Savor The Restaurant Taste At Home With Copycat Bang Bang Sauce

Bang bang shrimp is a dish made popular by Bonefish Grill, while bang bang chicken is essentially the same thing made with chicken nuggets and dished up by countless strip mall Chinese-American restaurants. What puts the "bang" in each version, however, is actually a very simple sauce that you can easily make at home. Mashed recipe developer Ting Dalton came up with a bang bang shrimp recipe that, while not meant as a Bonefish Grill copycat, does include directions for making a sauce very similar to the one served up by the chain.

So simple is this sauce that you needn't ever look for a store-bought version. All you need to do is mix two parts mayonnaise with 1 part sweet chili sauce, then squirt in a little sriracha. The proportions Dalton uses in her bang bang sauce recipe are ½ cup of the first ingredient, ¼ cup of the second, and ½ teaspoon of the hot(tish) sauce, which she feels makes a sufficient amount of sauce for 8 ounces of fried shrimp. She does note, though, that you can alter the sauce as you see fit. "If you don't like the mayo," she says, "You could leave out or use crème fraîche or natural yogurt as alternatives." (Sour cream would also work to cut down on oil.) She also suggests playing around with the spice level, saying "You can add much more sriracha sauce if you want more of a fiery kick."

While Dalton's bang bang sauce recipe is, as we mentioned, used as a topping for fried shrimp, you can, of course, make DIY bang bang chicken by using it as a dip for chicken nuggets (Chick-fil-A's, McDonald's, or frozen ones from the supermarket). You could also use it as a dip for french fries, which Dalton suggests as a "naughty" side for her bang bang shrimp recipe.

Bang bang sauce, which is somewhat akin to a kicked-up fry sauce, would also make for a banging burger topping, and of course it would work on a chicken sandwich, as well. It could bring some extra flavor to a fried fish sandwich or salmon patty, and could even replace the mayonnaise in tuna salad. Try bang bang sauce as a condiment for appetizers, as well. As its simplest, it can serve as a dip for potato or tortilla chips. It could also be used to top sushi rolls or as a sauce for fried dumplings, egg rolls, or crab rangoon.

If you really want to take bang bang sauce to a new place, you can try it in casseroles, sauce, and even cake recipes that call for mayonnaise. While it might not work in all instances, culinary experimentation is always fun, and a little sweet heat added to a dish seldom comes amiss.