Bang Bang Shrimp Pasta
The favorite bang bang shrimp is turned into the creamiest, easiest pasta dishes of all!
I’ve been somewhat obsessed with this whole bang bang sauce so in an effort to have it again for like the 10th time in the last 3 weeks, I decided to give it a try in a pasta form. And boy, am I glad I did because of all the bang bang recipes I’ve tried lately, the pasta one turned out to be the best.
It’s also the easiest bang bang recipe ever! All you have to do is roast some shrimp in a little bit of paprika for that smoky flavor, and while that’s in the oven, you can boil up your pasta, and make that epic, creamy bang bang sauce. Once that’s done, you can toss those together for the creamiest pastas of all time, giving you a kick of heat and refreshing tangy goodness!
Bang Bang Shrimp Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 ounces spaghetti
- 8 ounces medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, or more, to taste
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
For the sauce
- ½ cup mayonnaise*
- ¼ cup Thai sweet chili sauce
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed
- Juice of 1/2 lime, or more, to taste
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha, optional
- Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
Instructions
- To make the sauce, whisk together mayonnaise, Thai sweet chili sauce, garlic, lime juice, Sriracha and red pepper flakes; set aside.
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or coat with nonstick spray.
- Place shrimp onto the prepared baking sheet. Add olive oil, garlic, paprika, salt and pepper, to taste, and gently toss to combine. Place into oven and roast just until pink, firm and cooked through, about 6-8 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine pasta, shrimp and mayonnaise mixture.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley.
Notes
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If the shrimp is pre cooked, do you still need to roast it in the oven?
Nope – no roasting needed 🙂
Hello. I bought regular already cooked frozen shrimp not thinking about buying fresh. Can I still cook the already cooked shrimp in the oven or will it make them too tough? Any other suggestions as to what to do with them? Perhaps just sauté them quickly? Making the dish for my boyfriends birthday tomorrow so I hope to hear from you before then. Thanks 🙂
Alison, cooking the shrimp in the oven as directed in the recipe will most likely result in a tough texture. A quick saute may be best.
Could you make this dish using veggie noodles? Wife and I recently got a Veggeti for spiral slicing “noodles” from vegetables. Just a bit worried that might become too watery from the veggie noodles
That sounds like a great substitute but without having tried it myself, it is really hard to say how the consistency will be. Please use your best judgment.
I love, love, love your blog. I’ve made several of your recipes but this Bang Bang Shrimp Pasta is the household favorite. My husband and 3 year old love it! (The Hoisin Meatballs also regularly make their way into our dinner rotation.) I am planning to make this pasta this week and just wondering if you had any suggestions for a side dish that would compliment the dish. Thanks and keep the yumminess coming!
Jen, you can actually serve this with a light, hearty salad. Feel free to check out my salad recipes here.
What if I’m lazy and using frozen precooked shrimp?
You can cook the shrimp as directed on the packaging. From there, you can add the cooked shrimp into the pasta as directed in the recipe.
Made this tonight and loved it, thanks so much!
I whipped this up tonight in an attempt to make dinner for my husband with stuff I had around the house – I didn’t have quite enough sweet chili sauce, and I had to substitute lemon for the lime, but he still loved it! Thanks for a great, quick & easy recipe.
I never thought to make a pasta sauce this way! My son LOVES noodles but is allergic to dairy, tomato and a number of other things. We used Just Mayo and it turned out fantastic. Thanks for a great, simple recipe!
I forgot to buy a lime. Should I sub. lemon juice or just leave it out all
together?
Lemon juice should work just fine.
I made it tonight and it was wonderful! I didn’t have mayo either so I used Miracle Whip but my husband and I loved it so much. This is my 2nd time cooking a recipe from your site and both dishes were delish. Thanks!!!!!
Loved this dish, but I have to tell you it did not go over well with my 100% Italian husband. He could not get over the mayo. taste…..however he ate his share:)
Bang Bang Shrimp and Grits! As southerners, we love shrimp and grits and we also love Bang Bang Shrimp. I now serve this over grits and everyone loves it! Thanks for the inspiration!
I made this last night and the hubby went nuts for it. Mayo is a perfect rich blend, greek yogurt will clash with the flavors IMO, but that”s just me cooking 30+ years. I have tried several from your site now…ALL winners!
Julie, I just made this with fat-free Greek yogurt and it turned out very nicely. There was no “clashing”. 🙂 I’ve also made the recipe with the southern favorite Duke’s mayonnaise. I’m not going to lie, it was so much richer with the mayo, but definitely not a dish I could make very often. I will continue to make it with the Greek yogurt or sometimes perhaps a blend of the two. I also subbed coconut oil for the olive oil when cooking the shrimp – it added another layer that was yummy!
I’m really sorry, I was so excited to make this pasta, but it was absolutely foul. I think it was the mayo. You should probably try cream cheese instead of mayo. The mayo made the whole pasta tasted horrid. I really was pulling for you though!
Joan, thank you for trying my recipe! I’m so sorry that this recipe did not turn out the way you had imagined. I only post recipes that have been successfully tested in my own kitchen, and as you can see from the comments here, many of these readers have had great outcomes in the final dish as well. But I must say – if you are not a fan of mayo, then yes, this dish is not meant for your taste buds. However, you can try substituting Greek yogurt or sour cream.
I Love it! Don’t change a thing. Delicious! : )
I just love this. I make it for myself when hubby is out of town, quick and easy. Have also done with chicken for the 2 of us.
I made this tonight for dinner and it came out so delicious. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Can you freeze the dish with mayo?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
Oooh, please don’t do it. Mayo does not freeze well. It becomes grainy and will break and separate upon thawing and cannot be brought back to it’s original consistency. I am afraid it would destroy the dish!
Love this recipe for many reasons, very easy, quick to prepare and the simple ingredients blend beautifully together. Have included this recipe in my Tried and True cookbook. Looking forward to cooking more of your recipes.
I was out of the Thai sweet chili sauce, so I had to whip up a quick substitution with red wine vinegar, Stevia, 3/4 of a diced jalapeno, and a little lime juice and salt. After boiling, I threw it into my sauce where I used Greek yogurt in place of the mayo, and I was a little nervous it may have been a LITTLE too much experimentation on my end, but it ended up delicious! Thanks for the inspiration, my fiance said it was one of his favorite dinners ever (even though he first came home and smelled the overpowering vinegar from making my “chili sauce” and was nervous!). I never roast shrimp, but what a great way to cook them!!! With the smoked paprika, these shrimp were totally killer. I’ll be making this again. THANK YOU!!
Do you think Veganaisse would be an acceptable substitute for the mayo? I am trying to eat vegan as much as possible and also Best Foods/Hellmans is GMO.
You can certainly try substituting Veganaisse but without further recipe testing, I cannot speak for how much this will change the overall taste/texture of the dish. Using a substitution may also result in a mediocre outcome but if substitutions must be made, please use your best judgment.