this one but assume it would work just as well. Cooking time is generally perfect after 6 minutes at 400 degrees.

Of course this may vary slightly depending on how large your shrimp is AND how crispy you want them to be.

We do not like shrimp cooked too long because they will be tough. When making things like our air fryer shrimp fajitas and this we tend to air on the side of them being tender. That is up to you though for sure.

Air Fryer Boom Boom Shrimp

Let’s talk about breadcrumbs for a minute now. There are many different styles out there. From Italian seasoned, to plain, seasoned, the possibilities are endless.

I mean Italian doesn’t really make sense for this now does it? Can’t do without that type then by all means do it! Typically I always have plain on hand and add what I want into the mix.

If you are making this for a large family you will likely need to make multiple batches. You can see about how many will fit into a 5 quart machine here. Giving a bit of space in between them is necessary.

You can keep prepping them when one batch is cooking though. Just lay a piece of parchment paper down on a cookie sheet and lay them down. Then when the first one is done, you throw in another and keep going.

• I personally have 2 air fryers and a Foodi so I could make 3 batches all at once if I wanted.
• Usually I don’t want that many baskets to clean so I stick to one and just rotate until everything is done.

With this in mind I would say that to make everything listed in the recipe card below it may take about 20 minutes total to cook.

Best bang bang air fryer shrimp recipe

Here are quick step by steps but there is a printable with the ingredients necessary at the bottom of this post as well. You could cook our air fryer shrimp boil and use the sauce all over all 3 of those ingredients too.

• Thaw shrimp, rinse, lay on paper towels to remove water from outsides. Press down gently to remove all of the liquid, this will get them really nice and crunchy on the outsides.
• Put flour and salt and pepper (and any other seasonings you might like) into a large baggie.
• Add shrimp and toss together until outsides are coated. Lay on a plate.
• Whisk egg in a shallow bowl and put breadcrumbs on another plate. Preheat air fryer to 400 F for 5 minutes.
• One at a time dip floured shrimp into the egg, allowing excess egg to drip off, then dip into breadcrumbs to coat.
• Lay coated shrimp into air fryer basket that has been sprayed with non stick spray, do not overlap them. Very lightly spray top with olive oil spray.

Close drawer and set to 6 minutes total cook time. Check and if you want them more golden brown then spray tops with olive oil spray again. You don’t want to overcook these though.

In a bowl mix together mayonnaise, sweet chili sauce and Sriracha if you want some spicy heat. Some like a little squeeze of lime juice in this mix too. Serve crispy shrimp with sauce brushed on top. OH MY look at these!!

Frozen boom boom shrimp air fryer

Like I said, you can use this sauce on so many other things too so don’t throw out what you don’t use here. My kids love it as a dip for:

• Air fryer frozen chicken nuggets or popcorn chicken as a snack.
• Drizzle a little on top of air fryer tilapia for dinnertime.
• I mean we have made so many air fryer fish recipes and they all go well with this on the side.

If you want to try this without the sauce but with a whopper of flavor in the breading itself, try our air fryer fried shrimp another night!