This is my all-time favorite shrimp salad recipe. It’s absolutely delicious, thanks to perfectly cooked shrimp, fresh dill, and an out of this world homemade dressing. You will love it!
Watch the Video
This is the best shrimp salad I’ve made in a long time. I love serving it with saltine crackers (thanks for the suggestion, Lindsay), but it’s just as delicious in a sandwich, wrapped in flour tortillas, or served in lettuce cups.
This is a cold shrimp salad, and it keeps in your fridge for 3 days. I can’t wait until you try this recipe. It’s a keeper!
Key Ingredients
- Shrimp: For the best shrimp salad, cook your shrimp. I poach shrimp for this salad and love how gently poaching keeps the shrimp succulent. I use large shrimp and have shown how to poach shrimp them below. (You can use pre-cooked shrimp, but cooking the shrimp yourself only takes a few minutes.)
- Bell pepper, celery, and green onion: Add flavor, color, and crunch. I especially love the added sweetness of the bell pepper in this salad.
- Mayonnaise: Is the base for our creamy shrimp salad dressing. Use a good-quality store-bought brand or make your own (here’s our recipe for homemade mayo).
- Lemon juice: Keeps our salad fresh and cuts through any heaviness of the mayo.
- Dill: A classic herb with shrimp. I add a lot of dill to this salad and love it!
How to Make Shrimp Salad
To poach the shrimp, I follow a similar process to poaching chicken. You’ll start by bringing water to a boil with a few aromatics (garlic, lemon, and salt). When boiling, turn off the heat and add the shrimp. The hot water will poach large shrimp, like the shrimp shown in our photos, to perfection in approximately 3 minutes.
Next, allow the poached shrimp to cool on a plate in the refrigerator while you gather the remaining ingredients (mayonnaise, lemon juice, drill, bell pepper, celery, green onion, salt, and pepper).
Gently mix all the shrimp salad ingredients, and you’re done. If you are in a rush, enjoy the salad now but if you can wait an hour, the flavors will develop even more (I cover it and store in the fridge).
Storing Shrimp Salad
Shrimp salad lasts up to 3 days in the refrigerator. Store it in an airtight container. I love having this salad ready in the fridge for an easy lunch or dinner! We do not recommend freezing shrimp salad.
More Easy Salads
Best Shrimp Salad
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
This is the best shrimp salad recipe we’ve made! It’s also very simple to make. You can use pre-cooked shrimp from the store or cook it yourself. We highly recommend cooking the shrimp for the most flavorful and perfectly textured salad, which only takes a few minutes.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
Shrimp Salad1 pound poached shrimp, recipe below
1/2 cup finely diced red bell pepper (Half of a large pepper)
1/2 cup finely diced celery (1 large stalk)
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onion (3 to 4)
1/2 cup (100 grams) mayonnaise, try homemade mayo
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh dill
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 twists of pepper grinder
Poached Shrimp1 pound large shrimp (31-40 per pound), peeled and deveined
2 quarts water
1 lemon, cut in half
2 cloves garlic, peeled and gently smashed
1 bay leaf
3 twists pepper grinder
1 ½ tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning, optional
Directions
- Poach the Shrimp
1Add 2 quarts of water to a large pot and place it on the stove over high heat. Squeeze a little lemon juice into the water and drop the lemon halves into the pot. Add the garlic, bay leaf, pepper, salt, and Cajun seasoning. Bring the liquid to a rolling boil.
2Once the water reaches a rolling boil, remove the pot from the heat and immediately submerge the shrimp into the hot water. Poach them for three minutes.
3Using tongs or a slotted spoon, carefully transfer the cooked shrimp to a plate. Allow them to cool by placing them in the refrigerator.
- Make the Salad
1Once the shrimp have cooled, place them in a large bowl with the bell pepper, celery, green onion, mayonnaise, lemon juice, dill, salt, and pepper.
2Gently mix the ingredients until they are well combined.
3Allow the salad to sit in the refrigerator for at least one hour before serving, which allows the flavors to marinate and develop.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Bell pepper substitute: If you do not want to add bell peppers, leave them out.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
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This is out of this world delicious!!! Best shrimp salad I’ve ever had! Can’t wait to make it again, my 5 year old devoured it!!
You have made our month with this review 🙂
I am making this recipe now. The shrimp are cooling in the fridge. Thank you for sharing.
You are so welcome! 🙂
The Perfect Shrimp Salad was such a beautiful and delicious addition to our Easter lunch, perfect accompaniment to crab cakes!
This is so amazing and easy! My family and friends love it. I have made it several times and it never disappoints.
Thank you so much for coming back to leave such a kind review! 🙂
ZOWEE! Talk about yummy for the tummy. THIS is the BEST shrimp salad for salads, crackers or sandwiches. HAVE to use at least two pounds shrimp because a pound of it is eaten right after mixing
Glad you loved it. We totally agree! A double batch is recommended 🙂
I would love to try this recipe but have a question about the shrimp. Do you use fresh or already cooked. When you put it in the water to poach it looks like it is cooked. Please let me know would love to make.
Hi Linda, We used pink shrimp in the video (so they are pink when raw and when cooked). Use raw shrimp for this recipe.
This really is the BEST shrimp salad! I have made your recipe countless times for dinner. My husband and I like to eat it with fresh saltine crackers. It is so refreshing and satisfying!
Yay! We love eating this shrimp salad with saltine crackers as well 🙂
This salad is amazing! It’s easy to make and the flavors all go great together. I’ve made this salad several times and it doesn’t let any of my friends and family down. They all love it and ask for the recipe. I have served it on toasted mini sub breads and have also served it with buttery crackers. I served it as a side with a steak and another time with baked chicken thighs. It really is a versatile recipe.
We are thrilled you love it! We also love how versatile it is. You can serve this salad with anything or just serve it by itself.
Excellent poaching method! I had “extra jumbo” sized shrimp so poached for 5 min. Ate some as shrimp cocktail and will mix up the yummy-sounding salad tomorrow. All of the ingredients are right up my alley!
I was not dissapointed in the results. Very nice way to cook shrimp. I will remember this for future use. Very tasty shrimp salad. Thank you
That’s great, Michelle!
I think I went off the rail here with this recipe by adding macaroni that I cooked in the same water that the shrimp was boiled in. I also added some peas, old bay seasoning and it became a complete meal that was absolutely delicious!!! I used frozen shrimp and left it 4 minutes instead of 3 and they were perfectly cooked.
Thank you!!! I was looking to see if frozen shrimp would take longer and I’m so glad you wrote this review so I could accommodate ☺️
Absolutely incredible. Will made a million times. Served with warm flatbread. I used 16-20 per lb shrimp and cut them in half after they were poached. Loved the poaching method!
I made this salad today, and I like it.
Looks great going to make it for company this weekend.
Thank you!
Wonderful! Glad you found us.
This looks soooooooo yummy can’t wait to make it 🤤
Let us know when you do, Michelle! We love this salad.