Shrimp Salad {No Cook Dinner Idea}

This Shrimp Salad is the BEST no cook dinner idea for summer – turn it into a pasta salad or serve in brioche rolls for a filling meal.

Ingredients and substitutions

Light mayo – Greek yogurt would also work.
Sour cream – cottage cheese can be used instead of sour cream. Use low-fat sour cream for a healthier option.
Lemon juice – fresh lemon juice is recommended but bottled lemon or even lime juice can be used in a pinch.
Dill – fennel, thyme, rosemary or parsley are all great alternatives.
Chives – double up on the green onions or leave these out entirely.
Salt & pepper – to taste.
Cooked shrimp – cocktail shrimp, defrosted cooked frozen shrimp or freshly cooked shrimp would all work for this recipe.
Celery stalks – bell peppers would also add a bit of crunch or you can leave this out altogether.
Green onions – use extra chives or leave these out.

To serve

Brioche buns – feel free to use any type of bun of your choice.
Boston leaf lettuce – romaine or iceberg lettuce would also be good for lettuce wraps.
Potato chips – serve with your favourite chips like kettle chips.

How to make shrimp salad

Mix together the mayo, sour cream, lemon juice, herbs, salt and pepper.
Toss the shrimp, celery and onions in the mixture.
Let it soak up the flavours.
Serve on its own, in brioche buns or with chips!

What to serve with shrimp salad

Shrimp salad is a no cook dinner dream! It comes together quickly and is a delicious summer recipe to take to summer BBQs, potlucks or picnics. If you're looking to bring this shrimp salad at your next gathering, here are some great ideas for what to serve it with:

Brioche buns, beer and kettle chips: get the full summer experience by making faux lobster rolls with this shrimp salad. Pair with kettle chips and a cold beer to complete the meal.
Low carb lettuce wraps: scoop the shrimp salad into Boston leaf lettuce (or another lettuce of your choice) for a light meal!
Crackers: add crunchy texture to this dish by scooping your salad with buttery crackers or simply enjoy the crackers alongside your shrimp salad.
Avocado: serve your shrimp salad into the halves of an avocado. The creaminess of the avocado is the perfect pair to this dish.
Pasta: create a hearty pasta salad by adding cooked pasta to the shrimp salad. Bowtie pasta, rotini, rigatoni and penne would all be delicious!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is shrimp salad made of?

Shrimp salad is typically made of cooked shrimp, mayonnaise, lemon juice and herbs. For this recipe, I used light mayo to cut down on calories, sour cream, lemon juice, dill, chives, salt and pepper, cooked shrimp and celery stalks and green onions for a bit of crunch.

How many calories are in this recipe?

This recipe has 191 calories per serving. It’s a great low-calorie lunch or side dish idea!

How do you cook the shrimp?

For this recipe to truly be a “no cook” salad, you can use frozen cooked shrimp. All you have to do is defrost the bag of shrimp in the fridge overnight. If you forget to move your frozen shrimp the the fridge the night before, you can defrost the shrimp under the sink by running the bag under cold water for 10-20 minutes. You can also use cocktail shrimp if you'd like but this tends to be more expensive to purchase. If you can't find pre-cooked shrimp, you can boil raw shrimp in a pot on the stove for 2 minutes until shrimp is just cooked all the way through. You'll know it's cooked once it turns pink.

Storing and reheating

This shrimp salad will last in the fridge for up to 5 days. Since this salad is made with fresh mayo and has seafood, you won't want to keep it in the fridge any longer than that. To store your shrimp salad in the fridge, transfer the leftover salad immediately into an airtight container and then place it into the fridge.

If you want to enjoy this salad in lettuce wraps or in a brioche bun, you will still want to store the shrimp salad separately and serve it in any style you prefer when you're ready to enjoy! This salad is meant to be eaten cold so you don’t need to worry about reheating.

Freezing this recipe

Unfortunately, this shrimp salad won’t freeze very well. However, if you cooked fresh shrimp for this recipe, you can freeze the cooked shrimp for up to 3 months in airtight glass containers or freezer-safe Ziploc bags! Just keep in mind that once shrimp has been defrosted, it cannot be refrozen. So if you’re using defrosted cooked shrimp for this recipe, you can’t refreeze it.

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Meal prep tools for this recipe

Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you want to store this salad in the fridge.

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