These Spicy Shrimp Stacks with Mango Salsa are a fun twist on a spicy California roll, topped with guacamole & drizzled with Bang Bang sauce!
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Ingredients in shrimp stacks
These Spicy Shrimp Stacks with Mango Salsa are guaranteed to become your next favourite summer dinner – they're a delicious no-cook option for those hot summer nights where the thought of cooking totally turns you off.
There's such a burst of vibrant flavours all over the place in this recipe, from the tangy mango salsa to the crunchy, salty tortilla strips and quick guacamole.
Here's what you need to make these stacks:
- cooked shrimp
- nori (dried seaweed – this is optional if you can't find it)
- Wonton or tortilla strips
- Sesame seeds, for garnish
- Avocado
- Sushi rice plus seasonings (salt, rice vinegar, sugar)
Bang bang sauce
- light or regular mayo
- sweet chili sauce
- Sriracha hot sauce
Mango salsa
- mango
- red pepper & red onion
- cilantro
- lime juice
How to make shrimp sushi stacks
These sushi stacks look complicated, but I promise they are super easy to make! They just take a little bit of love and care. Here's how to make them:
- Cook the sticky rice in a rice cooker or on the stove.
- Meanwhile, mix up the guacamole (or just mash up the avocado) and mix together the mango salsa, along with the bang bang sauce.
- Use a measuring cup (either a one or two cup measure…full details are in the recipe card at the bottom of this page) and spoon ingredients inside starting with the mango salsa, then the guacamole, shrimp, nori and sushi rice.
- Press down hard on the rice, then trace with a knife all the way around the measuring cup to loosen the mixture. Tap on the top of the measuring cup very hard, dumping onto a plate.
- Top stacks with crumbled wonton strips, then drizzle bang bang sauce overtop. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and enjoy!
Tips to getting the stack just right
The actual dumping of the ingredients from the measuring cup is the hardest part of this whole recipe! It can be tough, but here are my best tips:
- Make sure to press down hard on all the ingredients to smush them together and encourage them to stay intact
- Use a knife to loosen the outside edges of the stack while it's in the measuring cup
- Dump the cup upside down with a plate underneath and bang the bottom of the measuring cup HARD so that the ingredients slide out
- Worst case scenario, you can always shape the stacks after the fact with freshly washed hands
Ingredient substitutions
This is a pretty versatile recipe and you can definitely change things up as it makes sense for you and based on what you have in your kitchen at home. Here's what you can change up:
- Shrimp: Feel free to use salmon, tuna or whatever other type of seafood you enjoy in sushi
- Rice: I highly recommend using sushi rice because you want it to stick together. You don't have to necessarily season with the sugar, salt & rice vinegar (you can use it plain) but in order to guarantee the best results, you should be using this type of rice as it helps everything stick together
- Bang bang sauce: Use whatever type of mayo you have on hand for the bang bang sauce, or just leave this sauce out of the recipe altogether. You can also just use sriracha mayo
- Mango salsa: You can use regular salsa or pico de gallo with this recipe
- Guacamole: I highly recommend you use mashed avocado at the very least if you don't make the guacamole because the avocado will help everything stick together
- Optional ingredients you can leave out: sesame seeds, wonton strips, nori
Making the bang bang sauce
And can you ever have shrimp without bang bang sauce? I was going to make a simple spicy mayo with some sriracha but remembered how big of a hit my Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos were with the family a few weeks ago. It's so easy to make – just mix some mayo together with some sweet chili sauce and sriracha. It's a nice optional topping for these stacks.
Making the mango salsa
The mango salsa consists of mango, red pepper, red onion, cilantro and lime juice. You can sub in some normal tomato based salsa or use another type of fruit such as pineapple or kiwi and you'll still have an amazing accompaniment!
Making the guacamole
To save time, I sometimes just mash up some avocado and season with salt, but my quick guacamole has lime juice, garlic and salt as the add-ins. You'll love the flavour!
Storing and serving again
You can store any leftover stacks in the fridge up to 2 or 3 days. After that point, they probably won't taste as fresh so I don't recommend keeping them for long. I serve them cold when I make them fresh the first time, and I serve them cold again when eating as leftovers. I doubt you will have much leftover though, they're so good!
Freezing the sushi rice
If you'd like, you can make the sushi rice ahead of time. Just follow the instructions on the package and then wait until the rice cools slightly before freezing in a freezer-safe container. Defrost in the fridge overnight when ready to use and make the rest of this recipe as directed.
More sushi style recipes
Tools to make this recipe
- You can get sushi rice here.
- And a rice cooker makes meal prep so much easier! This is the one I use.
- I use the 1-cup measuring cup from this set – metal cups make it so much easier to dump all the ingredients out into a stack.
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Spicy Shrimp Stack with Mango Salsa
Ingredients
- 1 lb frozen cooked shrimp, defrosted
- 1 inch sheet nori (seaweed (find it in grocery stores near the take to go sushi or Asian sauces aisle)
- 1 tbsp Wonton or tortilla strips for garnish
- Sesame seeds to garnish
Bang Bang sauce
- 1/2 cup light mayo
- 1 tbsp sweet chili sauce
- 2 tsp Sriracha
Quick guacamole
- 1 avocado mashed
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1 clove smallgarlic minced
- 1/4 tsp salt
Mango salsa
- 1/2 mango diced
- 2 tbsp red pepper diced
- 2 tbsp red onion diced
- 2 tbsp cilantro chopped
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1/4 tsp salt
Sushi rice
- 1/2 cup dry sticky rice
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp sugar
Instructions
- In a rice cooker or in a small saucepan, cook sticky rice for the time accorded on package directions (usually 15-20 min).
- Meanwhile, mix together ingredients for guacamole (or just use mashed avocado) and mix together mango salsa, along with bang bang sauce.
- Use a 1 or 2 cup measuring cup to spoon ingredients. NOTE: I used a 2 cup measuring cup and it was the perfect size for dinner - you can use a 1 cup measuring cup to make 4 stacks that are better suited to be served as an appetizer. Spoon mango salsa into measuring cup until a there is a thin layer, then spread the avocado mixture overtop. Layer with shrimp, then strips of nori, then sticky rice.
- Press down hard, then trace with a knife all the way around the measuring cup to loosen mixture. Tap on the top of the measuring cup very hard, dumping onto a plate, careful to make sure mixture remains in tact.
- Top mango salsa with crumbled wonton or tortilla strips, then drizzle bang bang sauce overtop using a plastic bag with a tiny hole cut out in a corner. Sprinkle with sesame seeds then serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
Lacey says
Awesome recipe. Loved it, thank you!