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, drill, 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
- Cajun Shrimp
- Garlic Shrimp Scampi
- Shrimp Carbonara – seriously good!
- Shrimp Stir Fry
- 18 Easy Shrimp Recipes for Busy Weeknights
The Best Shrimp Salad
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
This is the best shrimp salad we’ve made! It’s also very simple to make. You can 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.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
Shrimp Salad1 pound poached shrimp, recipe below
½ cup finely diced red bell pepper (Half of a large pepper)
½ cup finely diced celery (1 large stalk)
½ cup thinly sliced green onion (3 to 4)
½ cup (100 grams) mayonnaise, try homemade mayo
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¼ cup roughly chopped fresh dill
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
4 twists of pepper grinder
Poached Shrimp1 pound large raw shrimp (31-40 per pound), peeled and deveined
2 quarts water
1 lemon, cut in half
2 cloves garlic, peeled and gently smashed
1 bay leaf
3 twists pepper grinder
1 ½ tablespoon salt
½ teaspoon Cajun seasoning, optional
Directions
- Poach the Shrimp
1Add 2 quarts of water to a large pot and place it on the stove over high heat. Squeeze a little lemon juice into the water and drop the lemon halves into the pot. Add the garlic, bay leaf, pepper, salt, and Cajun seasoning. Bring the liquid to a rolling boil.
2Once the water reaches a rolling boil, remove the pot from the heat and immediately submerge the shrimp into the hot water. Poach them for three minutes.
3Using tongs or a slotted spoon, carefully transfer the cooked shrimp to a plate. Allow them to cool by placing them in the refrigerator.
- Make the Salad
1Once the shrimp have cooled, place them in a large bowl with the bell pepper, celery, green onion, mayonnaise, lemon juice, dill, salt, and pepper.
2Gently mix the ingredients until they are well combined.
3Allow the salad to sit in the refrigerator for at least one hour before serving, which allows the flavors to marinate and develop.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Shrimp salad lasts up to 3 days in the refrigerator. Store it in an airtight container. I love having this salad ready in the fridge for an easy lunch or dinner! We do not recommend freezing shrimp salad.
- Bell pepper substitute: If you do not want to add bell peppers, leave them out.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
Delicious recipe! I made a few substitutions like minced mint instead of dill because I didn’t have at home, added grated garlic, minced shallots, s splash of sherry vinegar, and a few thai pepper for a little heat. The husband loved it! Thank you for your wonderful recipes. I make your meatloaf recipe all the time😋!
So so DELICIOUS, thank you! Had this recipe saved for some time & finally made it simply because of her look of happiness & pure satisfaction…it really is that GOOD
Med this yummy salad and added cooled orzo. We loved it and will make it often this summer!
It’s yummy just needs to double recipe for a cookout
Yum! Love the addition of orzo! Glad you loved the recipe 🙂
Truly excellent for a cool lunch or dinner on a hot Arizona day. Since I was sharing with my neighbor… I served the Shrimp Salad ( made with teeny cocktail shrimp) in jumbo, scooped out, tomatoes, on a lettuce leaf. And the marinating time was worth the wait.
Brought to dinner party everyone loved it. I used a Tbsp of dried dill weed instead of fresh, worked great. I may cut the sauce amount down a little as I found it a little too much but will definitely make again. Thanks!
You are so welcome! 🙂
I have been making this for over 50 years, and I noticed once here on Pinterest that someone had divided the mayonnaise amount in half, and substituted sour cream or yogurt for the rest of the amount. I tried it, and it’s really “lightened” the salad up! You might want to give it a try too!
Great recipe. Easy quick to make and delicious.
I made this for a crowd of 35 guys. I made it one day ahead and served it on croissants that I sliced in half and then again. 2 lbs of shrimp, defrosted and rough chopped. This was just amazing and it all disappeared.
I’m trying out this shrimp salad recipe, hope it’s tasty!😃
Yum!!! Perfect as is!
I’m going to prepare this recipe today, let you know later 😋
I made this with a few differences…..one time I just roasted the shrimp in the oven with some S&P and olive oil. When too hot for an oven, I poached in lemon juice, bay seasoning, peppercorns, bay leaf…..I let the water mixture steep before adding the shrimp. Everything else the same, but I sub capers for red pepper. Great recipe all around!
We are so happy you loved the recipe! 🙂
What about substituting sour cream for mayo and cucumber for peppers.
You can try (some readers have substituted yogurt for the mayo with success). Personally, I prefer the flavor of the mayo. Cucumber would be lovely, just keep in mind that as they sit, they will release a little moisture.
This is a new recipe for my family, but it saved my love life on a Valentine’s Day.😁 Thanks a bunch 🩷
For Superbowl party, I cut the shrimp in smaller pieces to be “cracker friendly”. A little too much liquid but it was a keeper recipe for sure.
Plan to make this for the Superbowl. But thinking I’m going to cut the shrimp into smaller pieces, at least halves so it more cracker friendly. What do you think?
Great idea!
It’s new year’s day and needed to make lunch for friends. Found this awesome recipe and used leftover shrimp from last nights feast , and it made an excellent meal to celebrate the new year highly recommend.
So happy you found us, Joanne! Happy cooking.
Extremely simple with a huge taste. I cooked my shrimp in butter and added a tsp to the mixture. Wonderful! Thank you guys!!
Made the Best Shrimp Salad, with extra sauce to serve over rice. It was a hit in our house.
I have tried several of their recipes, and i wholeheartedly recommend them.
This was excellent. Thank you for sharing with us!
Great with a bit of avocado on the side.
My whole family loves this so much! We always make it at family gatherings, and in between of course. The freshness of the dill and peppers makes this so light and refreshing. Thank you for a Great recipe!
You are so welcome! We are thrilled your family loved the recipe 🙂
Absolutely the best shirimp salad recipe I have made. Easy to made and so good I made it twice.
Easy to make and taste delicious 😋
I live on the Gulf Coast and all of my life I’ve eaten and/or made some very good shrimp salads. This one thought has me really excited to try. I’ll pick up some fresh gulf shrimp this weekend and give it a try. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe.
Will try it soon. Looks wonderful
Excellent. I substitute celery for fennel, used half of mayonnaise and half of plain Greek yogurt and also one tsp of pomegranate-quince white balsamic vinegar. Outstanding
Wow
This was so delicious and may be the best shrimp I’ve ever eaten. I loved the crunch the veggies added and the flavorful sauce. Your recipes are always great but this one is spectacular and was so easy to make.
This recipe is absolut perfection! I used fresh tyme instead of dill and LOVED the result as my husband doesn’t like dill. This is the perfect dish to bring to a party and makes for a quick and easy low carb meal. Sooo good.
Growing up on the Washington and Oregon Coast, my Mom made this all the time. She also made macaroni salad using tiny bay shrimp, and this same, basic recipe. Thank you!
I live just north of Seattle and agree! We often have great shrimp lunches and dinners. I love large and extra large shrimp, so much flavor! Will try this recipe for hot day for dinner. News at 11! Actually after dinner at 5
I can’t find fresh dill here. How much dried dill would I use, is it just to taste or do you know and aount?
About a tablespoon.
How many does this recipe serve?
About 4, and possibly a bit more if you chop the shrimp and serve as an appetizer with other dishes.
Food 4 the belly!