Shrimp avocado salad a wonderfully satisfying main course meal. Crunchy, sweet, sour and nutty. This colorful salad explodes with flavors and textures. At the same time, it brings together luscious greens, sweet peppers, scallions, peanuts and creamy avocados with a perfectly crafted dressing.
If you are a shrimp lover, then you will love this recipe. It is:
- Lean protein.
- Crunchy, colorful and yummy.
- Healthy and satisfying.
- Dairy free.
- Gluten free.
- Easy to make with commonly available ingredients.
- Best for a cozy meal at home.
My seafood addiction needs to be known. It is an obsession. Where I live in Pennsylvania, I am far from fresh fish markets. I easily get tired of salmon and tilapia. And I sometime drive hours for getting some fresh seafood in my belly. I love shrimp. And anything that’s made with shrimp. I have been juicing strawberries, pineapple and blue berries for the last two weeks. With all the fresh summery fruits around, how can you not right?! And now I am kind of off that wagon and want some healthy summery protein! Shrimp in a buttery sauce or on a skewer sounds great! Something juicy and light. May be something sweet and savory. Creamy avocados? May be some nuts and fresh veggies in a shrimp salad ? That will be amazing!
I just described above, how my food brain works. I made this shrimp salad for my husband. He had a stressful day at work and called me to say he is hungry. This is a pretty normal thing in our household. I then run to the kitchen and whip up something. We usually stay home with our home cooked meals and call it an evening after a long day at work. I love cooking for him, something I really love to do. Serving any dish I prepared and being able to see his happy face with every bite, is something I live for.
Shrimp avocado salad dressing:
This recipe was made with lots of love. I tried so hard to bring the flavors together for a balanced recipe. Peanut butter in a dressing? Yes! nutty peanut butter with sweet honey, sour lemon juice and the umami of soy sauce made this dressing perfect for shrimp avocado salad. Finally when it was just perfect with the right amount of sweetness, saltiness, sourness, my husband was home.
Shrimp:
Really was in the mood for a crunchy, something crunchy and fun. I wanted it to go well with the crunch of nuts, crispy fresh sweet peppers and creamy avocados. I seasoned the shrimp first and then coated it with corn starch and pan fried it. The corn starch forms crunchy outsides and seal in the moisture in the shrimp. And the shrimp is well seasoned inside the crispy crunchy exterior. This created a really awesome “OMG-I-cannot-stop-eating” shrimp recipe!
Salad:
I chose a simple spring mix for the salad body. I think a mix that include kale and spinach will work perfectly here. The dressing is not watery and is kind of thick so it needs salad leaves that can stand the weight. Also, the salad dressing needs the subtle bitterness of kale and spinach to offset the dressing’s flavor combo. Peanuts, avocados and sweet peppers along with the dressing created an incredible flavor union in this simple shrimp avocado salad.
Hope you enjoy this meal and please let me know what do you think of it. If you want another delicious meal check this out!
Shrimp Avocado Salad With Sweet Sour Dressing
Shrimp avocado salad, a wonderfully satisfying main course meal. Crunchy, sweet, sour and nutty. This colorful salad explodes with flavors and textures. At the same time, it brings together luscious greens, sweet peppers, scallions, peanuts and creamy avocados with a perfectly crafted dressing.
Ingredients
For the dressing:
- 4 Tbsp Peanut butter
- 2 Tbsp Soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp Honey
- 1 Juice of one whole lime.
- 1 1/2 Tsp Chopped ginger.
For the shrimp:
- 12 Oz Large shrimp (deveined,peeled)
- 1/3 Cup Corn starch
- 1/4 Tsp Salt
- 1 Tsp Chilli powder ( or as much as your like!).
- 1 Tsp Garlich powder
- 3-4 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil.
For the salad:
- 1/2 Cup Chopped bell peppers (yellow, red and orange)
- 1 Large tomato chopped.
- 2-3 Sprigs Scallions chopped.
- 2-3 Tbsp Roasted peanuts for garnishing.
- 4 Servings of salad leaves mix of your choice.
- 1 Whole ripe avocado cubed.
Instructions
Dressing:
-
Blend all the ingredients in a blender into a smooth emulsified dressing and set aside. Easy as that! 🙂
Shrimp:
-
Preheat the oil on medium heat. Wash the shrimp and squeeze them gently to remove excess water. Mix in the dry seasonings, then set aside.
-
In a bowl take cornstarch and dump your shrimp into the cornstarch. Mix the shrimp and cornstarch from the bottom up. Lifting up shrimp from the bottom and letting it tumble and mix in the cornstarch. This should coat the shrimp without any wet spots on the shrimp.
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Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Test if the oil is properly hot, before placing the shrimp (see notes). Place the shrimp quickly, cook the shrimp 1 - 1 1/2 mins per side ( See notes). If you see uncooked spots on the curved sides of large shrimp, use a tong to pick them up and place it in oil to cook them through. This rarely happens but it does at times. Set aside the cooked shrimps, to drain the oil on a paper towel lined plate.
Salad:
-
Mix everything together except peanuts, shrimp and dressing. Then garnish it with peanuts. Pour on the delicious dressing and enjoy.
Recipe Notes
Notes:
- Make sure the oil is hot before pan frying shrimp. This is very important for this recipe to work. Oil is hot when, it easily moves around in the pan. And the oil shimmers and glistens when it is properly heated. You can also test the oil by dropping in a tiny bit of cornstarch, if it sizzles, then the oil is ready.
- Make sure to start flipping the shrimps you placed first, otherwise they will be overcooked.
- In our household we eat a lot of avocados. May be a bit too many. But recommended portion of avocados is 1/3 of avocado per person.
- The total calories of this recipe includes the calories the entire amount of dressing. That's a lot of dressing!. Please use as per your preferences.
- Slightly bitter leaves like Kale and spinach mixed in with other salad leaves work best with this dressing.Nutrition FactsShrimp Avocado Salad With Sweet Sour DressingAmount Per ServingCalories 517 Calories from Fat 251% Daily Value*Fat 27.9g43%Saturated Fat 4.5g28%Cholesterol 122mg41%Sodium 1061mg46%Potassium 572mg16%Carbohydrates 49.3g16%Sugar 13.2g15%Protein 25.6g51%Vitamin A 23350IU467%Calcium 120mg12%Iron 8.1mg45%* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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