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Homemade Dynamite Shrimp with crispy shrimp and creamy Sriracha-mayo sauce, just like your favorite Japanese restaurants, PF Chang's and Cheesecake Factory. This recipe is easy to make and incredibly tasty.
Shrimp Dynamite
Dynamite shrimp is a popular dish in the US, particularly Japanese restaurants or izakaya, and chain restaurants such as PF Chang’s and The Cheesecake Factory. It typically consists of deep-fried shrimp coated with a spicy, creamy sauce.
The dynamite shrimp sauce is very addictive, and made of mayonnaise, Sriracha sauce or chili garlic sauce, and honey or sugar. The dish is extremely delicious, and great with a pint of beer.
The recipe is versatile, allowing you to change up the protein to chicken, make seafood dynamite, or mussel dynamite. This is definitely one of my favorite Japanese appetizers, other than agedashi tofu, chicken karaage, and gyoza.
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- Dynamite shrimp sauce. Made of mayonnaise, honey, Sriracha chili sauce and a squirt of lemon juice, the sauce is rich, creamy and absolutely addictive.
- Restaurant-quality meal. Homemade is always the best and cost effective.
- Perfect for entertaining. Make dynamite shrimp appetizer for your guests and they will beg you for the recipe!
What Goes Into This Recipe
Dynamite shrimp it made of the following key ingredients:
- shrimp – medium-sized shrimp works the best for this appetizer recipe.
- mayonnaise – Since this is a Japanese recipe, I recommend Kewpie brand mayonnaise. You may use regular mayonnaise brand, too.
- honey – add a tint of sweetness to balance the taste.
- Sriracha – this is the secret ingredient that gives the spicy kick to the sauce.
- lemon juice – cut the grease and add a zesty flavor to the overall taste.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.
How To Make Dynamite Shrimp
Here are the simple step by step picture guide on how to make this recipe.
Step 1. Clean the shrimp by rinsing them under cold running water. Pat them dry with paper towels and set them aside.
Step 2. Dynamite shrimp sauce. Combine all the ingredients to prepare the batter. In a separate small bowl, stir and mix together all the sauce ingredients. Set aside.
Step 3. Add the shrimp into the batter and coat evenly. Heat up a deep-fryer or a pot with oil for deep-frying. Once the oil is heated, carefully drop each shrimp into the oil and deep fry until they turn golden brown. Use a slotted spoon or strainer to transfer them to a working surface or a bowl lined with paper towels.
Step 4. Remove the paper towels and add the sauce into the bowl. Toss the shrimp around until they are nicely coated with the sauce. Serve immediately.
Helpful Tips
In my opinion, the best Dynamite Shrimp is made with rock shrimp, as it has a nice crisp texture that’s perfect for this recipe. However, rock shrimp can be hard to come by unless you visit some expensive seafood specialty stores. Regular shrimp or tiger prawns work well as substitutes.
When I make Japanese dishes, I always ensure I use Kewpie brand Japanese mayonnaise, which comes in a soft plastic tube with the iconic baby as the label. You can find Kewpie in Japanese or Asian supermarkets. If it’s not available, any regular mayonnaise works just fine.
For the sauce, you may also use powdered sugar as the sweetener. However, honey is preferred as it gives the sauce a slightly runny consistency, allowing it to coat each shrimp perfectly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you sure can. My easy recipe calls for only four (4) ingredients. You can double the recipe and keep the sauce in a plastic container. Keep in the fridge for up to a week.
That’s brilliant idea! You may add some diced pickled cucumber to the sauce and use it on sandwiches, or even burgers.
This recipe is only 404 calories per serving.
What To Serve With This Recipe
You can serve this shrimp appetizer ala Japanese izakaya style, with the following dishes. Enjoy!
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Dynamite Shrimp
Ingredients
- 6 oz (175g) shrimp, medium-sized shelled and deveined
- oil , for deep-frying
Batter:
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 egg white
- 50 ml water
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 pinch salt
Sauce:
- 3 tablespoons mayonnaise , Kewpie brand preferred
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1/4 teaspoon sriracha , or to taste, optional
- 1 squirt lemon juice
Instructions
- Clean the shrimp by rinsing them under cold running water. Pat them dry with paper towels and set them aside.
- Dynamite shrimp sauce. Combine all the ingredients to prepare the Batter. In a separate small bowl, stir and mix together all the Sauce ingredients. Set aside.
- Add the shrimp into the batter and coat evenly. Heat up a deep-fryer or a pot with oil for deep-frying. Once the oil is heated, carefully drop each shrimp into the oil and deep fry until they turn golden brown. Use a slotted spoon or strainer to transfer them to a working surface or a bowl lined with paper towels.
- Remove the paper towels and add the sauce into the bowl. Toss the shrimp around until they are nicely coated with the dressing. Serve immediately.
Notes
- The best Dynamite Shrimp is made with rock shrimp, as it has a nice crisp texture that’s perfect for this recipe.
- However, rock shrimp can be hard to come by unless you visit some expensive seafood specialty stores.
- Regular shrimp or tiger prawns work well as substitutes.
- I always ensure I use Kewpie brand Japanese mayonnaise, which comes in a soft plastic tube with the iconic baby as the label.
- You can find Kewpie in Japanese or Asian supermarkets. If it’s not available, any regular mayonnaise works just fine.
- For the sauce, you may also use powdered sugar as the sweetener.
- However, honey is preferred as it gives the sauce a slightly runny consistency, allowing it to coat each shrimp perfectly.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
60 years ago when I was a new bride in Florida, I bought rock shrimp weekly–like tiny cheap lobster tails about half the price of regular shrimp. Stinkers to clean and shell, they were spectacularly delicious. Sadly I haven’t seen any at all in the past 30-40 years. They aren’t available anywhere close to me and when I just looked them up online, prices are shocking.
I just made this terrific copycat recipe with regular white shrimp. We’ve been enjoying Bang Bang Shrimp at Bonefish Grill the past 10-12 years, but that delicious appetizer now costs double what it did only a couple of years ago even though raw shrimp is very affordable. I don’t care to deep fry anything, but this recipe is both inexpensive and easy. Powdered sugar gives the sauce a taste closer to that of the Bonefish version–I’m not really a honey fan.
Awesome so glad that you tried my recipe. I love rock shrimp, too bad they are not available for you anymore!
This recipe was a game-changer for me! I quite often make Honey Walnut Shrimp, so it was fun to try this out as an alternative. Now whenever I buy shrimp, we have the hardest time deciding between Honey Walnut and Dynamite. More often than not, we end up doing both!
I tried the recipe last night and it was AMAZING. I ended up adding ore siracha as I like it spicy. Thank you so much.
Thanks for trying this recipe I am so glad you love it!
Is this very similar to the Chinese dish Honey Walnut Shrimp? The sauce is slightly different but same concept.
Yes similar.
thats it, I am coming to urs for dinner, doesn’t matter what you cook…it all look great