The first time I put high protein bang bang shrimp on the table for a playoff game, I set the platter down between a bag of chips and a tray of wings and went back to the kitchen for drinks. Ninety seconds. That is how long it took. When I came back there were four shrimp left and my brother-in-law was dragging a chip through what was left in the sauce bowl. Nobody asked if they were fried. Nobody said a word about the sauce being yogurt. They just ate, and then they asked when I was making them again.
That reaction is the entire reason this recipe exists in the form it does. I wanted the restaurant appetizer, the sweet and spicy and creamy one everybody recognizes, without a pot of oil on my stove and without a snack that gives back almost nothing nutritionally.
What 37 grams of protein in a party snack actually looks like
Bang bang shrimp was made famous by Bonefish Grill, and the original is buttermilk-soaked shrimp, deep fried, then drowned in a mayonnaise and sweet chili sauce. It is delicious. It is also a dish where most of the calories come from oil and mayo rather than from the shrimp doing the work.
Two changes flip that math. The shrimp go into the air fryer with a thin cornstarch and panko coating instead of into a fryer basket, which takes the oil down to a few seconds of spray per batch. And the sauce gets its body from thick plain Greek yogurt, which carries the sweet chili and sriracha just as well while adding around five grams of protein per serving on its own.
The result is a serving of ten shrimp with about 37 grams of protein and 285 calories, estimated from the ingredient list. Roughly half the calories in that plate come from protein. For a snack you eat standing up next to a television, that is unusual.
The shrimp, the coating, and the sauce
Picking and prepping the shrimp
Go for large shrimp, 31/35 count, peeled and deveined with the tails off. Tails look good in photos and are a nuisance when people are eating with their fingers over a coffee table. Ten shrimp per person sounds modest until the platter is in front of you.
One thing worth knowing before you shop. A lot of frozen shrimp is treated with sodium phosphate or sodium tripolyphosphate to hold water during freezing, and that treatment can add several hundred milligrams of sodium per serving before you have salted anything. Check the bag. If the ingredient list says shrimp, water, and salt, you are fine. If it lists phosphates, either buy a different bag or skip the quarter teaspoon of salt in the coating entirely. My numbers assume untreated shrimp.
Whatever you buy, the shrimp need to be dry. Not blotted once. Dry. Wet shrimp steam instead of crisping, and the coating slides off in the basket.
The three-part coating
Cornstarch goes on first as a dry dredge. It pulls the last of the surface moisture off the shrimp and gives the egg white something to hold onto. Then beaten egg whites, which bind without adding fat the way whole eggs would. Then a light press into panko, which stays coarse and open in dry heat instead of going pasty.
The coating is deliberately thin. A thick batter needs submerged oil to set properly, and in an air fryer it just turns powdery in patches. A thin one browns evenly.
The Greek yogurt bang bang sauce
Plain nonfat Greek yogurt, Thai sweet chili sauce, sriracha, lime juice, rice vinegar, garlic powder. That is the whole sauce, whisked in one small bowl in under two minutes.
The rice vinegar matters more than it looks like it should. Yogurt is already tangy, and without the vinegar the sauce reads as slightly dairy-forward rather than as bang bang sauce. Ten grams of lime juice and five of rice vinegar push it back where it belongs.
How these bang bang shrimp bites come together
Start with the sauce, before you touch the shrimp. Whisk everything into the yogurt until it goes smooth and a pale orange color, then put it in the fridge. Fifteen minutes of sitting lets the garlic powder hydrate and the heat spread evenly, and you want the sauce cold when it meets hot shrimp.
Next, dry and season. Blot the shrimp until they stop leaving damp marks on the paper towel, then toss them with the cornstarch, smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. You are looking for a chalky, matte finish on every piece. If anything still looks glossy, it needs another minute with a towel.
Set up your coating station with beaten egg whites in one shallow bowl and panko spread in another. Dip each shrimp in the egg white, let the excess drip back, then press it into the crumbs on both sides. Press, do not sprinkle. The contact is what makes the panko stay put.
Now the first batch goes in. Half the shrimp, laid flat in a single layer with visible space between them, then a light spray of olive oil over the top. Crowding is the single most common reason air fryer shrimp come out pale. Cook at 400°F for five minutes.
Flip each piece, spray the second side, and give it three to five more minutes. You want deep golden, not blond, and an internal temperature of 145°F. Then repeat with the second batch, which will run a touch faster in an already-hot basket.
Finish fast. Toss the hot shrimp with about half the sauce, pile them on a platter, scatter over the scallions and sesame seeds, and put the rest of the sauce out for dipping. Saucing them any earlier softens the coating.
Recipe card
High-Protein Bang Bang Shrimp in the Air Fryer
Crispy air fryer shrimp in a creamy Greek yogurt bang bang sauce, with 37 grams of protein per serving and no pot of oil on the stove. Ready in 35 minutes.
Ingredients
- For the shrimp
- 560 g raw large shrimp (31/35 count), peeled, deveined, tails off, thawed and patted very dry (about 40 shrimp)
- 30 g cornstarch
- 66 g egg whites (whites of 2 large eggs), lightly beaten
- 45 g panko breadcrumbs
- 2 g garlic powder (about ¾ tsp)
- 2 g smoked paprika (about 1 tsp)
- 1.5 g fine sea salt (about ¼ tsp)
- 0.5 g black pepper
- 5 g olive oil spray (about 4 seconds per batch)
- For the Greek yogurt bang bang sauce
- 200 g plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 45 g Thai sweet chili sauce
- 15 g sriracha
- 10 g fresh lime juice
- 5 g rice vinegar
- 1 g garlic powder
- To finish
- 10 g scallions, thinly sliced
- 6 g toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Whisk the Greek yogurt, sweet chili sauce, sriracha, lime juice, rice vinegar, and garlic powder in a small bowl until the sauce is smooth and pale orange, then refrigerate it while you cook the shrimp.
