Our creamy cold shrimp salad with Old Bay seasoning and dill on butterhead lettuce makes for the perfect light lunch or dinner. Ready in less than 30 minutes!
Old Bay Shrimp Salad with lettuce leaves makes an easy lunch!
If there's one universal seafood seasoning that tastes amazing on just about any seafood, it's Old Bay. And our shrimp salad recipe with Old Bay is no exception!
We love to serve the cold shrimp salad on lettuce leaves for a cold work lunch or for a light summer dinner. You can serve it as a buffet salad or side dish to another seafood main dish. Our version is lighter and high protein than many recipes out there, which makes it a great option if you're trying to lose weight too.
We show you how to:
- Swap the mayo for part Greek yogurt to reduce the fat
- How to meal prep this salad for lunches
- Other healthy mix-ins to increase the nutrition even more.
We eat a lot of shrimp salad at home and I go back and forth between making our easy Old Bay shrimp salad with mayo or a light fruity Mexican shrimp salad when the weather warms up. It's super simple to buy a frozen bag and shrimp and boil them from frozen for putting together quick salads like these.
Ingredients list
- Raw shrimp - Fresh shrimp or frozen shrimp (defrosted). Try to buy shrimp that's already peeled and deveined to save you time. If you have pre-cooked shrimp you can just defrost them and skip boiling.
- Finely chopped red onion - Green onion are a nice substitute
- Celery stalks
- Mayonnaise - To swap some of the mayo for Greek yogurt (no-fat or any you prefer), replace ¼ cup of the mayo with Greek yogurt. Because yogurt is tart, reduce the lemon juice to 2 tablespoons, and also add a pinch of sweetener to the dressing.
- Lemon juice - Fresh lemon juice or bottled lemon juice will both work.
- Chopped fresh dill - Fresh herbs like chopped parsley will also do.
- Dijon mustard
- Minced garlic - Fresh garlic cloves or jar minced garlic is best. Garlic powder can be used in place of fresh.
- Fine sea salt & ground black pepper
- Old Bay seasoning
- Garnish - Fresh chopped dill
** Please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the exact quantities **
Recipe Variations
Southwest flare: Add roasted corn and black beans, and serve in lettuce leaves.
Shrimp avocado salad: Serve with slices of avocado, or serve in a halved avocado.
Add veggies: Add some crunch with chopped bell peppers, diced cucumbers, chopped pickles, carrots, or radishes
How to make healthy shrimp salad
Step 1.
Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil.
Step 2.
Start on the dressing while the water boils. Combine the mayo, lemon juice, dill, Dijon, garlic, salt, pepper, and Old Bay. Set it aside.
Step 3.
Once the water is boiling, turn the heat down to medium and add the shrimp. Cook it for 1-2 minutes until the shrimp turns pink.
Step 4.
Make a water bath. Immediately put the shrimp in a large bowl of cold water and a couple of handfuls of ice to stop them from cooking. Remove the shrimp and drain them.
Step 5.
In a medium bowl, combine the cooled shrimp, red onion, celery, and the dressing. Garnish with more fresh dill.
Serve the Old Bay shrimp salad on lettuce leaves, as a sandwich, or by itself. Enjoy!
Recipe tips
- You can also cook the raw shrimp from frozen without defrosting it first, just add an extra minute to the cooking time and cook the shrimp until pink.
- The dressing for this would also be great with tuna, salmon salad, lobster, or other types of seafood.
- Leftovers will keep 1-2 days in the fridge.
More shrimp recipes
- Shrimp Avocado Salad
- Boiled Frozen Shrimp (How to Cook Frozen Shrimp)
- Vietnamese Shrimp Spring Rolls
- Air Fryer Shrimp with Old Bay
- Broccoli Shrimp Stir Fry
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Recipe
Shrimp Salad with Old Bay and Mayonnaise
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Raw shrimp peeled and deveined, tails off
- ¼ cup Finely chopped red onion
- 2 Celery stalks finely chopped
- ½ cup Mayonnaise see note below to use ½ Greek yogurt
- 3 tablespoon fresh lemon juice from 2 lemons
- 2 tablespoons Chopped fresh dill
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon Minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon Fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon Fresh ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
- Garnish - Fresh chopped dill
Instructions
- Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil.
- Start on the dressing while the water boils. In a small bowl, combine the mayo, fresh lemon juice, fresh dill, mustard, garlic, salt, pepper, and Old Bay seasoning. Set it aside.
- Make an ice bath: In a large bowl add cold water and a couple of handfuls of ice.
- Once the water is boiling, turn the heat down to medium and the shrimp. Cooke it for 1-2 minutes until the shrimp turn pink
- Add the shrimp to the ice bath immediately to stop the shrimp from cooking. Remove the shrimp and drain them.
- In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the cooled shrimp, the chopped red onion, the celery, and the dressing. Garnish with more fresh dill.
- Serve the shrimp salad on lettuce leave or by itself. Enjoy!
Notes
- To swap some of the mayo for Greek yogurt (no-fat or any you prefer), replace ¼ cup of the mayo with Greek yogurt. Because yogurt is tart, reduce the lemon juice to 2 Tbsp, and also add a pinch of sweetener to the dressing.
- You can also cook the raw shrimp from frozen without defrosting it first, just add an extra minute to the cooking time and cook the shrimp until pink.
- Use fresh lemon juice and not concentrate for best flavor.
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