Avocado Shrimp Salad
I created this recipe almost 10 years ago and it has been amazingly popular ever since I shared it. My readers love how easy it is and how delicious it is. The secret is is the flavor added to the shrimp while cooking!
You can enjoy this shrimp salad as a sandwich, in stuffed avocados, over a simple salad or as a side dish. You can also try it in tacos or lettuce wraps for something a little different! It’s a perfect salad to serve at barbecues because it will add a beautiful fresh touch to hot, smoky grilled meats and veggies.
The very best part? Cold shrimp salad is so easy to make! It takes just about 20 minutes to prepare the salad itself. The only part that will require a little bit of patience on your end is waiting for it to chill in the refrigerator for an hour. The wait is well worth it, though!
Tips To Make The Best Shrimp Salad
- Cook the shrimp yourself! This may be an extra step but it’s fast and give the shrimp SO much more flavor! This is my “not so secret” secret to the best shrimp salad!
- Clean and de-vein shrimp before cooking! Shrimp has to be cleaned and deveined before cooking because that dark “vein” that you see running along the back of shrimp is actually the digestive tract. It’s important to clean that out because there might be traces of sand and dirt in it along with whatever the shrimp ate.
- Cool the Shrimp – cool the shrimp to room temperature and either make the shrimp salad right away or store the cooked shrimp in the refrigerator and make the salad the next day.
- PRO TIP: mix gently the salad and try not to mash the avocado! Use a folding technique rather than fast mixing.
Can I Use Precooked Shrimp?
I get this question pretty often. The answer is “yes, but I don’t want you to lose some of the flavor!” Cooking shrimp yourself in seasoned water will infuse shrimp with flavor. If you get the precooked plain shrimp that is meant for being served with cocktail sauce, the salad won’t have nearly as much flavor.
How To Tell If Avocado Is Ripe
- Give the avocado a gentle squeeze – if it’s super soft, it’s over-ripe. Too hard? It’s not quite ripe enough yet.
- Look at the color: if the color of the avocado is very light and bright green, it may not be quite ripe yet. If the color of almost black, it may be over-rips
- Try to get avocado with stem still attached. If the stem is not attached and the skin around that spot is wrinkled, it’s over-ripe.
- Avocados are infamous for being tricky, so consider buying one or two more than you need just in case.
How to Serve Shrimp Salad
- Lettuce Wraps – Use romaine lettuce leaves, iceberg lettuce leaves, or butter lettuce leaves to wrap the salad.
- Sandwich – You can serve this shrimp salad on soft brioche buns or crescent rolls.
- Salad – Top off a leafy green salad with some shrimp salad for a refreshing light dinner.
- Tortilla Wraps – Make a sandwich wrap by wrapping this salad with some lettuce, tomatoes, and feta cheese in a large flour tortilla.
- Tacos – You can also use hard or soft taco shells to make cold shrimp tacos.
Make Ahead and Storing Shrimp Salad
- Make ahead: You can definitely cook and refrigerate the shrimp ahead of time! However, don’t mix the whole salad before you’re ready to serve. If you cook the shrimp ahead, cool it completely and then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. I don’t recommend cooking shrimp more than 1 day ahead.
- Storing: This shrimp salad is packed with avocado and both shrimp and avocados don’t have long shelf life. At best, it’ll keep for 1-2 days in the refrigerator. Make sure to store it in an airtight food storage container.
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The BEST Avocado Shrimp Salad
Ingredients
Shrimp
- 1 1/2 lbs raw shrimp de-veined
- 1 lime
- 2 sprigs of dill weed
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tsp salt
- Fresh cracked black pepper
- About 2 quarts water
Shrimp Salad
- 1 ripe avocado
- 2 tsp lime juice
- 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
- 1/3 cup chopped green onion
- 3 Tbsp minced fresh dill weed
- Salt
- 1/4 cup mayo little more if you like it saucier
Instructions
- Clean and de-vein shrimp.
- Bring water to boil and add juice from lime, 1/2 of the squeezed lime, bay leaf, dill weed springs, salt, and pepper. Mix well and simmer for a few minutes.
- Add shrimp to the pot and cook until just done. (About 2-3 minutes)
- Strain off water and let shrimp cool in the strainer until easy to handle.
- Add shrimp to a mixing bowl.
- Cut, pit, and peel avocado. Dice avocado meat and add it to the bowl.
- Add diced celery, green onion, and dill weed. Sprinkle in lime juice and salt, gently mix.
- Add mayo and gently mix until all evenly coated.
- Cool for 30 minutes to an hour and serve.
- Store in the refrigerator, in an air-tight container.
Video
Notes
- Using precooked shrimp – I get this question pretty often. The answer is “yes, but I don’t want you to lose some of the flavor!” Cooking shrimp yourself in seasoned water will infuse shrimp with flavor. If you get the precooked plain shrimp that is meant for being served with cocktail sauce, the salad won’t have nearly as much flavor.
- Make ahead: You can definitely cook and refrigerate the shrimp ahead of time! However, don’t mix the whole salad before you’re ready to serve. If you cook the shrimp ahead, cool it completely and then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. I don’t recommend cooking shrimp more than 1 day ahead.
- Storing: This shrimp salad is packed with avocado and both shrimp and avocados don’t have long shelf life. At best, it’ll keep for 1-2 days in the refrigerator. Make sure to store it in an airtight food storage container.
Nutrition
More of the Salad Recipes To Try
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in June 2017.
All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
Delicious! I used 3 tbs greek yogurt and 1 tbs of mayo to make it healthier and I didn’t have lime so I used lemon. Came out amazing! This will definitely be on rotation.
Glad you liked it, Jenn!
This is one of our favorites! It is easy to prepare, and we usually have the ingredients around.
I am so glad you liked it, Cynthia!
Just finished preparing this dish.
OMG. this is a great dish.
Thank you for sharing .
I used 2avacados is the only thing I changed we love it.
Will make it often.
I am so glad you liked it, Vicki!