Chopped Shrimp Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

This tasty Shrimp Salad with avocado, fresh herbs, and a quick lemon dressing is the perfect way to celebrate the warm weather with a cool, refreshing, and flavor-packed meal. Shrimp is one of our go-to quick and healthy proteins and it;s often overlooked for salads. I also love this Blackened Shrimp and these Crispy Shrimp Burgers for salads.

We live about a block away from a delicious Greek restaurant, but every time we go I end up ordering their chopped shrimp salad. It’s my favorite thing on their menu even though there is really nothing Greek about it. For a few weeks now I have been trying to recreate it at home and finally hit the right combination. The key is adding lots of fresh herbs to the salad including mint, basil, parsley, chives, and dill. It’s so good when paired with the creamy avocado and sweet poached shrimp.

Since the salad itself has so much going on, it calls for a really simple dressing like this lemon vinaigrette. It’s made with mostly lemon juice and olive oil with a touch of mustard, salt, and pepper to balance out the acidity of the lemon juice. I use this dressing all the time on salads and it has become one of our family’s favorites.

Now one other important thing to note about the salad. You can use regular fresh radishes or picked radishes if you can find them. The pickled radishes (like I have in the photos) do add something special but it is just as good with a crunchy fresh radish.

What to Serve with Shrimp Salad

Although shrimp salad can easily stand on its own as a full meal, sometimes you may want to serve it with something else to create some variety. It also is great for a brunch or lunch spread.

• This salad is great served alongside a whole wheat wrap, some crunchy bread, or with some baked pita chips. 
• Soup and salad is a classic combination. Consider serving it with this healthy and light Vegetable Soup.
• If this is part of a brunch spread, consider making this Broccoli and Cheese Frittata.
• To make this salad heartier, serve it on a bed of couscous, quinoa, or brown rice.

Recipe Ideas for Shrimp Salad

There are lots of ways to customize and add to this recipe to make it work for your tastes and preferences. Here are some easy variations.

• If you don’t like shrimp, you can always substitute tuna, chicken, salmon, steak, or tofu in the salad.
• I really recommend buying all fresh herbs for this salad but if you need to cut back on costs, you can use dried dill and chives. Just reduce the amount you use and add them to the dressing instead of directly to the salad.
• Pine nuts would be amazing in this salad since they pair really well with the flavors in the herbs and dressing. I also love the crunch of some almonds or sunflower seeds.
• You can add even more veggies to this salad if you like. Try adding some purple cabbage for extra crunch, chopped beets, or blanched green beans.

What’s the best shrimp to buy for salads?

This is a time where you don’t need to splurge on the larger shrimp. Since the shrimp is chopped in the salad, I usually buy medium (31-40 count) or small (41-50 count) shrimp for this recipe. The count refers to the number of shrimp you will typically find in one pound of shrimp. Smaller shrimp are usually less expensive. One note, I wouldn’t buy bay shrimp for this recipe as they have a much different flavor and are very small.

For the easiest prep, look for raw shrimp that are shelled and deveined. Frozen is fine, just defrost them overnight in the fridge or under cold water before poaching. I do not recommend poaching frozen shrimp since the outside will overcook while the inside remains raw.

How long will this salad keep in the fridge?

This shrimp salad is best served immediately since the lettuce and fresh herbs will begin to wilt with the dressing. If you need to prep the salad ahead of time, start by poaching the shrimp and letting it cool completely. Make the dressing and store it separately. Then you can prep the veggies and store them in an airtight container with a paper towel on top to absorb the excess moisture and prevent wilting. When you are ready eat, just toss the salad together.

Looking for more shrimp recipes

• Easy Shrimp Cocktail – make the best roasted or poached shrimp cocktail with the best dipping sauce options.
• Shrimp Tacos with Avocado Slaw  – these spicy shrimp tacos take less than 20 minutes and are served with delicious avocado, cabbage, and cilantro slaw.
• Lemon Broccoli Pasta with Shrimp – this restaurant quality shrimp pasta dish has a flavor packed sauce made with garlic, lemon, and diced tomatoes.
• Kung Pao Shrimp – this classic Chinese dish is sweet, spicy, and comes together in about 15 minutes.
• Garlic Parmesan Shrimp – this roasted shrimp is packed with the flavors of lemon, garlic, and Parmesan cheese and ready in under 10 minutes.