Golden, Crispy, Slightly Spicy: Copycat Red Lobster Dragon Shrimp At Home

Some people go to Red Lobster for actual lobster, whereas others have their sights set on a different type of crustacean: shrimp. It's no secret that the seafood chain has quite a bit of shrimp on its menu, ranging from items like shrimp scampi linguine to crispy coconut shrimp (and, for what it's worth, shrimp is considered to be a Red Lobster item with some of the best reviews). One such Red Lobster-specific shrimp dish is the Crispy Dragon Shrimp, a starter that features fried shrimp coated in a sweet and spicy sauce. It's a must-get appetizer for many seafood enthusiasts out there, but for those who don't live near a Red Lobster location, recipe developer Julianne De Witt's copycat version of the dish will more than suffice.

"This copycat Red Lobster Crispy Dragon Shrimp features tender shrimp, breaded then shallow fried, and served with a zesty and mildly spicy sweet chili sauce," De Witt says. "It's an easy recipe to put together with a few ingredients and takes just minutes to cook." De Witt does make a slight alteration with her take on the recipe, opting to drizzle the sweet-spicy sauce on top instead of tossing the shrimp in it Red Lobster-style (which helps ensure that the shrimp stay nice and crispy). Otherwise, this copycat recipe is pretty spot-on to the chain restaurant's version, making for a perfect seafood starter for four or main course for two.

You'll start this recipe by making the spicy-sweet chili sauce, which consists of mayonnaise, sweet chili sauce, sriracha, and garlic powder. Then you'll need large (31-35 count) shrimp, thawed if frozen, and with the tails removed. Flour, cornstarch, salt, pepper, more garlic powder, and buttermilk make up the shrimp dredging ingredients, while vegetable oil is what you'll use for frying. Finally, to garnish the dish, you may wish to have fresh-chopped scallions on hand.

Whisk together the mayonnaise, sweet chili sauce, sriracha, and ½ teaspoon of the garlic powder. Refrigerate until needed.

Add the flour, cornstarch, salt, pepper, and remaining garlic powder to a small bowl.

Mix the ingredients together.

Working in batches, dip the shrimp into the buttermilk, then into the flour mixture.

Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat.

When the oil is hot, add half of the shrimp to the frying pan. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes until browned.

Flip the shrimp and cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes.

Place the cooked shrimp on a plate lined with paper towels.

Cook the remaining shrimp.

Add the shrimp to a serving dish. Drizzle the shrimp with the chili sauce and garnish with scallions.

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There are certain things that anyone needs to know when cooking shrimp, like safely thawing frozen shrimp or whether or not you should keep the tails on. The list only expands when it comes to frying shrimp, so De Witt has some best practice tips both to ensure that your copycat dish turns out as good as the Red Lobster version (if not better). For starters, make sure you're getting the oil to just the right temperature, between 350 F and 375 F, and making sure it stays there the entire time you're cooking the shrimp. "Any higher than that and you risk burning the batter before the shrimp is cooked," De Witt warns.

Another pro tip is to use a neutral-tasting oil that won't overpower the flavor of the breaded shrimp itself, but one that also has a high smoke point. Vegetable oil is a great choice for such a task, and it's what De Witt uses in this recipe, but canola would work just as well. Resist the urge to cook all of the shrimp at once and instead work in batches, which will help ensure that the oil stays up to temp the whole time. Finally, only flip the shrimp a single time in the cooking process, so as to keep that precious batter intact while ensuring that the shrimp themselves cook as evenly as possible.

Shallow-frying is an incredibly useful cooking method that delivers irresistibly crispy, crunchy results without the need for a whole pot of oil. Of course, there is still a good amount of oil required for shallow-frying the shrimp in this recipe, so if you'd prefer to skip the frying altogether, you've got some options.

The best way to retain the crispiness of fried shrimp without actually frying them is by using the air fryer. To make the shrimp in this recipe in the air fryer, start by preheating your appliance to 375 F and spritzing the battered shrimp with oil. Carefully transfer the shrimp to the air fryer basket (depending on the size of your air fryer, you may need to work in batches) and cook for about 7 to 9 minutes, flipping halfway through. As De Witt notes, the shrimp "won't taste quite the same as the shallow-fried version but will still be crispy."

In case you anticipate leftovers, the air fryer is also your best bet when it comes to reheating them. De Witt advises you to leave the sauce off the leftover shrimp if possible, and to reheat them in a 350 F air fryer for about 5 minutes to bring back some of that crispy goodness.

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