Shrimp Salad

The following post and Shrimp Salad recipe is from my good friend Shirley who blogs at Gluten Free Easily. Shirley loves educating people about being gluten free, and she focuses on eating “real food” as opposed to a lot of processed foods. You’ll find plenty of delicious and easy gluten-free recipes on her site.

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I’m all about chilled dishes in the summer. Shrimp Salad is one that I depend on as a go-to meal when I want to avoid turning on the oven. It’s a very simple but very satisfying seafood salad. Shrimp and four more ingredients – that’s it.

This recipe is also naturally gluten free, as long as you ensure all the ingredients are gluten free. In other words, don’t let someone in your house sneak a gluten-contaminated utensil into your safe jar of mayonnaise or pickle relish. If you have a “shared” household (with gluten-free and gluten-full food items), be sure to have your own dedicated and labeled gluten-free condiments.

While this recipe requires cooked shrimp, I simply make large batches of my Easy Oven-Steamed Shrimp on our grill (with the lid closed) to keep the heat out of our kitchen. Or just as often I use leftover steamed shrimp from eating out. (Sometimes I even get an extra pound of steamed shrimp to go just so I can make this shrimp salad later.)

The steamed shrimp I make or get while eating out is also usually seasoned – typically with Old Bay and/or pickling spices, for example. But the seasoned shrimp still works just fine in this recipe.

Of course, you can also buy cooked shrimp at the grocery store if you like. The frozen cooked shrimp often goes on sale and (bonus!) it’s already peeled. The pre-cooked shrimp is typically not seasoned at all, so you’ll probably want to increase the seasoning in this recipe if you use it.

While I prefer to eat this Shrimp Salad as a salad with a fork – often on a lettuce leaf – it’s also terrific on bread as a sandwich filling, of course. When I’m making the salad for a sandwich, I cut the shrimp into smaller pieces so the salad will easily stay on the bread. I also cut the shrimp into smaller pieces when I’m using the salad to fill my Easy and Elegant Party Puffs.

However, a chunkier version (as shown) is what I use when I’m eating it as is. I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy this Shrimp Salad either way!