Making Bang Bang sauce at home is a convenient and budget-friendly way to enjoy your favorite restaurant meals at home. This Asian sauce recipe is most well known as a tangy dip for Japanese teppanyaki, but it tastes delicious with foods like burgers and fries, too!
Great Reasons to Make Bang Bang Sauce
- Easy to adjust the flavor.
You can easily increase or decrease the spiciness and/or sweetness according to your taste preferences. - Versatile
We use it for dipping, as a sandwich spread, and even to add moisture and flavor to sides like fried rice. - Doesn’t require any fancy ingredients or special tools!
All you need are a small bowl, a whisk, and just 4 ingredients.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Mayonnaise – In addition to regular mayonnaise, mayo with olive oil or avocado oil work just as well — but do anticipate a change in flavor. For a healthier version, use plain Greek yogurt or light mayo instead.
- Thai Chili Sauce – This sweet, savory, and spicy ingredient is used often in Asian cuisine. One recipe of ours that makes a good substitute is sweet and spicy mango sauce.
- Sriracha – Sriracha is the most popular choice for adding bursts of spicy heat, but your favorite hot sauce can be used instead. Just try to avoid thin, runny sauces that will alter the consistency.
Bang Bang sauce has a nice balance of sweet and spicy flavors. For a less sweet alternative, consider using regular tomato-based chili sauces or chili paste instead of Thai chili sauce. However, keep in mind that if using paste, you’ll need to add a bit more liquid to thin the consistency.
Chili paste makes for a spicier dip, whereas chili sauces add a ketchup-y flavor.
To make it sweeter, just add a teaspoon or two of honey!
Recipe Tips
- Make serving easier with a squeeze bottle.
If your goal is to make a large batch of Bang Bang sauce to use in multiple dishes, consider investing in a couple of squeeze bottles for easy serving.
Or, wash out an empty ketchup, mustard, or other condiment bottle and use it for storing your homemade condiment!
- Too spicy? Add vinegar or lemon juice.
It can be easy to overdo the heat when you’re making a shotgun sauce or other creamy, spicy sauces like this one.
However, rather than adding a boatload of mayonnaise or piling on the honey to try to fix the flavor, add lemon juice or vinegar instead.
The tartness does a much better job of calming the heat.These ingredients are also good for counteracting too much sweetness.
Great Ways to Use Bang Bang Sauce
Crispy and tempura-fried recipes are even better tossed in a bit of bam bam sauce after frying.
Use it as a substitute for the sriracha mixture in our honey sriracha meatballs recipe, and Bam Bam sauce is a marvelous match for any seafood dish — shrimp, fried fish, and scallops, for example.
And almost any fried rice is guaranteed to be more delicious with this Asian sauce recipe.Try it on some chicken fried rice – it’s so good!
If you’re looking for a milder, cooler condiment to serve with it, we recommend our yogurt-based shawarma.
Bang Bang Sauce FAQ
These two condiments are slightly different.
While both are spicy and mayonnaise-based, Boom Boom sauce typically has a tangy flavor from the addition of garlic, ketchup, and sometimes Worcestershire or mustard.
The shelf life of homemade seasonings and condiments varies.
Because homemade Bam Bam sauce contains mayonnaise, it will last approximately 2 weeks in the refrigerator. This shelf life also applies to the variation of bang bang shrimp sauce that contains Greek yogurt.
Storing and Freezing
Store your Asian condiment in the refrigerator, and keep it in a squeeze bottle or other airtight container. The recipe is enough for 8 servings, so it’s likely to be devoured pretty quickly, but it does keep for up to 2 weeks.
It can be frozen for up to 3 months as well, but should be thawed overnight in the refrigerator before using it again.
Whether it’s from the fridge or freezer, we advise shaking the bottle well before serving. This will recombine any ingredients that may have separated.
Bang Bang Sauce
Ingredients
- ½ cup mayonnaise or full fat plain Greek yogurt
- ⅓ cup Thai chili sauce
- 1 tablespoon sriracha or other hot sauce of choice
- 2 teaspoons honey optional (for a sweeter flavor)
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt or to your preference
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper or to your preference
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a medium-sized mixing bowl. Whisk ingredients well to thoroughly combine.
- Taste for seasoning, then add more salt and/or pepper if needed.
- Serve immediately, or refrigerate in an airtight container until ready to serve. Store Bang Bang sauce in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
PREVIOUS
Toni says
I love how quick and easy this is to make! Thanks for the recipe!
Ned says
Wow, awesome! This sauce was incredible on chicken. Thank you so much!
Kathleen says
This is one fantastic, sweet and spicy sauce. I can’t wait to dip my chicken and veggies in it.
Caroline says
I love how incredibly easy this is, but also great with so many things. Appreciate the tips about chili paste/sauce.
dana says
I love love love this bang bang sauce! We use it for tacos, burgers, and grain bowls! It’s hard not to just dive in with a spoon, honestly haha.