Copycat Bang Bang Shrimp Taco: Summers with Grandma include preparing copycat dishes from favorite restaurants or simply learning how to make their favorite dinner selections.
Both grandsons are interested in cooking – even more so after taking the FACS program “Chef” Club at school during the past two years.
They prepared menus selections with the school cafeteria chefs. At the end of the semester, parents were invited to sample a complete menu prepare by the students. Now, they often cook at home!
In a hurry? ==> Run to the Bonefish Grill
I know…this recipe does not fit squarely into French or Pennsylvania Dutch cuisines. Not at all related. But it’s homestyle cooking “à la mode de chez nous”.
How about we categorize it as “Recipe Testing”?
We’ve been running our own test kitchen for years. Homestyle “restaurant” cooking.
For weeks, they’ve been excitedly waiting for Grandma to prepare copycat Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos for lunch.
It is particularly daunting to prepare a recipe with nothing more to go on than a picture. I’ve never had them. “This is what it looks like Grandma – can you guess how they make it?”
A culinary challenge indeed but any request for a restaurant copycat recipe should be considered as the ultimate compliment by that establishment 🙂
The Woodbridge, Virginia Bonefish Grill® was a favorite destination of ours since they opened their doors. We had memorable birthday celebrations there. Those doors closed last year and now we have to trek rather far afield to eat at the next nearest restaurant.
So…this summer, we set about to replicate some memorable dinners.
The Bang Bang® shrimp appetizer sits at top of the list but just below that are the shrimp tacos! There are plenty of copycat versions for the appetizer but this is my version of the taco!
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Z’s Review:
Grandma’s Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos tasted almost exactly like the tacos in the restaurant.
The slight changes we made to the sauce made it near perfect. The hot sauce increased the spicy level of the shrimp which was already spicy (but we like spicy!).
The sauce was the perfect dressing for the hot shrimp and the crisp fresh vegetables we added to the tacos. The only ingredient Grandma forgot was the sour cream! 😉
G’s Review:
When I tasted the shrimp taco it instantly reminded me of the Bonefish Grill®!
I always order the Bang Bang© shrimp appetizer but putting the same kind of shrimps into a taco makes it an entrée or (if you eat more than one) a full meal.
If you want an easy and delicious seafood lunch, I definitely recommend trying this recipe. It will blow you away.
So…what does Grandma think of this copycat Bang Bang shrimp taco experiment? I’ve always wanted to taste a shrimp taco and this is a tasty first try.
Compared to chili-lime shrimp or a regular grilled shrimp, the spicy mayo based sauce results in a very rich filling. One cannot complain about it being a dry taco. Grandma added sour cream as a topping for the second batch of shrimp.
In my opinion, the addition of sour cream is somewhat over the top and not necessary. It does provide a nice color contrast to the plated food but I could barely taste the sour cream in the spicy hot sauce.
Sour cream is a nice cool foil for a highly seasoned ground beef mixture or plain shrimp – even with the same combination of traditional taco toppings.
(Set/2) Tricerataco Double-Slotted Dinosaur Taco Holders For Fun Meal-Time
To address one of G’s critiques (“they serve the three tacos in a holder“), I served these with soft flour tortillas.
No holder – could not find it.
It turned to be more like a help yourself salad bar.
For the sake of presentation, hard shells are a good idea but I can see where the holder would support soft tortillas while the taco is being “assembled”.
I think it’s nice to be able to tuck in one end to prevent all the sauce from escaping!
Guess it means that we will be conducting another shrimp taco experiment. Just to dot all the “i”(s) and cross those pesky “t”(s) 🍴
Update: Typical! I found the taco holders two days after we needed them. Such is life.
Ever prepared any food with Peri Peri seasoning and spices? Wicked hot! It could easily replace the Thai chili sauce for a powerful punch of flavor. Be sure to read the labels on the small bottles of Peri Peri sauce. Sure fooled me when I used it to season chicken thighs!
[tasty-recipe id=”9915″]1 Cook, 2 Countries & A Taste For World Cuisines: Cooking A La Mode De Chez Nous - Cuisine d'Hier Et d'Aujourd'hui! For the love of home style cooking and great food. Memories are made of this!
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