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Bang Bang Shrimp (Copycat Recipe)

This is like Bonefish Grill's version, only much more nutritious AND more delicious too if I do say so!
Servings: 6 servings
Author: KitchenKop

Ingredients

Shrimp

  • 3 pounds shrimp, peeled with the tail off, look for wild caught (not farm raised), and no preservatives. I like the bigger ones, but can't always find them.
  • 1.5 cups cornstarch or arrowroot flour
  • 2-3 pounds beef tallow, lard--or you could use avocado oil, sesame oil, or peanut oil, but these aren't as nutrient-dense as the pastured animal fats. Never use soybean, canola, corn, or other heart-killer vegetable oils!
  • Sea salt for sprinkling on the top

Rice (optional, omit if you're eating low-carb)

  • 3 cups rice, I like this rice the best!
  • 4.5 cups chicken broth, if you don't have your own handy, I like this broth to keep on hand! It's okay to use water if you don't have any broth.
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 2 Tablespoons butter

Sauce Ingredients

  • 1 batch homemade mayo (or store bought, about 3/4-1 cup, just make sure there are no seed oils like soybean or canola oil!)
  • 3 dashes sriracha sauce, look for one with no preservatives or funky ingredients (add extra if you like more heat)
  • 3/4 cup sweet chili sauce
  • 1 lime

Optional Superfood Ingredients

  • 1 scoop collagen (extra protein, good for skin, hair, nails and joints)-- we only use this collagen from a trusted company, and certified no GMOs.
  • 4 probiotics, opened up and sprinkled in-- a good way to get this into your family members who won't take supplements!

Salad (optional, but it's best this way!)

  • 1-2 servings per person of your favorite greens, I used a mixture of organic leafy greens plus organic romaine
  • Whatever veggies you have on hand, chopped--I use mostly organic, I had red and yellow peppers, and shredded carrots
  • Green onions, chopped, for the top (optional)

Instructions

Shrimp:

  • Start this step an hour or two before you want to eat:
  • Rinse shrimp and lay on a clean kitchen towel or paper towel to finish thawing and dry--make sure they're very dry before cooking.

Rice:

  • Start this step about an hour before you want to eat. Follow your package directions and use the amounts listed there. Or if you use the kind I linked to: mix the ingredients together in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil for one minute while stirring so it doesn't stick.
  • Cover the rice, and move the pan to your lowest heat burner, turn it all the way down to the lowest heat, and set the timer for 22 minutes.
  • Move to the next step, but when the timer goes off, just turn the burner off and leave the pan covered to finish cooking and stay warm while you make everything else...

Sauce: (see another sauce recipe below too)

  • Start by making a batch of homemade mayo. <-- Go to that link to watch the video if you'd like. It's so easy and fast! (If you're using store-bought mayo, skip to next step.)
  • Once the mayo is done, add in the optional superfoods, sriracha, lime zest and the juice from the lime, and the chili sauce. Mix together until smooth. Do a little taste-test here because you're the cook and you deserve it. :) Set aside. (Note, you may want extra of the sauce if you'd like to use it as a salad dressing to go with the shrimp. Only a little is good because the shrimp will be coated and laying on the salad.)

Salad

  • Chop up whatever greens and veggies you have on hand and put into a bowl for each person or in one big bowl to serve from.

Cooking the shrimp:

  • Add your fat of choice to a large frying pan and heat to 400*--I use my favorite pan for this.
  • Toss the dried shrimp around in a big baggie with the cornstarch or arrowroot until each piece is covered.
  • Fry a few at a time until golden on each side. Adjust heat as needed while you're frying, you don't want it to smoke, but the fat should be bubbling around the shrimp. The smaller shrimp only take about a minute or so on each side (or 2-3 minutes total if you have enough fat to cover them). Bigger shrimp will take longer to be done in the middle. Don't put too many in at once or they won't get crispy. You want to keep your fat at 400* so you can cook them fast and get them golden brown without overcooking the shrimp.
  • When each batch is done, remove them using a slatted metal spoon and put on a wire cooling rack setting over a baking sheet to catch the drippings. Keep in a warm oven as you cook the other batches.
  • Sprinkle some sea salt over the top.

Put it together:

  • Depending on if you're serving it with salad or rice or both, put everything into a bowl or on a plate for each person.
  • In a bowl toss the shrimp with some sauce and lay them on top of the rice and/or salad.
  • Garnish with plenty of green onions and extra sauce if needed. ENJOY!

Notes

A note on the servings...  We are big eaters here and this night there were only 5 of us eating and it was all gone, BUT if your family eats like normal people, this is enough for 6 servings for sure.  Double it if you'd like leftovers though!
Next time I make this all 6 of us will probably be here, so I'll use 4# of shrimp instead of 3#, and I'll make extra sauce too.
You could have only the shrimp and serve this as an appetizer.
This is a gluten-free meal, and not too high in carbs.  To lower the carbs even more, be sure to serve without rice, use less arrowroot/cornstarch (1 cup or less), omit the coconut sugar in the sauce, and also use less of the sweet chili sauce.  Start with a small amount and taste-test, you may choose to use more sriracha and skip the sweet chili sauce all together.
Once I made a lower-carb sauce like this:  1 batch homemade mayo (using dijon mustard and lime juice instead of lemon juice), then mix in 2 teaspoons garlic powder, 1 T. of the chili lime seasoning here, 1-2 teaspoons fresh or powdered ginger, 2 T. this soy sauce, & 1 T. hot sauce.  It was good!  If you want it a little sweeter, add a little palm sugar.  If you want a little spicer, add more hot sauce.  I also found a recipe online for keto fried shrimp using almond flour, but it wasn't that great, so I'm still working on that one.  LMK if you have a good recipe!
Here's another bang-bang sauce option without mayo:  1/4 cup tahini, juice of 1 lime, 3 T. sweet chili sauce, and 3 T. sriracha.  Add water to thin to desired consistency and taste test to see what it needs more or less of according to your taste.
See more recipe photos below.  :)