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Shrimp Taco Salad — With homemade marinade + dressing

Today’s 30 minute Shrimp Taco Salad recipe is a hearty & colorful dinner salad that fills you up — without being too heavy on a hot summer’s day!

Who’s up for an easy 30 minute Shrimp Taco Salad recipe today? Your homemade dressing here does double duty as a marinade for the shrimp, bringing a lovely taco lime flavor to everything. This recipe is also so easy to customize to everyone in the family’s taste — just put out the shrimp, lettuce, and all of the toppings and let each person customize his or her own bowl.

bag of shrimp

I decided to update my super old shrimp taco salad marinade/dressing recipe after running across bags of peeled & deveined wild caught Gulf shrimp on special buy at ALDI this week. I’ve been looking for more U.S. caught & processed seafood there, so pretty much felt compelled to support them by buying it. (At least, that’s my excuse — Plus, don’t they look just so good?!)

It’s hot outside this week, and a big, cool, and colorful dinner salad that combines veggies, black beans, cheese, avocado, and more let me stretch a 12 oz bag of decently sized shrimp to feed a whole family, in quite the fitting summertime way.

bowl of shrimp taco salad

There were 26 good-sized shrimp in my bag here, giving each person 6-7 to top their taco salad, while the black beans add an extra pop of filling protein. Such a simple & delicious weeknight dinner idea!

Shrimp Taco Salad

Ingredients

– for the marinade/dressing

1/2 cup olive oil
Juice of 2 small limes
1 Tbsp hot sauce (I used chipotle Cholula)
1 Tbsp red or white wine vinegar
2 tsp honey
1.5 tsp minced garlic (about 3 cloves)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
Black pepper, to taste
Sea salt, to taste

– for the taco salad

12 oz raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 Tbsp olive oil
12 oz garden salad
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 can black beans, rinsed and rained
1 avocado, chopped
1/4 medium yellow onion, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
Tri-colored tortilla strips, to taste
Shredded cheese, to taste

Directions

Thaw and drain the shrimp. (Refrigerate them earlier in the morning to thaw gradually, or place in a colander and run under cold water until thawed.) Peel and de-vein, if needed.

marinade + dressing

Make your marinade by adding all of the marinade/dressing ingredients to a small food chopper. Pulse until just combined.  (I used my favorite mini food chopper for this — it’ll chop up the garlic for you if you’re using whole cloves, and also has a handy lid so that you can just remove the blade and pop the whole container into the fridge to save any leftovers or to chill while you make the rest of your meal.)

Toss the thawed shrimp in two Tbsp of the marinade and let it marinate for about 5 minutes, reserving the rest of the marinade to use as salad dressing. While the shrimp is marinating, start chopping vegetables for the salad.

Once shrimp is marinated, heat one Tbsp olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat for one minute. Cook the marinated shrimp in olive oil over medium high heat until pink & opaque, about two minutes per side (being careful not to overcook).

taco salad with shrimp

Divide the garden salad equally between four plates, then top each with cooked shrimp and all other salad toppings. Serve the shrimp taco salads with the reserved dressing (stir to recombine, because it will separate), plus additional lime wedges.

Note: This marinade/dressing is fairly mild, so if you’d like your shrimp to have a little more kick you can season it with a little extra chili powder or cayenne before cooking. You can play with the toppings to suit your own tastes, too: Throw in some corn or bell pepper or pico de gallo, for instance, or substitute blue corn tortilla chips for the strips.

A perfect combination of tastes and textures

shrimp taco salad recipe

The best taco salads sport a lot of stuff, and a lot of colors. Check, and check! Some fresh corn would also be lovely in here, but my ALDI didn’t have any in stock the other day — it’s apparently been a bad year for corn, what with all the crazy weather. The tangy, lime-y marinade + dressing pulls the whole salad together, and it’s so easy to make this shrimp taco salad recipe your own by swapping in your own favorite toppings. Hope you enjoy it as much as my family did. 🙂

Shrimp Taco Salad, printable recipe

Shrimp Taco Salad

Today’s Shrimp Taco Salad recipe is a hearty & colorful dinner salad that fills you up — without being too heavy on a hot summer’s day!
Course dinner
Cuisine salad
Keyword 30 minute meals, dinner salad, salad, shrimp, shrimp taco salad, taco salad
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients

for the marinade/dressing

  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 2 small limes juice of
  • 1 Tbsp hot sauce (I used chipotle Cholula)
  • 1 Tbsp red or white wine vinegar
  • 1.5 Tbsp minced garlic about 3 cloves
  • 2 tsp honey
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder
  • Sea salt to taste
  • Black pepper to taste

for the taco salad

  • 12 oz raw shrimp peeled & deveined
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 12 oz garden salad
  • 1 pint grape tomatoes halved
  • 1 can black beans rinsed & drained
  • 1 avocado chopped
  • 1/4 medium yellow onion chopped
  • 4 green onions chopped
  • Tri-colored tortilla strips to taste
  • Shredded cheese to taste

Instructions

  • Thaw and drain the shrimp. (Refrigerate them earlier in the morning to thaw gradually, or place in a colander and run under cold water until thawed.) Peel and de-vein, if needed.
  • Make your marinade by adding all of the marinade/dressing ingredients to a small food chopper. Pulse until just combined.  (I used my favorite mini food chopper for this — it’ll chop up the garlic for you if you’re using whole cloves, and also has a handy lid so that you can just remove the blade and pop the whole container into the fridge to save any leftovers or to chill while you make the rest of your meal.)
  • Toss the thawed shrimp in two Tbsp of the marinade and let it marinate for about 5 minutes, reserving the rest of the marinade to use as salad dressing. While the shrimp is marinating, start chopping vegetables for the salad.
  • Once shrimp is marinated, heat one Tbsp olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat for one minute. Cook the marinated shrimp in olive oil over medium high heat until pink & opaque, about two minutes per side (being careful not to overcook).
  • Divide the garden salad equally between four plates, then top each with cooked shrimp and all other salad toppings. Serve the shrimp taco salads with the reserved dressing (stir to recombine, because it will separate), plus additional lime wedges.

Notes

This marinade/dressing is fairly mild, so if you’d like your shrimp to have a little more kick you can season it with a little extra chili powder or cayenne before cooking. You can play with the toppings to suit your own tastes, too: Throw in some corn or bell pepper or pico de gallo, for instance, or substitute blue corn tortilla chips for the strips.

Recipes in the real world

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Recipe Rating




Michelle

Tuesday 12th of January 2021

SOOOOO good! Husband and son said 'needs to be in regular rotation'. The only negative is that there weren't any leftovers. lol

jane

Tuesday 9th of July 2019

This looks great! Perfect for hot summer days. :D

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