Mediterranean Shrimp Salad is a lovely and light fresh salad that combines avocado, tomatoes, bits of purple onions, and cooked shrimp with a light homemade lemon vinaigrette. This seafood salad recipe makes enough for 6 servings, but you may not want to share after you taste it.
A bit back I made a lovely cucumber avocado and tomato salad that was just so light and fresh. To be honest, I can think of an excuse to eat avocado just about any day of the week. Its the one veggie that is good in tacos, salads, on top of chicken or smashed up into guacamole.
Literally avocado might be the perfect food. I always think of that salad as a fresh summer salad, a great side dish at a picnic. Its not too filling, it has fresh veggies, this salad is also a totally low carb recipe.
But recently at a friends, we decided to overhaul the old fresh summer salad recipe into a perfect side dish – with Shrimp! Whole 30 and Keto Friendly, this is a no fail, no cook side dish that can be served year round and with the added shrimp protein also makes a delicious guilt free dinner as well!
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Mediterranean Shrimp Salad Recipe
✔Cold Salad ✔ Fresh Vegetables ✔ Seafood Recipe
This salad is good…SOOOOOOOO good.
- 1 cup cooked fresh shrimp
- 3 Roma tomatoes, chopped
- 2 avocados, chopped
- 1/2 cup red onion, chopped or sliced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice salt and pepper
- fresh cilantro to taste (I used 1/3 cup chopped leaves)
RELATED SEAFOOD RECIPES: Shrimp Pasta Salad, Shrimp Dip, Shrimp Pesto Pasta, Air Fryer Salmon, Tuna Casserole
- Prepare your Shrimp– I know that shrimp can come in a can, but please do not use canned shrimp for this salad. I buy fresh shrimp right at the Seafood counter of my local grocery and in this case, to make it easy, buy the peeled and deveined shrimp. Toss a little bit of olive oil and about a 1/2 a tablespoon of butter right in your pan and sauté your shrimp till cooked. The shrimp turn the glossy uncooked color to white once ready. Do not overcook. My shrimp took approximately 6 minutes to sauté.
- Put shrimp in fridge to cool down
- Chop your veggies – First you need to peel your avocados and then chop down your avocados and tomatoes into bites. You can really adjust the level of bite you like to tiny bits or large chunks. I like to change it up depending on what I am serving this salad for. If its a side salad, i like the smaller bits of veggies but if I am serving as a meal, I like bigger bites.
- Pull your shrimp out of fridge and remove tails. You can easily slide tails off if you pay attention with how they are on and this reserves a lot of shrimp meat. If you cut the tales off, you are missing extra shrimp. It doesn’t take too long to take the tails off, just a few extra minutes.
- Chop your shrimp down into bites, I usually cut each shrimp into 3 pieces.
- In a separate bowl, add your lemon juice, olive oil and spices.
- Combine your veggies and shrimp into one bowl.
- Pour your olive oil mixture of your salad and stir.
- Add optional fresh cilantro- I would not add dried herbs to this salad.
- Season with salt and pepper.
Reasons to Fall in Love with Cold Shrimp Salad!
- This salad is a great lettuce free option that gets you down to the nitty gritty of the most delicious ingredients. No need to hide between spinach leaves here!
- You can easily whip up the shrimp ahead of time and just prep the rest of your salad when you are ready to serve.
- No Carbs! This is a pescatarian friendly, keto friendly (if you eat tomatoes, and low carb/high fat way to serve your body some nutrition
- This salad has no mayo or heavy dressing. I like to keep it simple with some olive oil and lemon and just let the rich flavors of the veggies and shrimp do the talking
- Easily adaptable! You can add cucumbers, sweet red peppers or even fresh summer corn to alter taste and color for a more robust salad.
Mediterranean Salad with Shrimp Perpetration Tips
- Easily add veggies – I really love avocado and tomatoes and my original recipe included cucumbers, which is very common in Mediterranean dishes, but to be honest, even though they were chopped up, I forgot to add them in! What resulted was a salad without them BUT it tasted great, so Ill consider it a blessing in disguise.
