You can easily make Boom Boom Shrimp at home with no special equipment needed. Spicier than traditional fried shrimp, this saucy fried shrimp recipe has a kick of flavor that you’ll love.
Sweet Chili Shrimp Recipe
Golden and crunchy, crispy shrimp is a great way to bring restaurant-quality dishes into your home cooking routine. It’s possible to easily make this at home for a fun dinner for the family or even when hosting. The sweet chili, creamy sauce covered fried shrimp gives a sweet and tangy flavor that’s hard to resist.
Love seafood? Crab cake sandwiches also make a pretty presentation. Salmon sliders allow the fish to shine, and who can resist a classic clam chowder?
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Create the desired heat: Making this at home means customizing the heat level of your dipping sauce.
- Easy intro to shrimp: Not sure your family enjoys shrimp? A crisp breading helps temp them to taste.
- Makes a lot: It’s easy to feed a crowd with this shrimp, and you can add lots of sides to make it a full meal.
Key Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this boom-boom shrimp:
- Shrimp – Shrimp is sized by how many are in a pound, and jumbo means 21-25 per pound so look for that designation on the bag.
- Club soda – If you’ve never made a tempura batter, this is the key! The bubbles keep the batter light instead of heavy.
- Flour and cornstarch – Whisking these together also helps keep the batter light.
- Mayo – This is the basis for our dipping sauce, making it rich and creamy.
- Sriracha – Amp up the spice in your sauce by using to your preference.
- Sweet chili sauce – You may need to buy this specifically for this recipe, but I guarantee you’ll find yourself reaching for it more often.
- Vinegar – Yes, you need vinegar, and no, you won’t exactly taste it. This pairs with the sweetness of the ketchup to make everything blend together. You can use any type you have on hand like wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or red wine vinegar.
*Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients list & instructions!*
How to Make Boom Boom Shrimp
Get everything in place and ready to go, because once you start dipping you need to immediately move to frying!
STEP 1. Make sauce. Add all sauce ingredients to a small bowl and whisk to combine. Taste for spice and chill until ready to serve.
STEP 2. Make batter. Whisk together the dry batter ingredients to combine well. Then add the club soda and whisk until smooth.
Tip: I prefer to use a cooling rack for fried food. This allows excess oil to drain off without turning the food soggy. If you don’t have a rack, you can place the shrimp directly on paper towels, but remember that the batter may soften as it sits.
STEP 3. Coat shrimp. Add dried shrimp to the batter and stir to coat.
STEP 4. Fry shrimp. Heat oil and use tongs to carefully add shrimp to the hot oil, being sure to shake off excess batter first!
STEP 5. Rest. Let shrimp rest on a cooling rack or paper towel to remove excess oil. Fry the remaining shrimp until all has been cooked. Serve with sauce.
Recipe Pro Tips
- Dry shrimp completely. Make sure to pat the shrimp dry with paper towels. This ensures the batter will stick!
- Don’t crowd the pan. Don’t add too much shrimp to the pan at once. You want to have room to turn the shrimp over without touching. Also, adding too much food to oil lowers the temperature a lot, which means your food will begin to soak up the oil rather than fry to a crisp.
Recipe FAQs
The classic markers of this dish is a tempura batter and a sweet-savory sauce! This combination makes for an out-of-this-world entree.
We are shallow frying here, so any sort of fry pan will work. Higher sides will help with splattering! I like to use heavy pans because they will retain the heat better when you add the shrimp. Also, you can use an electric skillet to easily control the temperature! Many electric skillets are also quite large, meaning you can cook more at once.
Serve these as an appetizer on their own. You may also serve over a bed of rice or wrapped inside crisp lettuce leaves. Make sure to have extra sauce on the side for dipping. It might be fun to make boom boom shrimp tacos!
More Shrimp Recipes You’ll Love
Originally published: January 2024
Updated and republished: March 2025
Did you make this? I’d be so grateful if you left a “star” rating below to let me know what you thought! Then, the next time you need a quick and easy recipe, come back to Fantabulosity to browse all of my easy recipes!
Recipe
Boom Boom Shrimp
Ingredients
Shrimp:
- 1 pound jumbo shrimp 21-25 per pound; peeled and deveined with tails removed
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- 1 cup club soda
- Canola oil for panfrying
- Scallions chopped (optional garnish)
Sauce:
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 teaspoon sriracha sauce or to taste
- ½ teaspoon vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, chili sauce, ketchup, sriracha sauce, vinegar, garlic powder, and salt. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.¼ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ cup mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce, 2 tablespoons ketchup, 1 teaspoon sriracha sauce, ½ teaspoon vinegar, 1 teaspoon salt
- Dry shrimp with paper towels.1 pound jumbo shrimp
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. Add club soda and whisk together until no lumps remain. Stir in shrimp so the shrimp is completely coated by the batter.1 cup all-purpose flour, ½ cup cornstarch, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon pepper, ¼ teaspoon paprika, 1 cup club soda, ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- In a heavy-bottomed large skillet, pour canola oil until about an inch high and heat to 350 degrees.Canola oil for panfrying
- When the oil is hot, moving quickly, using tongs, remove shrimp one at a time from the marinade, and shake gently to remove excess batter. Place shrimp into the hot pan without overcrowding and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side until light golden brown.
- Transfer to a cooling rack placed over a cookie sheet lined with paper towels or to a paper towel-lined plate. Finish cooking all of the shrimp.
- Place shrimp on a platter and drizzle sauce over the shrimp. Serve any remaining sauce with the shrimp.
- Garnish with scallions if desired and serve immediately.Scallions
Notes
- You can increase the sriracha up to 2 tablespoons in the sauce if you love spice!
- Frozen shrimp is a great option, but make sure it’s completely thawed before using.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Melissa says
These are SO delicious and simple to make. Couldn’t love it more!
Allyson Zea says
This recipe is a staple at our house for dinner! Thanks for the easy recipe!
Kristyn says
Wow!! This shrimp is amazing!! Full of flavor & perfect for any occasion!!