Shrimp Salad The Easy Must Make Summer Salad Recipe - How To Cook Delicious Meal

This is a shrimp salad recipe you'll want to eat ALL summer long. Chilled shrimp are tossed with crisp celery and red onion, then coated in a creamy, bright, and herb-y dressing that'll keep the requests for seconds coming. 

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Prep the celery, onion, dill, and lemon

There is no doubt about it, this is a shrimp salad recipe that you guys are gonna wanna eat all summer long. Chilled shrimp are tossed with crisp celery and red onion encoded in a creamy, bright, and herby dressing that will have everyone coming back for seconds, trust me. 

It's a classic salad recipe with, of course, a Downshift ology spin that is ultra-refreshing and deliciously creamy and perfect for those sunny summer days spent outside with friends and family. So, let me show you how to make it. My favorite salad recipes are ones that are easy to make, light and fresh, and packed with flavor, and this shrimp salad recipe certainly fits that bill.

To get started, thinly slice a rib of celery about four times by sliding your knife down the length of the rib. If your celery is extra wide at the bottom, feel free to slice it another one or two times because the goal here is really small bits of celery, not big chunks.

Then just slice across for that perfectly small dice. You can use a variety of onions in this recipe. I'm opting for red onion today as I love the contrasting pop of red with the green celery, but you could also use green onion or even shallot in this recipe.

You'll need about two to three tablespoons of small-diced onion, but as usual I'm just dicing up the whole onion for the week to use in other recipes. And once that's done, I'll just set that aside for now. In terms of herbs, I love using fresh dill, but, again, this is one of those recipes that's really flexible. 

So, if you prefer another tender herb, like tarragon or parsley, feel free to use what you fancy. But either way you'll need about two tablespoons worth. Next up you'll need to zest and juice one lemon, and for an average-sized lemon, not a gigantic one like I always seem to have, that should have about one tablespoon of zest and three tablespoons of juice.

And while I know it's convenient to use jarred lemon juice in recipes and I'll even do it from time to time, when you've got a recipe as simple as this you really want each individual flavor to shine, so I definitely think fresh lemon is the way to go. 

Make the herbed mayonnaise dressing

All right, all of the prep work is done, so you can go ahead and make the herby dressing which consists of one cup of mayonnaise, three tablespoons of lemon juice, and I'm actually gonna measure out today as I know my lemon was extra-large and I don't want a watery dressing, the zest from the lemon, two tablespoons of finely chopped dill or your herb of choice, 

One tablespoon of Dijon mustard which is always a favorite for adding depth of flavor, one minced garlic clove that you can mince straight into the bowl, 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt, and a pinch or a quick twist of freshly-ground black pepper. Give that a stir to mix everything together so it's nice and creamy, and then I like to place it in the fridge while I continue with the rest of the recipe, so it stays nice and cold.

Cook the shrimp

To cook the shrimp, bring a large pot of water to a boil and grab two pounds of peeled and deveined shrimp. And would you look at that, it's my new cookbook just hanging out in the background for a not-so-subliminal hint hint if you haven't pre-ordered it yet. But back to the shrimp. 

I'm using large shrimp today which is great for serving this recipe up as a side dish or in bowls. But if you want to serve it up in lettuce sleeves, as I'll show you at the end, it's actually easier to do that with much smaller shrimp, so just keep that in mind. Once the water is boiling add the shrimp, and I should have grabbed a larger pot because it's definitely a tight fit with the shrimp.

But the good news is that they only need about two to three minutes to fully cook once they're immersed in the boiling water. So, while the shrimp are cooking prepare an ice water bath by filling a bowl with chunks of ice and cold water.

And because I'm two for two with pots and bowls too small today, I should have grabbed a bigger bowl for the ice water bath as well, but you'll see that for yourself in just a second. When the shrimp are done, they should be cooked through, and bright pink and I just like to use a skimmer to remove them to the ice water bath.

And because I clearly don't have a big enough bowl, I'm just gonna top it off with more ice and water. But you can just let the shrimp hang out in the ice water bath for about three to four minutes or until they're cold then drain them in a colander and then let them drip dry for a few seconds. 

Mix together the shrimp salad ingredients

Add the shrimp to a large mixing bowl, and finally I grabbed a bowl that was big enough today, then add the finely diced celery, two tablespoons of finely diced red onion, though feel free to add a bit more if you are an onion lover, and then pour in the herby mayonnaise dressing. 

Give that a stir to make sure each little shrimp is fully coated and then transfer the shrimp salad to a serving bowl. And pro tip to make your salads present beautifully, always save a little bit of the celery, red onion, and dill to sprinkle on top.

Serve the shrimp salad with lettuce leaves

Even though it will taste delicious either way, we eat with our eyes first and it's much better to feast our eyes on a bright and colorful salad than one that's just a muted white mayonnaise color. If you're serving this shrimp salad up into lettuce sleeves you can use butter lettuce, romaine, or green leaf lettuce, they all work. Just remember to wash the leaves once you remove them from the bunch. 

Then scoop a few spoonsful of the shrimp salad on top of each lettuce sleeve. And now you can see why I recommended smaller shrimp if you want to add them to the lettuce sleeves as they'll be more bite-sized than this. But once you're done wrap it up like a taco, do your darndest to not drip the dressing down your front, and then enjoy.

You could also do a little happy dance because it tastes so darn good. I hope you guys enjoyed today's receipes, and if you did, make sure to give it a thumbs up, as that tells the YouTube algorithm oh hey, I like her recipes. Share it with your family and friends if you think they'd love this recipe as well.