- Do not cut your avocados till you are ready to serve. Avocado oxidizes in the air after a bit and starts to turn brown. If you have ever had a bowl of guacamole sit out more than an hour, you already know that. Because brown food is typically unappetizing, you don’t want to make this ahead of time and cause your avocado to change colors. While it TASTES the same, its not as pretty as a presentation. Thankfully this is a cut and go salad, so the prep time is pretty minimal.
- However, you can still prep your shrimp and tomatoes. While I do not recommend that you prep that avocado till the last minute, you can make up your shrimp and cut and store your tomatoes up to a day ahead of time easily.
- Creating a whole Mediterranean Meal? Serve with my Greek Style Potatoes with Lemon
Let’s Eat Salad!
Need more amazing salad recipes to chow down on?
Make sure you try:
- Light Caprese salad with Cherry Tomatoes
- Fresh sliced Ensalada Caprese with Pear Slices
- Pea salad with red onions and mayo dressing
- Shredded Carrot salad with Raisins and Pineapple Chunks
Mediterranean Shrimp Salad
Servings: 3 cups
Mediterranean Shrimp Salad is a fresh cold seafood salad that combines the gorgeous avocado and tomato pairing with tangy red onions and sauteed cooked shrimp. Perfectly seasoned, this is a light fresh salad that makes a guilt free dinner or a simple side dish that can be ready in under 10 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked fresh shrimp
- 3 Roma tomatoes chopped
- 2 avocados chopped
- 1/2 cup red onion chopped or sliced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice salt and pepper
- fresh cilantro to taste I used 1/3 cup chopped leaves
Instructions
- Prepare your Shrimp– I know that shrimp can come in a can, but please do not use canned shrimp for this salad. I buy fresh shrimp right at the Seafood counter of my local grocery and in this case, to make it easy, buy the peeled and deveined shrimp. Toss a little bit of olive oil and about a 1/2 a tablespoon of butter right in your pan and saute your shrimp till cooked. The shrimp turn the glossy uncooked color to white once ready. Do not overcook. My shrimp took approximately 6 minutes to saute. [mv_img id="7412"]
- Put shrimp in fridge to cool down
- Chop your veggies – First you need to peel your avocados and then chop down your avocados and tomatoes into bites. You can really adjust the level of bite you like to tiny bits or large chunks. I like to change it up depending on what I am serving this salad for. If its a side salad, i like the smaller bits of veggies but if I am serving as a meal, I like bigger bites[mv_img id="7413"]
- Pull your shrimp out of fridge and remove tails. You can easily slide tails off if you pay attention with how they are on and this reserves a lot of shrimp meat. If you cut the tales off, you are missing extra shrimp. It doesn’t take too long to take the tails off, just a few extra minutes.
- Chop your shrimp down into bites, I usually cut each shrimp into 3 pieces[mv_img id="7414"]
- In a separate bowl, add your lemon juice, olive oil and spices
- Combine your veggies and shrimp into one bowl
- Pour your olive oil mixture of your salad and stir
- Add optional fresh cilantro- I would not add dried herbs to this salad
- Season with salt and pepper[mv_img id="7415"]
Video
Notes
OIL: I like to use olive oil in my salads, but if you like the flavors, sunflower oil and walnut oils work great as well and are a bit lighter in flavor
Cheese: I did not add any cheese, but FETA or Mozzarella Pearls make great choices for added cheese. Do not add shredded cheese or block cheese to this salad or it detracts from the taste
More Avocado: Yes, please! You could definitely add one more avocado to this recipe if you wanted or had one on hand
Nutrition
Serving: 1/2 cupCalories: 179kcalCarbohydrates: 9gProtein: 11gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 71mgSodium: 99mgFiber: 5gSugar: 2g
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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