Best Shrimp Salad (Mémé’s Recipe)
This shrimp salad recipe is new on my blog, but it is actually an old recipe from my grandmother on my mom’s side. Mémé made the best shrimp salad on the earth. She had a few tricks up her sleeve that make it wonderful, and I’ll share them with you here.
You can serve this shrimp salad on its own as a light meal or appetizer. Make it a sandwich or wrap it up for a perfect picnic lunch.
Mostly when I share family recipes, I talk about my dad’s mom, my Granny Gray. But my mom’s mom had a few specialties as well. She was an amazing woman. For example, she was the vice president of an insurance company back in the 40s, which was almost unheard of for a woman back then. Mémé raised my mom and installed her with that strength, too. To all of us, she passed down some classic dishes like this shrimp salad recipe.
This is still the best shrimp salad I’ve ever had. And with a cooking time of just a few minutes, you don’t have to worry about your stove heating up the kitchen on a hot summer day.
What makes a good shrimp salad?
Freshness is the first key to this shrimp salad recipe: fresh shrimp, fresh lemon juice, and fresh herbs and aromatics. And of course, a good quality mayo, although you probably could use low-fat Greek yogurt if you want to make it lighter.
For a shrimp salad I recommend using medium sized rather than large shrimp. Adjust the cooking time (2-5 minutes) based on the size of your shrimp, with jumbo taking the longest.
An ice bath for the shrimp is also imperative. You must stop the cooking to have tender and not rubbery shrimp.
Celery and dill are a must in this recipe because they bring all the flavor out of the shrimp. For the best texture, chop all the vegetables and herbs very small. You could add finely chopped red bell pepper if you’d like.
Taste and season your shrimp salad again at the end. Every salad will need a little adjusting.
You can store fresh shrimp salad in the fridge for 3-4 days.
What goes well with this salad?
There are many delicious ways to serve up a shrimp salad: in a sandwich for lunch, wrapped in flour tortillas, or scooped onto a bed of iceberg or romaine lettuce leaves.
Shrimp salad also makes a fantastic appetizer to serve with crackers. In fact, I’m making it this weekend to serve at a fundraiser.
For a protein packed lunch, you could serve shrimp salad alongside a scoop of chicken or tuna salad. It is perfect for picnics.
Like other seafood dishes, shrimp salad goes great with hush puppies — try my no-fail recipe. Other excellent side dishes are double-fried French fries and roasted broccoli.
More Shrimp & Fish Recipes
Classic Shrimp Salad
Ingredients
- 4 pounds medium shrimp
- 3 lemons quartered for juicing
- 4 stalks celery finely chopped
- 4 tablespoons fresh dill roughly chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- ¼ red onion finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- chopped celery leaves, dill, green onion, and/or parsley for garnish
Instructions
- In a stock pot or Dutch oven, add shrimp and bring to a boil. Squeeze the juice of one lemon into the water. Boil smaller shrimp 2 to 3 minutes and larger shrimp 4 to 5. Then place the cooked shrimp in a bowl with ice and water to stop the cooking.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the juice of the other 2 lemons, celery, dill, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, mayo, and Dijon. Stir well.
- Drain the shrimp over a colander, and then add the shrimp to the mayonnaise mixture. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
