Mediterranean Shrimp Salad Recipe (2024)

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Mediterranean Shrimp Salad is a lovely and light fresh salad that combines fresh avocado, tomatoes, bits of tangy purple onion, and delicious cooked shrimp with a light homemade lemon vinaigrette.

This seafood salad recipe makes enough for six servings, but you may not want to share any at all after you taste it!

Whole 30 and keto-friendly, this no-fail, no-cook shrimp side dish can be served year-round and, with the added shrimp protein, also makes a delicious guilt-free dinner!

RELATED SEAFOOD RECIPES: Shrimp Pasta Salad, Shrimp Dip, Shrimp Pesto Pasta, Air Fryer Salmon, Tuna Casserole

How to make Mediterranean Shrimp Salad.

• 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 store, and in this case, to make it easy, I 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 the 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 changing it depending on what I am serving this salad for. If it’s a side salad, I like the smaller bits of veggies, but I like bigger bites if I am serving shrimp salad as a meal.
• Pull your shrimp out of the fridge and remove shrimp tails. You can easily slide tails off if you pay attention to 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.
• Add lemon juice, olive oil, and spices in a separate bowl
• Combine the vegetables and shrimp in one bowl.
• Pour your olive oil mixture onto your salad and stir.
• Add optional fresh cilantro- I would not add dried herbs to this salad.
• Season the entire salad generously with salt and pepper.

Reasons to Fall in Love with Cold Shrimp Salad!

1. This salad is a great lettuce-free option that gets down to the nitty-gritty of the most delicious ingredients. No need to hide between spinach leaves here!
2. You can easily whip up the shrimp ahead of time and just prep the rest of your saladwhen you are ready to serve.
3. 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
4. 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
5. Easily adaptable! Add cucumbers, sweet red peppers, or fresh summer corn to alter taste and color for a more robust salad.

Mediterranean Salad with Shrimp Preparation 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 I’ll 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, it’s not as pretty as a presentation. Thankfully this is a cut-and-go shrimp salad recipe, so the prep time is 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 easily make up your shrimp and cut and store your tomatoes up to a day ahead of time.
• Creating a whole Mediterranean Meal? Serve with a side of Greek Style Potatoes with Lemon.

Let’s Eat More Salad!

Need more amazing salad recipes to chow down on? Make sure you try:

• Caprese salad with Cherry Tomatoes
• Ensalada Caprese with Pear
• Pea salad
• Carrot salad with Raisins