There’s a time and a place for ranch dressing, and to be fair, it’s pretty often. But there’s a new dip in town, and that’s this Bang Bang Sauce Recipe.

With a light zing, a barely-there pepper bite, and a nice garlic finish, this is the perfect dipping sauce for the fried shrimp we threw in the air fryer.

It’s a dip, it’s a topping, it’s a sauce, it’s a righteous dressing for the air fryer shrimp we made to go with it, let me tell you hwat.

It would be great with onion rings, french fries, hush puppies, fried catfish, drizzled over sushi, over tacos and anything else you can think of.

Root around in your pantry for a few items like we did, or add just a couple things to your shopping list.

We don’t normally keep sweet Thai chili sauce around, but we will from now on.

The final serving size was a bowl large enough to dip almost a full 22 oz of fried shrimp with a few slicks left over in the bowl.

Tips for making a bang bang sauce

At first, we found that the vinegar was separating from the rest of the ingredients and settling on top. If this happens to you, set the bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes, remove, and whisk briskly. Keeping the ingredients very cold was helpful while pulling this bang bang sauce together.
If you don’t have a baby whisk, which is just a tiny whisk, you can easily use a fork for blending.
You can turn this into a nice salad dressing by adding an additional T of milk or water and a ½ t of ginger paste and cracked pepper to taste.

Tips for making a bang bang sauce

Air fryer shrimp, as you can see.
Condiment for burgers (and the fries!)
Drizzled over sushi
Dip for fried onion rings
Dip for hush puppies and fried catfish
Spooned into shrimp or fish tacos

How to make the best bang bang sauce recipe

1. Chill all of your ingredients the night before and remove from the refrigerator just as you are ready to make this recipe.

2. Grab a bowl and some measuring spoons.

3. Measure out the following condiments:

½ c Mayonnaise
2 T Sweet Thai chili
1 T Rice Vinegar
1 t Sriracha sauce
1 t Minced garlic

4. Combine all condiments to your bowl and whisk or stir until combined and smooth.

5. Serve alongside your main dish or snack of choice or cover and chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Recipe variation ideas

This recipe is very straightforward, but if you want more spicy-heat in this bang bang sauce recipe, double the amount of sriracha.

Supplies to gather

The bottom line

If you are about to get in the food mood, whether it’s comfort food like fried shrimp, fried clams, hush puppies, fried catfish, sushi, shrimp tacos, burgers and fries, or anything else, set aside the ranch dressing for a hot second.

You’ll be wowed by the zesty but not quite hot flavor in this bang bang sauce recipe that is versatile, tasty, and easy to make!