- Blot the shrimp with paper towels until the surface is genuinely dry, then toss them in a bowl with the cornstarch, smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper until every piece looks chalky rather than damp.
- Beat the egg whites in one shallow bowl and spread the panko in another, then dip each shrimp in the egg white, let the excess run off, and press it into the panko on both sides.
- Lay half the shrimp in a single layer in the air fryer basket with space between them, spray lightly with olive oil, and cook at 400°F (204°C) for 5 minutes.
- Turn each shrimp, spray the second side, and cook 3 to 5 minutes more until the coating is deep golden and the shrimp hit 145°F (63°C), then repeat with the second batch.
- Toss the hot shrimp with about half the sauce, pile them onto a platter, scatter over the scallions and sesame seeds, and put the remaining sauce alongside for dipping.
Nutrition (per serving)
- 285Calories
- 37 gProtein
- 25 gCarbs
- 3 gFat
- 1 gFiber
Nutrition information is calculated using ingredient databases and is an estimate. Actual values may vary based on specific ingredients and brands used.
Keeping the coating crisp instead of soggy
The shrimp come out of the basket crisp and stay that way for maybe ten minutes once sauced. So sauce them at the last possible second, and consider tossing only half the batch while serving the other half plain with the sauce on the side. The plain ones hold their crunch far longer, and the people who like more sauce will help themselves anyway.
If you are cooking for a crowd and want everything hot at once, hold the first batch on a wire rack in a 200°F oven rather than on a plate. A plate traps steam under the shrimp and undoes the work.
What to put next to them on the table
These do not need a side so much as company. A tray of crunchy cold vegetables cuts the sweetness of the sauce, and cucumber spears in particular are good at it. If the game runs long and you want something warm alongside, the baked buffalo chicken dip I keep on the same table covers the creamy, scoopable end of things without repeating the shrimp.
For a bigger spread, one more protein-forward finger food rounds it out nicely. I usually add a plate of piped deviled eggs that hold their shape, since they can be made the day before and they give people something to eat while the second batch of shrimp is still cooking.
Ways to change up the coating and the sauce
Gluten-free. Swap the 45 grams of panko for 45 grams of gluten-free panko, one for one, nothing else changes. Cornstarch is naturally gluten-free. Do read your sauce labels though, because a handful of sweet chili and sriracha brands thicken with wheat starch. Pick ones marked gluten-free and the whole recipe is clear.
Heat level. Fifteen grams of sriracha lands in the medium range. Drop to eight if you are feeding people who flinch, or go to twenty-five and add a pinch of cayenne to the cornstarch if you are not.
Less sweet. The sweet chili sauce is where all six grams of the added sugar per serving come from. Cut it to thirty grams and add a teaspoon more rice vinegar, and the sauce stays balanced with less sugar.
Other proteins. The same coating and sauce work on bite-size chicken breast pieces, though they need eleven or twelve minutes instead of eight. If you would rather keep the shrimp and build a full meal out of it, the flavors go somewhere completely different in a Mediterranean shrimp bowl with lemon and feta.
Making them ahead
The sauce is genuinely make-ahead. It keeps three days in a sealed jar in the fridge and it is better on day two than on day one.
The shrimp are not. You can coat them up to two hours in advance and hold them on a rack in the fridge, which actually helps the coating set, but cook them right before you serve. Leftovers keep two days refrigerated and come back to life in the air fryer at 375°F for three minutes. Do not microwave them unless you have made peace with soft breading.
Common questions
How much protein is in high protein bang bang shrimp?
About 37 grams per serving, with a serving being ten shrimp plus about 70 grams of sauce, all figures estimated from the ingredient list. Most of it comes from the shrimp itself, with roughly five grams from the Greek yogurt in the sauce and a little more from the egg white coating.
What is bang bang sauce made of?
The restaurant version is mayonnaise, Thai sweet chili sauce, and sriracha, sometimes with a splash of vinegar. This one keeps the sweet chili and the sriracha and builds the creamy base on plain Greek yogurt instead, with lime juice and rice vinegar to sharpen it.
Why is it called bang bang shrimp?
The name comes from the sauce rather than the shrimp. It is a reference to the double hit of sweet chili and sriracha landing at once, and the dish became widely known through the Bonefish Grill restaurant chain in the United States.
How do you keep air fryer shrimp crispy after saucing them?
Sauce them at the very last moment, and only sauce what you are serving right away. Serve the rest plain with the sauce in a bowl for dipping. A crowded basket is the other culprit, so cook in two batches with space between the pieces.
Can I make bang bang shrimp in the oven instead of an air fryer?
Yes. Spread the coated shrimp on a wire rack set over a sheet pan, spray with oil, and bake at 425°F for twelve to fifteen minutes, flipping once. The rack is not optional, since shrimp sitting flat on a pan will steam on the underside.
Make this high protein bang bang shrimp before the next game
If you have been looking for a party snack that does not leave you hungry an hour later, this is the one to try first. It comes together in thirty-five minutes, it uses one bowl for the sauce and a basket for the shrimp, and it holds its own next to anything else you put on the table.
Make a batch this weekend, and come back and tell me how much sriracha you ended up using. Everybody lands somewhere different on that, and I like knowing where. If it earns a spot in your rotation, save it so it is there the next time a game runs into dinner.
