This Creamy Shrimp Salad is a delicious cold seafood salad that is loaded with juicy shrimp, chopped green onions, and yellow bell peppers.

All these yummy things are combined with a creamy and flavorful mayo-based dressing. This salad is great as a sandwich filling or lettuce cup to keep it low-carb. 

What is a Shrimp Salad?

This shrimp salad is the perfect cold dish for any BBQ, potluck, picnic, or tailgating party.    You’ll love how easy it is to make and your guests will love how refreshing and delicious it is.

This recipe is another great recipe that can be made in under an hour. I can be a great go-to recipe when you need something quick yet amazing.

It is fantastic served in lettuce cups as I show in this blog post or as a sandwich filling on your favorite bread or wrap. 

I love making this when I’m too tired to cook a big meal or on summer days when it is way too hot to heat up the house with the oven.

Sadly it has been that hot here this whole past month. 

You may be new to Shrimp Salads but if you’ve ever enjoyed tuna, chicken, or crab salad that was mixed with a creamy mayo-based dressing and served cold, then you’ll also enjoy this salad.

When I say you can have this ready to serve in under an hour I mean that. It is as easy as cooking the shrimp and then mixing up the rest of the ingredients before serving.

Of course, it is better chilled in my opinion but if you start with all cold ingredients then you can chill it for less time and serve it pretty quickly.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

• shrimp that are cooked and shelled
• yellow or green bellow pepper
• green or red onions, chopped
• seasons like dill, garlic, parsley, salt, pepper
• real mayo
• lemon juice

With those ordinary ingredients, it may not sound like it will be much, but you’ll be amazed at the amount of flavor in this recipe. It is a complete win for those looking for quick, simple, and yummy.

If you don’t mind the extra carbs but want to lighten the fat up in this recipe you could opt to swap out the mayo with a plain Greek Yogurt or for a completely dairy-free option you could go with a plant-based plain yogurt also. 

What kind of shrimp should be used and how should I prepare it?

The star of the shrimp salad is of course the shrimp, so you want to make sure that you are getting the best quality shrimp from your local store that you can.

Freshly caught shrimp that you can purchase at a local seafood market would be ideal, but not all of us will have access to fresh seafood, so I pick up the frozen uncooked bags of shrimp at my local grocery store. Not much fresh seafood here in landlocked Arkansas. 

I buy the bags of raw shrimp that are already shelled and deveined to save me a little time after cooking the shrimp. Some people will say that it is best to buy the “shell on” shrimp and that is totally fine.

But for me, I want the quality, but I also want to make this as quick and as simple as possible so I go the shell off route so I can avoid all the time peeling and cleaning the shrimp. 

How To Prepare Raw Shrimp for This Salad

The raw shrimp are ultra-easy to cook at home so don’t let them intimidate you. All you need is a pot, a stovetop, salt, and shrimp. I like to use seafood broth instead of water when I cook the shrimp but if you don’t have it go ahead and use water.  

Once you get the seafood broth or water boiling add in the raw shrimp and cook them until they are beautifully pink. They only need to cook until they are pink and cooked through! Which is about 2-3 minutes. 

As soon as the shrimp are beautifully pink, you will need to remove them from the pot and drop them into a large bowl of ice water to cool them off quickly.

This step may seem a little extra, but it will stop the cooking process and prevent the shrimp from being tough. It also helps cool them down so they are ready to add to your other cold ingredients in the salad. 

With the shrimp now cooked, the hard part is over. But can we really call it hard since it only took us roughly 3 minutes in total?  

Now you are ready to throw this delicious salad together. The faster you do this, the faster this salad can get in your belly!

Making The Shrimp Salad

I like the flavor and texture of the larger shrimp, so I use the ones that are usually labeled as “medium” or “large” and cut them into bite-sized chunks.

That way they are easier to eat but you can see that it is pieces of shrimp in each amazing bite.

Traditional salads like this will typically call for chopped celery and if that is your preference then you can swap out the bell pepper for celery. My husband and son are not big fans of celery so we go the pepper route. 

After you have your shrimp cooked (if you go the raw route) you will cut them up just as you would with the fully cooked shrimp.

Then you add them to the bowl and then stir in all the other ingredients. Make sure you combine the shrimp and creamy dressing thoroughly before placing the dish into the refrigerator to chill. 

I usually can have this salad mixed up in about 30 minutes if I use the fully cooked frozen, and maybe about an hour if I decide to use the raw and cook them myself.

Because they need to chill for 30 minutes after it is mixed and before you serve them.

What are some helpful tips for making The Best Shrimp Salad?

• Salt the water if you use it instead of seafood stock when you cook the shrimp. You need the salt, it adds a ton of flavor to the shrimp as they cook. Omit the salt if you go with broth.
• Do not skip the ice bath or the shrimp may overcook and get tough. This is important!
• To make this recipe even faster you can choose to use precooked shrimp that are peeled and deveined already, just know they tend to have a bit more chew to them. Some people state they can even be tough and have less flavor. However,  I’ve made this salad a few times with them and while it is better with freshly cooked, it was still tasty and it cuts the recipe time in half. 
• Let the shrimp salad chill as long as you can, preferably for a couple of hours for the best flavor profile. If there’s any leftover on day two you’ll see how much better the salad tastes. The salad does tend to get a bit runnier the longer it stays in the fridge so I suggest eating it within 2-3 days. 

Yield: 6 Servings

Shrimp Salad

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Additional Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

A delicious cold seafood salad that is loaded with juicy shrimp, chopped green onions and some yellow bell peppers combined with a creamy and flavorful dill mayo dressing.

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Ingredients

• 2 pounds of cooked and peeled shrimp
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 of a small yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 2/3 cup of real mayo
• 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of dill weed
• 1 teaspoon of dry parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• salt and pepper to your taste

Instructions

1. If you are using frozen fully cooked shrimp, let it thaw and pat it dry before going on with the recipe.
2. If you are working with raw shrimp you need to add the water (or seafood broth if using it) to a large pot. Bring the liquid to a boil and add the raw shrimp into the water.
3. Boil the shrimp just until they are pink, this usually takes about 2-3 minutes of boiling.
4. Once the shrimp are pink and cooked, remove them from the cooking liquid and place them into a bowl of ice water. When they are cooled drain them well.
5. Once the shrimp is ready it is time to mix up the salad. Depending on the size of the shrimp you've chosen you can add them whole or you can chop them into bite-sized pieces.
6. Add the shrimp and all of the other ingredients into a large bowl and mix well until it is fully combined.
7. This salad is ready to serve right away but it will taste even better if it chills first. I suggest at least 30 minutes.
8. Serve by placing 1/3 cup of the shrimp salad into crisp lettuce cups or onto your choice of sandwich bread or rolls.
9. Store any leftovers in a airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Nutrition Information

Yield

6

Serving Size

6 ounces
Amount Per ServingCalories 360Total Fat 21.5gSaturated Fat 2.7gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 18.8gCholesterol 303.3mgSodium 300mgCarbohydrates 1.5gNet Carbohydrates 1.2gFiber .3gSugar 1gProtein 36.5g

I am not a nutritionist. If you have strict dietary needs I always recommend using an online nutrition calculator to calculate your totals using your exact brands you're using in this recipe as values may vary per brand.

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Keri Bucci

I am a southern girl through and through that loves to laugh, cook, read and spend time with family. My passions outside of home schooling my son are ministering to those in need and creating art in the kitchen! Every day is an adventure in our little house and I wouldn’t trade it or the chance to share here with you for anything!