This is my favorite shrimp salad recipe. It’s absolutely delicious, thanks to perfectly cooked shrimp, fresh dill, and an out of this world homemade dressing.
This is the best shrimp salad I’ve made in a long time. Our easy poaching method guarantees perfectly cooked shrimp, and the simple lemon and dill dressing makes this salad insanely good.
This cold shrimp salad keeps in the fridge for three days, which is perfect since it is amazing for lunch the next day! I can’t wait for you to try this recipe. It’s a keeper! For more easy shrimp recipes, see my easy shrimp scampi or this fresh shrimp ceviche.
Key Ingredients
- Shrimp: For the best results, 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!
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
Tips for Making Our Favorite Shrimp Salad
Tip 1: Poach your shrimp. You can use pre-cooked shrimp or cook them yourself. We highly recommend poaching the shrimp for the most flavorful and perfectly textured salad, it only takes a few minutes. To poach the shrimp, I follow a similar process to poaching chicken:
- Bring water to a boil with a few aromatics (garlic, lemon, and salt).
- Once it boils, 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. Note that in the photo below and in our video, I am using Patagonia pink shrimp, which are pink when raw and when cooked.
Tip 2: Let your salad sit. You will toss your poached shrimp with mayonnaise, lemon juice, dill, bell pepper, celery, green onion, salt, and pepper. 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).
Serving Suggestions
I love serving shrimp salad with saltine crackers, but you can enjoy it in so many different ways. Add to buttered rolls for a sandwich (like a lobster roll), roll up in flour tortillas, or spoon into lettuce like we do for this shrimp salad on endive.
More Shrimp Recipes
The Best Shrimp Salad
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This is the best shrimp salad we’ve made! It’s also very simple to make.
You have the option to 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.