This kickin’ Shrimp Salad Recipe is perfection for quick meals and snacking. In it, tender cooked shrimp is dressed with a creamy homemade lemon dill dressing. It’s embellished with celery, red bell pepper and red onion to enhance the flavor. Topped with a sprinkling of fresh dill it’s fantastic served as an appetizer, on croissants and crostini or turned into lettuce wraps for quick meals.

Ingredients You’ll Need to Make Southern Shrimp Salad Recipe

Seafood salads are super simple to make, but are sometimes thought of as a dining out treat. Seafood can be pricey for everyday meals, I totally understand. That said, when I can get my hands on fresh shrimp at a great price, it’s a thrill to turn it into some our family favorite dishes. There’s nothing more satisfying to my family than a fun shrimp boil, cole slaw topped crispy shrimp rolls or homemade shrimp and grits for supper. I never have to announce that supper is ready twice. Shrimp salad can be dressed up or down according to your taste and the simple preparation makes it suitable for busy day meals. Key ingredients you’ll need to make simple Southern Shrimp Salad: (Scroll down for full printable recipe card.)

Shrimp: 1 1/2 pounds of large raw shell on shrimp that are deveined.
Water: Two quarts of water to boil the shrimp.
Seafood Seasoning: Two teaspoons seafood seasoning i.e. Seafood Magic or Old Bay,
Salt: To season the water to cook the shrimp.
Shrimp Salad Dressing: Mayonnaise, Dijon mustard or Creole mustard, lemon juice, fresh dil, seafood seasoning, white wine or rice wine vinegar, garlic salt or garlic powder, minced red bell pepper, minced celery, minced onion or shallots, black pepper or lemon pepper. Add a few dashes of hot sauce to your taste.

How to Make the Best Shrimp Salad Recipe

Boil Seasoned Water – Add the water, seafood seasoning and salt to a deep pot. Bring to a boil.
Shrimp – Add the shrimp. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until the shrimp are opaque and the shells turn pink. Remove from the heat and drain in a colander. Peel and cool.
Make Dressing – In a medium-size mixing bowl whisk together the mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice, dill, vinegar, seafood seasoning, garlic salt, pepper and hot sauce until fully combined.
Combine – Add the shrimp, celery, red pepper, onion and hot sauce. Toss the shrimp mixture until evenly coated.
Refrigerate – Chill for at least 3-4 hours in the fridge to allow the flavors to fully marry.
Serve – Serve on crackers, buns, lettuce or celery for snacking.

Tips for Making Shrimp Salad

Kitchen Tools You’ll Need: Large pot, measuring cups and spoons, sharp knife and cutting board and large bowl.
Use a Quality Seafood Seasoning that You Enjoy: What’s the best seafood seasoning to use for shrimp salad? You can use old bay seasoning or seafood magic seasoning or your favorite seafood seasoning blend.
Make-Ahead Tip: You can make the dressing one day in advance chill it until you’re ready to toss with the cooked shrimp.
Southern Shrimp Salad Serving Options: Serve shrimp salad on rolls as a shrimp salad sandwich, scoop onto butter lettuce or green leaf lettuce and enjoy it as a lettuce wrap or simply on a bed of lettuce with tomato as a light meal. Serve it stuffed into celery stalks as an appetizer.
Pasta: You can also transform this into a pasta salad adding 8 ounces of cooked macaroni.

Recipe Variations

Mayonnaise: Mayo is a major ingredient in the dressing. You can adjust the amount of mayo to suit your taste using more or less. I don’t recommend Miracle Whip.
Fresh Herbs: You can garnish Southern Shrimp Salad with dill, basil, fresh herbs, parsley or green onions.
Seasonings: If you don’t have garlic salt you can use garlic powder and table salt.
Water Substitution: You could boil the shrimp in seafood stock.

Storage and Leftovers

Leftovers: Store leftover shrimp salad in an airtight container chilled in the fridge for up to 3 days. Seafood salad shouldn’t be kept longer than 3 days.
Freezer: I don’t recommend freezing shrimp salad as the dressing will change texture and become watery when thawed.

More Southern Style Shrimp Recipes to Make

Shrimp seems to be one of our go-to seafood meals to make at home. It cooks quickly and is readily available either fresh, frozen and cooked. More shrimp recipes you may like to try:

My Kickin’ Shrimp Dip is ideal for summer and holiday entertaining served with crackers or crostini.
You’ll love my Shrimp Po’Boy Recipe for dinner and entertaining.
Give wings a break and enjoy this Buffalo Shrimp Recipe, instead. It packs a ton of flavor and they’re fun to eat!
Easy Cajun seasoned Air Fryer Shrimp cook in no time flat.
My recipe for Shrimp Fried Rice is certain to become a favorite.
Throw down a homestyle shrimp boil any night of the week with this Slow Cooker Shrimp Boil.
Handheld Shrimp Fritters from Rasa Malaysia for parties and small bite gatherings.

Thanks for visiting come back soon!

Disclosure ~ If a purchase is made using one of the affiliate links on this website we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you!

Helpful Kitchen Items:

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate this Recipe

No ratings yet