Bang Bang Shrimp Burger

I am totally obsessed with shrimp burgers, and I'm pretty sure you will be too after making a batch of these babes. So here's the plan...we're going to make some homemade shrimp patties, cook them up in the skillet, then top them with some fresh broccoli slaw and a spicy bang bang sauce.

Does that sound freaking delish, or what?

Let's start with the sauce. Bang bang sauce was made popular by a chain restaurant that features fried shrimp coated in this sweet and spicy sauce on their appetizer menu. It's very simple mix of mayonnaise, sweet chili sauce, and sriracha. I think this sauce is perfectly spicy without setting my mouth on fire, but you can control the heat level by adding a little less sriracha if you're worry about the spiciness. This sauce is going to do double duty on our burger. In addition to being a creamy condiment to glue our sammies together, it's also going to be used to lightly dress the slaw that will add the perfect crunch to our burger.

Speaking of slaw, we're going to throw together a super quick broccoli slaw that starts using a bagged mix from the grocery store. Bagged slaw mix is one of my favorite supermarket shortcuts. However, if you have some leftover broccoli stalks that you don't want to waste, you could totally make your own! Either way, we're going to mix the broccoli slaw with some green onion, cilantro, lime juice, and a little bit of our bang bang sauce. And, that's it! We have a nice, crispy, crunchy topping to add to our juicy shrimp burgers.

The star of the show is, of course, the shrimp burgers! We start by taking raw shrimp and adding them to food processor along with some green onion, some soy sauce, some garlic powder, and a little black pepper. We're going to pulse the shrimp in the food processor just until it resembles the texture of ground meat. This happens REALLY fast...you don't need more than 2 or 3 pulses. The texture of ground shrimp is already a little strange and sticky, but we don't want to pulverize it down to mush. We're really only using the food processor to save us from having to mince the shrimp by hand.

Once the shrimp is ground, we're going to mix in a little panko to help bind the burgers together, and we'll form them into nice large patties. Then, we'll let them rest in the fridge for about 20 minutes. And, to a nonstick skillet they go to become nice and golden brown on the outside while staying moist and juicy on the inside.

To assemble our burgers, we'll toast up some sesame buns, top each with a shrimp burger, and load them up with some broccoli slaw and a good schmear of bang bang sauce. That's it! It's time to devour!

These burgers are everything! The shrimp are naturally sweet and juicy making the perfect base for our sandwiches. The slaw is fresh and crisp adding a lovely texture to balance out some of our softer components. And that bang bang sauce is just spicy enough to wake up your taste buds but just sweet enough to compliment the crunchy veggies and the savory shrimp burgers.

Honestly, I'll take this shrimp burger any day over a beef burger!

Ok, everyone! I can't wait to hear what you think of this recipe. Don't forget to show me on social media when you make it!

I hope you enjoy. And, let's eat!