This juicy, spicy homemade Bang Bang Shrimp is stuffed into perfectly charred corn tortillas alongside crunchy shredded cabbage, tomato and avocado slices, and fresh, flavorful cilantro. Start to finish, this shrimp taco recipe takes less than 20 minutes!
Table of Contents
- This recipe is…
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Bang Bang Shrimp Taco Ingredients
- Recipe Variations and Modifications
- How to Make Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos in the Air Fryer
- How to Make Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos in the Oven
- Recipe Tips
- How to Serve
- How to Store
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Taco Recipes
- Spicy Bang Bang Shrimp Taco Recipe Recipe
- Recipe Contributors
This recipe is…
Disclaimer: this recipe is NOT traditional Bang Bang sauce – it’s our spin on the Americanized version. Traditional Bang Bang sauce is VERY different than Americanized recipes – the Americanized version is usually a sweet, spicy, creamy mayo-based sauce, while the traditional is made up of soy sauce, sesame paste, chili oil, vinegar, fresh garlic, fresh ginger, and Sichuan peppercorns.
MANY Americanized Bang Bang shrimp recipes call for breaded and fried shrimp, but our version is lightened up and cooked in the air fryer (or oven, if you prefer). It’s delicious, juicy, and ridiculously easy!
If you’re looking for more shrimp recipes, we’ve got a bunch. This honey garlic shrimp is delicious and takes only 20 minutes to make, this shrimp fajitas sheet pan dinner is the easiest, most hands-off dinner you’ll make all week, and this shrimp scampi recipe is simple while also being incredibly elevated. Enjoy!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s easy – whether you decide to cook the shrimp in the air fryer or oven, this recipe truly couldn’t be simpler!
- It’s a crowd-pleaser – who doesn’t love tacos? Especially juicy shrimp tacos with a homemade creamy, sweet, spicy sauce – YUM!
Bang Bang Shrimp Taco Ingredients
You’ll need a handful of ingredients for the bang bang sauce itself, then the shrimp, tortillas, and a couple of taco toppings. Find ingredient notes (including substitutions and swaps) below.
- Shrimp – grab whatever shrimp you can find! Frozen and thawed work just as well as fresh. You’ll just want to make sure that they’re peeled and deveined (you can purchase them like this to save you some time and effort) before getting started.
- Sweet chili sauce – if this ingredient is new to you, you may be wondering where to find it! It’s typically in a bottle on the Asian/International food aisle, near the soy sauce. Thai Kitchen makes a great one that you can purchase at your grocery store or on Amazon.
- Tortillas – we chose corn tortillas here, but you can absolutely use traditional flour tortillas, gluten-free flour tortillas, or even grain-free flour tortillas (think: Siete almond flour tortillas).
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Recipe Variations and Modifications
- Make it dairy-free – this recipe is dairy-free as-is!
- Make it gluten-free – if you’re using corn tortillas like we did, this recipe is already gluten-free. If you’d like to use flour tortillas, be sure to grab gluten-free flour tortillas (Mission makes some yummy ones that we’re able to easily find at the local grocery store here) or grain-free flour tortillas.
How to Make Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos in the Air Fryer
This taco recipe is so quick and easy! Follow along below for the full, super easy how-to.
Step 1: Preheat the air fryer to 380°F (if needed). Add the mayo, sweet chili sauce, sriracha, honey, and rice wine vinegar to a glass bowl and whisk to combine.
Step 2: Toss the shrimp with half of the sauce, making sure to coat each shrimp.
Step 3: Place the bang bang coated shrimp in the air fryer basket, making sure none overlap. Air fry at 380°F for 5 minutes, pausing to toss the shrimp halfway through.
Step 4: Stuff charred corn tortillas with the shrimp, followed by diced tomatoes, avocado slices, shredded cabbage, fresh cilantro, a squeeze of lime, and extra bang bang sauce. Enjoy!
How to Make Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos in the Oven
If you don’t have an air fryer but still want to make these delicious, juicy tacos, the oven can definitely get the job done.
Simply coat the shrimp in the Bang Bang sauce, and then spread them out on a sheet pan, and bake them in a 375°F oven for 10-15 minutes, until the shrimp are cooked through.
Recipe Tips
- If you want to make the most of your time in the kitchen, make extra Bang Bang sauce, and use it to meal prep these Bang Bang Chicken Skewers for a week’s worth of lunches!
How to Serve
Serve the sweet, spicy shrimp taco-style stuffed into charred corn tortillas and topped with tomato, avocado, cabbage, cilantro, a squeeze of lime, and a drizzle of Bang Bang sauce.
How to Store
Store any leftover shrimp in an airtight container in the fridge. To reheat, simply pop the shrimp in a microwave for 30 seconds-1 minute, until just heated through. Then build your tacos, and enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
We topped these tacos with thinly sliced cabbage, diced tomatoes, sliced avocado, and fresh cilantro. If you’d prefer to avoid any of these components, simply leave them off!
This Americanized version of Bang Bang sauce is made with mayonnaise, Thai sweet chili sauce, honey, rice wine vinegar, and sriracha. It’s sweet, spicy, and absolutely delicious!
Every 2 tacos (what we’ve counted as 1 serving, though you get to determine how much you eat!) comes in at about 568 calories.
More Taco Recipes
If you tried this Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Spicy Bang Bang Shrimp Taco Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup Thai sweet chili sauce
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons sriracha
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 8 corn tortillas, charred
- ¼ head red cabbage, thinly sliced
- 1 tomato, diced
- 1 avocado, sliced
- Fresh cilantro, for garnish
- Lime wedges, for garnish
Instructions
Air Fryer Method
- Preheat the air fryer to 380°F (if needed). Add the mayo, sweet chili sauce, sriracha, honey, and rice wine vinegar to a glass bowl and whisk to combine.
- Toss the shrimp with half of the sauce, making sure to coat each shrimp.
- Place the bang bang coated shrimp in the air fryer basket, making sure none overlap. Air fry at 380°F for 5 minutes, pausing to toss the shrimp halfway through.
- Stuff charred corn tortillas with the shrimp, followed by diced tomatoes, avocado slices, shredded cabbage, fresh cilantro, a squeeze of lime, and extra bang bang sauce. Enjoy!
Oven Method
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Add the mayo, sweet chili sauce, sriracha, honey, and rice wine vinegar to a glass bowl and whisk to combine.
- Toss the shrimp with half of the sauce, making sure to coat each shrimp.
- Spread the the bang bang coated shrimp out on a sheet pan. Bake at 375°F for 10-15 minutes, until cooked through.
- Stuff charred corn tortillas with the shrimp, followed by diced tomatoes, avocado slices, shredded cabbage, fresh cilantro, a squeeze of lime, and extra bang bang sauce. Enjoy!
Nutrition
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So, so good! It made too much sauce for us but everything about this was delicious. Will def make again!
Can you please tell me if and how I could make this with chicken? (Cut of chicken and how long to cook on skillet or in oven)
These were AWESOME! So easy and so good! I used medium shrimp and they shrunk way down in the air fryer so I’d suggest buying large shrimp. Overall delicious!
Great tip, Rochelle! We are so happy you enjoyed them! Thank you so much for taking the time to share!